While Iceman has a relatively minor role inTop Gunsequel is a highlight of the movie that perfectly honors Val Kilmer’s iconic chemistry with Tom Cruise. Iceman and Maverick’s bromance is the stuff of Hollywood legend. Famously, real-life actors Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer butted heads on set while shooting the 1986 cult classic, only for the duo to go on to become such close friends in the intervening decades that Cruise refused to work onTop Gun: Maverickunless Kilmer also returned for the sequel.
In Top Gun: Maverick, Tom Cruise's Maverick remains a thorn in the side of the Navy’s top brass in the decades since the original Top Gun. Viewers learn early on that he has relied on his close friendship with Iceman (now a decorated iral) to get him out of disciplinary scrapes, which remain a major problem for the feckless rebel. Iceman gives Maverick the job of training the recruits of Top Gun: Maverick for their potentially lethal mission, although he doesn’t directly communicate with Cruise’s character until halfway through the sequel. Luckily, his appearance is a perfect distillation of the pair’s partnership.
Iceman's Maverick Role Is Small, But Honors Val Kilmer & Top Gun
During his treatment for throat cancer in 2014, Kilmer lost the ability to speak. The entire scene is a testament to the chemistry shared by Cruise and his co-star and captures the gravity and warmth of their decades-long relationship, as Kilmer largely speaks through a device. Despite this, Iceman’s final Top Gun: Maverick line manages to be both the funniest and the most poignant moment in the movie.
Iceman reassuring Maverick that he is a born leader despite his misgivings, and giving his colleague the confidence to guide the recruits to victory, is poignant already. Meanwhile, the decision to incorporate Kilmer’s real-life circumstances into the script is brave and moving. However, it is the last exchange between the duo that makes the scene soar.
Iceman's Top Gun: Maverick Return Is Everything It Needed To Be
The scene illustrates Maverick grappling with aging and mortality as he relates to his friend. When Iceman asks Maverick which of them is the better pilot, he also makes the famously egotistical character display a little humility and grace. It’s a small moment and a funny joke but, in the context of Top Gun: Maverick’s story, it is one of the earliest examples of Maverick’s growth.
Top Gun: Maverick’s silly beach football scenes prove that Maverick is a savvier teacher than he seems as they bond his tense pupils together, but his mentorship skills would be worth nothing if the character couldn’t concede control to others in a crisis. By, even jokingly, implying that Iceman might have been his equal as a pilot, Cruise’s Maverick proves that he has finally learned when to park his infamous ego. He is finally showing maturity.
Iceman & Maverick's Reunion Is Top Gun 2's Best Scene
Kilmer and Cruise’s charisma carries their short scene together, but the pair have plenty of competition on that front. Top Gun: Maverick’s cast is stacked with charming newcomers, and the rivalry between Miles Teller’s Rooster and Glen Powell’s Hangman proves that Iceman and Maverick’s dynamic can be successfully recreated for a new generation. However, it is the nostalgic sight of seeing a pair of lifetime friends reunited that makes Iceman and Maverick’s conversation the strongest single scene in Top Gun: Maverick. It is a testament to the talent of the two screen veterans that the moment revolves around.
In a movie with life-or-death dogfights, aerial chases, and intense action sequences, it is a short, quiet conversation between two friends who haven’t caught up in years that make Top Gun: Maverick truly shine. While character work plays an important role in the success of Top Gun, the legendary action auteur Tony Scott’s influential hit is a movie driven by its incredible action sequences. In contrast, Top Gun: Maverick is a tribute to Kilmer and Cruise’s acting prowess.
The strength of director Joseph Kosinski’s character-first approach is evident in the praise that Top Gun: Maverick’s Iceman/Maverick reunion received. It is tough to make two characters jovially conversing into a compelling scene in any project, but for this reunion to be the standout scene in a movie otherwise brimming with intense action speaks to the reverence that Kosinski displayed toward the source material. Iceman’s lone Top Gun: Maverick scene is followed by the character’s funeral, and, despite how sad the moment is, the crowning achievement of the Top Gun sequel is how well-earned this tragic scene feels.
