Quentin Tarantino praises Top Gun: Maverick

Last Updated on August 10, 2022

Quentin Tarantino’s been making the rounds in the podcasting world, promoting his excellent new podcast with Roger Avary (Killing Zoe), “The Video Archives Podcast,” named after the legendary video store the two used to work at. Each episode is devoted to a triple feature of VHS tapes from the Video Archives catalogue (this week, they watched Moonraker, Firefox and the slasher Delirium), and it’s an incredible deep dive for movie fans. Tarantino seems to love the podcast form, and he’s shown up on many of them lately, including the ReelBlend Podcast (via Variety), where he discussed his love for Top Gun: Maverick.

“I saw it at the theaters. That and [Steven] Spielberg’s ‘West Side Story‘ both provided a true cinematic spectacle, the kind that I’d almost thought that I wasn’t going to see anymore. It was fantastic.”

Tarantino, of course, had a history with the late director of the original Top Gun, Tony Scott, who directed his screenplay for True Romance. Despite the liberties taken, QT remained a staunch admirer and friend of the director and thinks the movie is as close as we’ll ever get to seeing one last great Tony Scott movie.

“[Director Joseph Kosinski] did a great job. The respect and the love of Tony was in every frame.”

Tarantino says the one decision he wasn’t enthusiastic about was the emotional reunion between Val Kilmer’s Iceman and Tom Cruise’s Maverick. Still, in the end, he admits the fan-favourite reunion worked.

“But it absolutely works. It’s a bit like Charlie Chaplin dying on stage for the last scene of ‘Limelight’… but it fucking works. You’re waiting for it and the fucking scene delivers.”

Top Gun: Maverick hits PVOD on August 23rd.