Structurally, this movie is almost exactly the same as the first film: A bunch of talented pilots spends the majority of “Maverick” participating in training exercises, jockeying for power and position, and acquiring the skills they’ll need later. The biggest difference is the final mission. In the original, Iceman and Maverick literally get called into action at their graduation ceremony for a mission they didn’t know was coming. Here, the mission hangs over the entire movie — everyone knows exactly what is expected of them, and just how impossible it seems. The objective is to destroy a highly guarded, unsanctioned uranium plant before it becomes operational. The pilots must enter enemy airspace, traverse a lengthy canyon flying at a maximum height of 100 feet to avoid appearing on radar, and use missiles to basically pull a “Star Wars” by blowing up a ventilation hatch to an underground bunker and then blasting the plant to smithereens before anyone knows they were even there. 

“Top Gun: Maverick” writers Ehren Kruger, Eric Warren Singer, and Christopher McQuarrie lay this all out like a heist movie, complete with detailed visual breakdowns of the canyon and a practice course that mimics the exact layout. Watching the pilots try again and again to complete this course is one of the oldest tricks in the storytelling book, building suspense and showcasing just how tough this mission’s parameters really are. Ultimately, though, you know where this is all heading: If you think Maverick is going to be sitting on the sidelines as a teacher for the whole film, you probably haven’t seen a Tom Cruise movie since the original “Top Gun.”

Speaking of the original, this sequel’s general structure isn’t the only way it tries to ape the vibe of the first movie. The opening credits sequence is a modern updating of the memorable intro to the ’86 film, with lovingly fetishistic shots of jets preparing for take-off on an aircraft carrier runway and Harold Faltermeyer’s epic instrumental theme song grooving in the background. For those who haven’t seen the original in a while, it may seem as if this is a shot-for-shot recreation of that sequence. But directors Joseph Kosinski and Tony Scott have very different ideas about the stylistic details of a movie like this. Scott, who was long attached to return to direct a sequel before he died in 2012, drenched his opening sequence in an unreal smoky yellow color, almost as if it were a scene out of “Apocalypse Now.” The original “Top Gun” is full of silhouettes and heightened colors to stylize the drama — characters were frequently bathed in purples and reds and neons, and they were soaked in sweat in cockpits or control rooms alike. Kosinski, on the other hand, is more beholden to realism — his is a movie of deep blacks, technology-tinted greens, and dull grays, and he’s more interested in capturing clean lines and sleek visuals than heightening situations with flashy colors. This cleaner and more uniform approach fits the precision of the action scenes but leaves the rest of “Top Gun: Maverick” feeling a little sterile by comparison.