It sounds like a load of codswallop, but according to the ever-so-reliable British press (snigger), Tom Cruise may be getting back with Paramount – didn’t they boot from the lot!? – for a “Top Gun” sequel.

Cruise was first offered a “Top Gun 2” just after the release of the first film, but knocked it back immediately fearing it’d be some sort of, er, Danger Zone.

What’s different now? Well, I suppose one could say Cruise needs a hit – something he hasn’t had in a while, but is this really the way to go? He might as well star in “Riskier Business” and “Cockail 2 : The Hangover” while he’s at it. “Top Gun” was a fun film, but groundbreaking? Worthy of a follow-up? Franchise-ready? No – to all of those things.

“The idea is Maverick is at the Top Gun school as an instructor – and this time it is he who has to deal with a cocky new female pilot”, a source tells The Sun.

I don’t detest the idea of a “Top Gun” sequel –not when everything gets sequelized or prequelized eventually; sure beats a remake! – but I’d think it’d much more viable, and affordable, to simply have say, Val Kilmer reprise his role as Ice Man for the film. That’d probably do well enough to warrant the cost of a few Jet Fighters. It’d probably generate just as much interest, too.

Apparently Cruise is yet to say “Yes” to the film, of which a script outline has already been written, and I doubt he ever will.