“Warning: Radar shows “Top Gun: Maverick” spoilers ahead.
“Val Kilmer’s lone scene in “Top Gun: Maverick” is strikingly powerful — not only because it successfully projects decades of close friendship between his character, Tom “Iceman” Kazansky, and Tom Cruise’s, Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, but because it also draws on the actor’s own experiences. The combination lays fertile ground for a great, often unheralded performer to shine, if only for a moment.
“In the 1986 original, Iceman was Maverick’s competition for the top spot in the Top Gun rankings — both were equally brash and testosterone-fueled young fighter pilots, but Iceman read from the standard playbook and Maverick, to put it kindly, had problems with authority.
“By the end of that film, the two had been bonded by combat, relying on each other to survive.”
Read more at LA Times
