(Don't read this if you want to go in completely blind)
I just watched Top Gun Maverick and it was really good. The action scenes were great, but what really made me like the movie was how the plot and characters were handled, specially the male ones. The cast is diverse but there isn't a single scene or even throwaway line about girlboss or black power or anything of that sort, it's all dealt with extreme respect and I did not expect that at all given the current state of things. The story isn't revolutionary or even too complicated, but the writers were fantastic in how they handled human relationships and values and it felt like a throwback to an America that is now dead and buried. Had it not been for the cellphones I honestly would have assumed the movie was supposed to be set in the 80s, despite being a sequel to the original.
In fact, while all of the "diverse" characters are shown to be entirely competent, they are not even close to a match to Maverick. Which would make any sort of woke type go into an apoplectic rage.
I was also kind of fascinated that they managed to keep a lot of the downtime talking scenes from the first movie while also having a much more engaging action scene with the airstrike at the end.
And of course, I do like the casual dunking on the SU-57 that the movie does. "Super advanced fighter, better than our F-18's, can do all kinds of crazy bullshit moves....still loses to a 50-year old rust bucket."
Yea in modern movies they go way out of their way to downplay the older hero so they can elevate the female or minority
He did say that these new kids think they are hot shit because they can just fly at high altitude and drop bombs on target with no dogfight exp, so it makes sense for mav to roflstomp them.
Imagine some online warriors started to playing SF3: Third Strike Remaster, think they are hot shit just to show up to an event to get perfected by Daigo Umehara.
tbf though, Maverick is presented as one of the best pilots in the world, and trains the best of the best to make them even better.
Russian (or iranian? Not real sure who was supposed to be actually flying the planes at the end) pilots are nowhere near the level of ours.
He also got the one by surprise, the second one after a dogfight where he almost got shot down a few times, and the last one got killed by someone they weren't expecting.
What I wouldn't give to see your endorsement with your username on movie posters nationwide...
-- KIAModsAreKikeLovers, kotakuinaction2.win
This was the best movie I've seen since Dune and I basically stopped going to theaters since the lockdowns.
It felt like a movie that was made by people who actually liked making good movies. There was no woke bs, no modern politics, just jets and cheesiness. It was great.
Is it true there's a scene where they have a plane laze a target for a second friggin plane?
Yes, it's true you cannot let go of your suspension of disbelief in this movie, but it's infinitely more gratifying to have a story where the guy defeats the enemies, gets the chick and has a happy ending. It's become an unspoken rule that stories like that can't exist anymore.
Fair enough, and I'll consider the film. To an ex military guy though, the idea of planes lazing for other planes is a huge oof.
To be fair: I dont know the logistics behind it, but the lazing was being done by the WSO using some sort of targeting pod while a the second plane was carrying the bombs. I dont know if thats particularly realistic, but it at least is something that seems believable enough to me.
Yeah no it's not. The forward observers on the ground do that stuff.
Airborne laser designators have been a thing for a while now. I think it's an AN/ASQ-228 pod; fits with the aircraft and has a laser designator for LGBs. Fwiw, I'm also ex-military and I thought it was a reasonable depiction.
Well, without those, you don't have a lot of choice in the matter.
The only one that was slightly annoying was actually the white dude, Bob simping and white knighting for Phoenix, but is a very small nitpick.
I didn't think Bob was simping for Phoenix. He is just as much of a nerd as a TOP GUN pilot can be (hence the name and the demeanor).
He was clearly on the "Rooster" side of the factioning, even before Rooster was introduced.
I mean that was his character archetype lol. Should have been apparent when introduced
I expected to dislike this movie since I am not a big fan of Tom Cruise. After seeing it, I was highly impressed. Best movie of 2022 to date. Nobody is even close. Theyanaged to make a 35 years later sequel that is superior to the original. It is quite simply a masterpiece. I see now why it was not released direct to streaming. This movie is incredible.
I just can't agree with that because this has been in the works for so long. I swear I saw a preview for it back in 2019.