Top Gun Maverick: Ridley Scott unimpressed by the sequel

Recently, director Fede Álvarez shared his relief that Alien director Ridley Scott approved of his new film, calling it “f**king great.” He noted that Scott is notoriously tough on follow-ups to his movies, with him famously criticizing Denis Villeneuve’s much-acclaimed Blade Runner 2049. At the recent DGA Latino Summit (as excepted by Variety), the director revealed that Scott is also tough on follow-ups made to his brother Tony’s, work, such as Top Gun: Maverick. 

“I asked him about the new ‘Top Gun’, and he’s like ‘meh.’ I’m like, ‘What are you talking about?’ And he was like, ‘My brother’s was original and this is like eh.’ He really respected it, but you could see how tough he was. So I was like, ‘There’s no way I win this one.'”

Ridley’s beloved brother, the great director Tony Scott, passed away in 2012. Jerry Bruckheimer, who produced both Top Gun and its sequel, sang a different tune in 2022 when he recalled screening the film for Ridley, whose new film, Napoleon, is due out next month. “One of the most heartwarming things I experienced is when we showed the movie to Tony’s brother, Ridley. He was laudatory in his praise for the film, and the kind of care that Tom took to honour Tony throughout the movie. That was foremost in everybody’s mind.”

It definitely seems like Scott’s opinion of the film either shifted a bit over the last year or – more than likely – he was just being polite when he praised the movie to Bruckheimer. As much as I loved Top Gun: Maverick, it’s hard not to see why Ridley Scott’s feelings towards the film might be complicated. Top Gun: Maverick earned an Oscar nomination for Best Picture, but in 1986, critics lambasted Tony Scott’s work on the original. A generation later, director Joseph Kosinski, working very much in the mode of Tony Scott, got heaps of praise for his work, again proving how underappreciated the late director was in his time.

Do you understand why Ridley Scott didn’t love Top Gun Maverick? Let us know in the comments.