Top Gun: Maverick

Not just retired. They shredded all the F-14s outside of museum birds to prevent Iran from getting spare parts.

You can’t go to the Arizona desert and find squadrons of Navy F-14s sitting in the sun. They’ve all gone to that great boneyard in the sky.

Okay. That I did not know.

It’s not for the faint of heart.

Like a couple of cockatoos tearing apart a cardboard box. How sad.

What a waste.

Was Iran going to sneak over here and steal the spare parts if the planes were left intact?

There was evidence that parts from retired Tomcats were making their way to Iran. Never underestimate greed (and Oliver North).

Cue the Kenny Logins music…

This feels like one of those Disney “live-action” remakes of their cartoons. It’s everything that you loved, but now in HD! Hey, motorcycles vs jet! Beach volleyball! Singing at the piano in the bar!

And why is he wearing what looks like a spacesuit?

Still haven’t seen the original, still excited for a film by Joseph Kosinski.

So, those aerial scenes look very nice indeed.

And it really does look like they strapped Tom Cruise into the rear seat of an F-18 (made to look like a one-seater) and launched him off a carrier.

Say what you want about Cruise as a person, but everything I’ve read and heard about him is that he goes all out on set to make the put the best possible product on film for moviegoers. The extras for Live, Die, Repeat talk about that alot.

Oh, no doubt. This is the guy who strapped himself to an actual Airbus transport during takeoff on the outside hull. And who also did a HALO jump dozens of times to get it right.

It’s not surprising anymore. But it is weird that Cruise had such an interesting filmography, especially in the 90s. Magnolia. Eyes Wide Shut. Even up to Collateral. And then he suddenly shut down the “actor” side and basically went all-in on blockbusters.

I’m surprised they’ve got him in an FA-18 now. I know the F-14 got retired years ago, but I doubt most of the viewing public knows or cares about that. I notice they did squeeze one in at the end of the trailer, though. Curious to see how that gets explained (if it’s in the final cut). Probably as some sort of prologue.

Looks good! Did I see Val Kilmer in there at one point yelling and pointing a finger?

For someone who just saw a grey fighter of some sort, could you elaborate a bit on what a F14 / 18…etc is? What were they flying in the first movie?

SPACE FORCE!

Almost feels like a remake or at least geared for peak nostalgia!

music? check
airplane carrier? check
silhouette with helmet on deck of ship? check
singing in bar? check
sweaty beach sports? check
motorcycle race with jet? check
authority figure giving dressing down speech? check
funeral? check
classroom in hanger? check

…did I miss anything?

This should be the updated theme song(FYI NSFW)

You should make that a priority

Inject this straight into my veins