Top Gun: Maverick: Tom Cruise takes James Corden on a series of terrifying flights

The Late Late Show host James Corden recently took a trip into the Danger Zone with Tom Cruise for an elaborate Top Gun: Maverick promo. Corden and Cruise spent two adventurous days bonding and breaking barriers after meeting up with the hot-dogging movie star who loves to perform his own outrageous stunts. Corden was less than enthusiastic about going on the journey with Cruise but was left with little choice but to comply.

Previously, Corden and Cruise jumped out of a plane together while promoting Mission: Impossible – Fallout. Corden was left emotionally scarred by the experience, though he also had the time of his life. The moral of the story is that when Tom Cruise asks you to do something wild, you accept your fate and dive in headfirst.

First, Cruise loaded a nervous Corden into a 1944 fighter airplane. Slightly out of date, Corden was terrified to take to the sky. Without warning, enemy planes showed up to challenge them. “We’re in a dog fight,” Cruise said as Corden screamed, “I don’t give a shit!”

After they touched back down, Cruise informed Corden that they’d be going up in a different plane the following day. This plane was a fighter jet built for aerial warfare. Corden was less than enthused.

“I’m very excited that James is doing this,” Cruise said before piloting Corden in both planes. “Was he the first late-night show that I asked? Hell no. He was just the first one, the only one, to say yes.”

While in the air, Cruise performed several stylish maneuvers that almost caused Corden to drop a Goose in his Mavericks. As the duo flew through the air, they sang segments of Kenny Loggins’ “Danger Zone” and Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band’s “Old Time Rock and Roll” to pass the time.

After almost causing Corden to pass out, the pair landed safely on the tarmac. Corden all but kissed the ground as Cruise congratulated him on surviving the experience. Boy, Cruise sure knows how to torture his friends, it would seem.

Top Gun: Maverick opens exclusively in theaters on Friday. Here’s the official synopsis for the long-awaited sequel:

“After more than thirty years of service as one of the Navy’s top aviators, Pete “Maverick” Mitchell (Tom Cruise) is where he belongs, pushing the envelope as a courageous test pilot and dodging the advancement in rank that would ground him. When he finds himself training a detachment of TOPGUN graduates for a specialized mission the likes of which no living pilot has ever seen, Maverick encounters Lt. Bradley Bradshaw (Miles Teller), call sign: “Rooster,” the son of Maverick’s late friend and Radar Intercept Officer Lt. Nick Bradshaw, aka “Goose.” Joining Cruise for Top Gun: Maverick are Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Glen Powell, Lewis Pullman, Charles Parnell, Bashir Salahuddin, Monica Barbaro, Jay Ellis, Danny Ramirez, Greg Tarzan Davis, Ed Harris, and Val Kilmer.

Are you excited about the release of Top Gun: Maverick? Will you be seeing the film in theaters this weekend? Do you think you’d survive a day with Tom Cruise? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section below.