Quentin Tarantino Praises Tom Cruise's 'Top Gun: Maverick': 'A True Cinematic Spectacle'

Director Quentin Tarantino is in awe of Tom Cruise's latest release "Top Gun: Maverick."

The 59-year-old director praised the action-adventure flick, which was released on May 27. Speaking on Cinemablend's "ReelBlend" podcast Thursday, Tarantino noted that he doesn't discuss new movies a lot because either he is forced to say good things about the movie or he ends up "slamming" someone.

"Normally I don't talk about new movies that much because then I'm only forced to say good things, or else I'm slamming someone," he said. "And I don't want to do that. But in this case, I f--king love Top Gun: Maverick."

Tarantino said "Top Gun: Maverick" was fantastic, just like "West Side Story," which was helmed by director Steven Spielberg and released last year.

However, the director also recalled watching Tony Scott's work – he helmed the first installment of the action franchise, titled "Top Gun," in 1986.

"Both [movies] provided a true cinematic spectacle, the kind that I'd almost thought that I wasn't going to see anymore. It was fantastic," he continued. "But also, there was just this lovely, lovely aspect because I love both Tony Scott's cinema so much, and I love Tony so much that that's as close as we're ever going to get to seeing one more Tony Scott movie."

The second installment, "Top Gun: Maverick," was helmed by Joseph Kosinski. Tarantino also praised Kosinski for doing a "great job."

The Oscar-winning filmmaker shared how he felt Kosinski's direction was like a tribute to Scott, who died in August 2012.

"The respect and the love of Tony was in every frame," the director noted. "It was almost in every decision. It was consciously right there, but in this really cool way that was really respectful. And I think it was in every decision Tom (Cruise) made in the film."

He concluded, "It's the closest we're ever going to get to seeing one more Tony Scott movie, and it was a f--king terrific one."

Tarantino's last movie was "Once Upon a Time... In Hollywood," which was dropped in 2019.