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YMMV / Top Gun: Maverick

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  • Adorkable: With his Nerd Glasses and his overall more shy personality when compared to his fellow pilots, Bob certainly fits the bill.
  • Alternative Character Interpretation:
    • Iceman is revealed to have covered for Maverick any time he stepped out of line in the years between the two movies, basically being the only reason his career hasn't ended with a dishonorable discharge before now. Is it just because of how close the two men got after the first film's final mission, or is this also Ice's way of atoning to Maverick for his role in the training accident that killed Goose? And since it's also implied he helped Maverick pull the strings to deny Rooster's admission to the Navy Academy, did he do it simply as a favor for his friend or because he too did not want Rooster to end up like Goose?
    • Did Cyclone really have it in for Maverick? Or was he pushing Maverick to succeed in a way he knew the hotshot would respond to?
    • Did Maverick's credit card actually get declined when he tried to settle his tab at the Hard Deck? Or did Penny lie about it so she could have him "thrown overboard" just to keep messing with him?
    • Did Hangman push Rooster's Relative Button just to toy with him, or did he do it on purpose so as to let the flame between them die out early?
    • When the pilot of one of the Su-57s gives hand signals to return to base, does Maverick genuinely not know the hand signals? Or is he lying his ass off? The signal given was "Correct heading to 330," meaning the Su-57 was telling Maverick to return to base, which was North, while Maverick and Rooster were heading South, towards the carrier. Moreover, the dialogue for the first signal comes off as confusion on Rooster's part, but Maverick's dialogue regarding the signal comes off as sarcastic. The dialogue for the second signal comes off as sarcastic for both of them.
  • Aluminum Christmas Trees:
    • Navy pilots can wear glasses like WSO Bob under some parameters. They need their vision acuity to be correctable to 20/20.
    • The spin-around in mid air that the enemy 5th generation fighter uses to avoid a missile and get behind Maverick and Rooster is a real maneuver that modern jet fighters can use, called the "Blinchik"* maneuver. It takes 21st century avionics and thrust-vectoring which allows a pilot to literally stall their plane at extremely low speed to reverse direction and use engine thrust to rapidly get moving again. Older aircraft like the Tomcat and Hornet cannot do this because unlike modern jets, they can't generate lift or maintain control below a certain speed, and the Super Hornet could probably only do it in non-combat, controlled circumstances. In fact, while the US Air Force F-22 Raptor is capable of it, the US Navy hasn't ever operated a plane that can: thrust-vectoring was left out of the F-35 to keep costs down, as US fighter doctrine largely considers supermaneuverability a gimmick that's much less useful for beyond-visual-range combat than stealth capabilities.
    • Throttle splitting wasn't officially taught by the Navy, but it was occasionally used by more experienced pilots. This technique was especially useful in the F-14, which had engines that were spaced much father apart than on most other jets.
  • Award Snub: While the film was nominated for several Academy Awards including Best Picture, Claudio Miranda did not receive a nomination for cinematography despite receiving widespread acclaim from critics and audiences for the film's innovative aerial cinematography. It was nominated for several other major precursor awards including the ASC Award for theatrical film, and prior the Academy Award nominations being announced, it was ranked by prediction website Gold Derby as the film most likely to win for cinematography by experts.
  • Awesome Music:
  • Director Displacement: Joseph Kosinski directed this but reading from the reviews, the articles, etc, you'd think it was star/producer Tom Cruise who directed it.
  • Ensemble Dark Horse:
    • Out of all new TOPGUN graduates, Lt. Robert "Bob" Floyd seems to be the most popular thanks to his distinctive nickname/callsign, his endearing personality on the ground while also being extremely competent in the skies. It helps that he's played by Lewis Pullman, son of Bill Pullman, another actor whose most famous role is also that of a F/A-18 pilot.
    • Lt. Natasha "Phoenix" Trace, portrayed by Monica Barbaro, is also popular as well for being the most prominent female TOPGUN graduate and Ms. Fanservice who is confident and good-natured, and turns out to be one of the best pilots trained under Maverick as well, to the point where she and Bob are in the two-seater flying with Maverick for the final mission. Her callsign "Phoenix" also gains her quite a number of Ace Combat fans as she shares a callsign with Phoenix, one of the protagonist aces in the series.
  • Epileptic Trees: The roundel of the rogue state's air force is a yellow circle with a red bird of prey symbol in the center. This makes it pretty similar to the roundel of the enemy MiG-28s in the first film, which has a yellow circle and a red star in the center. For this reason, some theorize that the rogue state featured in Maverick is actually the very same unknown country that sent the hostile MiG-28s to terrorize the US Navy in the first film all those years ago, with the roundel undergoing a symbol change but otherwise keeps the same aesthetics as before. One may even go a step further and theorize that one or more of the Su-57 pilots who engaged Maverick and Rooster in the climax could even actually be among the two surviving MiG-28 pilots who once fought with Maverick before.
  • Estrogen Brigade: The cast is comprised almost entirely of very attractive men with several scenes showing off some Fanservice, so it didn't take long for the movie to develop a female fanbase, with Miles Teller and Glen Powell getting the brunt of appreciation.
