(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.
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