Just got back from seeing it. Liked it overall, but there were lots of corny and cheesy parts that had me rolling my eyes. The younger cast was not believable in their roles at all. Enjoyed all the callbacks to the original and the climax was great in IMAX.
How do we identify spoilers?
There are spoilers ahead (ye be warned)...
Agreed...
I'm too old school to accept that Hollywood must bring in new blood, and wasn't thrilled with the new young cast, and their banter seemed - eh - fake. Just was not emotionally vested in these characters, with the exception of Rooster...
Actually liked how they essentially templated the original (similar to how The Force Awakens did).
Wanted a deeper dive into the emotional conflicts of Rooster / Maverick / loss of Goose - would rather have seen a bit more of that in place of the invented "Maverick held him back in school" subplot (though I suppose / concede the two are tangentially related).
The new mission and training got a bit tedious, but it worked - they needed a 'vehicle' to carry the plot through training and final act / conflict, and the bombing run worked for this purpose.
Knew they'd come up with some contrived manner in which to place Mitchell & Bradshaw back in the seats of a Tomcat... Contrived as it was, it was handled well. A lessor movie would have fumbled this. Strong nod to the fact that they didn't just jump into the cockpit, and fire her up.
EDIT: And I loved seeing Maverick in an F-14; not gonna lie!
Loved all the nods to the original (beyond the overall templating) - too many to cite, but even Penny's (was her last name mentioned?) car being a 30+ year-old Porsche...
Most poignant of the film was the manner in which they handled Ice Man...
EDIT: How they handing Ice Man AND how they handled Val Kilmer - graceful, respectful, deftly handled...