Saw it. Liked it.

I missed seeing it on IMAX because it was only on IMAX for a week where I am. But I’m absolutely sure nothing would’ve been gained seeing it on that screen; the regular big screen was enough.

MAVERICK reminded me of THE FORCE AWAKENS in the way it hearkened back to the original while trying to both copy the original and be its own thing. (And I must say that MAVERICK did it a lot better.)

MAVERICK doesn’t shy away from recreating a lot of the 80’s cheese. It completely embraces the cheese - and a tried and true movie formula - and yet still manages to manipulate the audience.

Perhaps most surprising was how it somehow managed to extract a lot of emotion from what was a completely predictable set up with Rooster. It should have been boring and eye-rolly… but it wasn’t.

Heck, the whole darn movie should have been eye-rolly!

But it wasn’t.

I even detected a little “dust” in my eyes at the scene with Ice and the ending. Crazy that…

If you at all liked the original you will certainly be entertained by the sequel 36 years in the making.