  • Fandom Rivalry: Towards the end of 2022, there was somewhat of a rivalry between Top: Gun Maverick and Avatar: The Way of Water fans, with both movies being major blockbuster long-awaited sequels to modern classics featuring older heroes now having to pave the way for the younger generation, and both films were noted for their well-crafted action set pieces and innovative visual effects and cinematography. The rivalry started brewing when The Way of Water surpassed Maverick as the highest-grossing film of 2022 worldwide, which is in part thanks to The Way of Water gaining a lot of viewership in China, while Maverick wasn't released in the country.note  Conversely, The Way of Water did not gain as much traction in North America as Maverick did, and Maverick claimed the domestic crown for 2022. Both films were nominated for numerous Academy Awards, including best picture, but both only won a single technical award (visual effects for The Way of Water and sound for Maverick). A more tongue-in-cheek rivalry was also present when it was revealed that Kate Winslet broke Tom Cruise's underwater breath-holding record during the filming of The Way of Water, which she proudly made note of.
  • Fanfic Fuel:
    • What antics did Maverick get up to in the thirty-five-year gap between movies?
      • A single conversation with Penny where she referenced how often Iceman has pulled Maverick's butt out of the fire has several of these, including Desert Storm, Afghanistan, Iraq again, and an implied much longer laundry list filled with other crap assignments Maverick has had to take on to get himself out of the doghouse.
    • The backstories of the Dagger Squadron pilots and how most of them came to know each other before being selected as mission candidates has been a big source of fanfic inspiration.
  • Fanon:
    • It's widely-agreed among the fandom that Maverick was Rooster's Honorary Uncle while growing up and might've even been his godfather.
    • Since the film never explains what happened to Charlie and the aftermath of her and Maverick's breakup. Some fans headcanon that she came out a lesbian, just like her actress Kelly McGillis. Also, despite the fact that Maverick never mentions Charlie again, many fans like to think they ended their relationship on friendly terms.
    • Dagger Squadron are usually depicted as being a Family of Choice with Maverick as their self-appointed father figure, and will stay close with each other following the events of the movie, including having an active group chat and hanging out together whenever they can.
    • Due to their closeness and Like Brother and Sister nature, it is a common fan assumption that Phoenix and Rooster were deployed together before coming to Top Gun.
  • Friendly Fandoms:
    • Unsurprisingly has one with the Ace Combat fandom given how the original film has been cited as a major influence on the series, as well as the bombing run in the film’s climax resembling that of Ace Combat's infamous tunnel/canyon runs. The most recent entry in the series even had a promotional Crossover DLC for Maverick featuring several of the aircraft shown in the film. The Project ACES Twitter account also tweeted that they had gone to see the theatrical release of the movie.
    • Digital Combat Simulator and War Thunder also got in the mix. The former announced a new sale and bundle, complete with liveries for the F/A-18C Hornet and F-14A Tomcat, while the latter announced that the F-14 Tomcat was coming to the game with a trailer suitably titled "Danger Zone". Needless to say, players for all three titles were exceptionally excited for this film.
    • It also has this with Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (2022), being another Paramount tentpole blockbuster released roughly around the same time, aimed at a similar general audience demographic, and being massive successes. Both films are also seen as having averted Sequelitis. It also helps that After Burner, another Sega franchise, was inspired by Top Gun.
    • It's not uncommon for fans of this movie to also appreciate Mad Max: Fury Road and Blade Runner 2049 on similar levels for being among the better received Distant Sequels to '80s cult classics, all with great visual effects that make excellent use of CGI.
  • Genius Bonus: As a film made as a "love letter to aviation", there are some subtle details within the film that only fighter aircraft enthusiasts would notice.
    • During the final pull-up of the attack run to dodge the mountain, the F/A-18 Super Hornet pilots are seen pressing onto a paddle stick on the joystick before pulling up. This is the G-limiter override that allows the F/A-18 to bypass its computer-restricted 7.5G load all the way up to 10G.
    • There is the F-14 start-up procedures that is practiced within the film with Rooster assisting Maverick in starting the engines, given the F-14 does not have an APU to start up by itself.
    • Eagle-eyed viewers familiar with hand signals will notice that the ones performed by the enemy pilots before they start dogfighting read "Return to base, bearing 3-3-0."
    • Maverick's trick with the F-14 by "splitting the throttle" to get behind the Su-57 is a real "off the books" maneuver that can help the F-14 have an extra boost in its maneuverability if performed correctly.
    • The F-14's ejection seats not working can be chalked up to most users as being a broken piece in the plane. However, astute observers would notice that Maverick and Rooster never armed the ejection seats prior to take-off.
    • Darkstar's scramjet engines aren't just some made-up nonsense, scramjet is a real term meaning "Supersonic Combustion RAMjet". Because scramjets are a fairly new technology that's extremely hard to design and expensive to produce, they've only seen use on experimental missiles and aircraft as of today.
  • Germans Love David Hasselhoff: The film was a massive hit in Japan, scoring the second highest non-US box office gross behind the United Kingdom. Tom Cruise, himself a popular celebrity in Japan, and the All-Star Cast that comprised the film's Japanese dub likely contributed to this.
  • Harsher in Hindsight: Prior to this movie's release, there were several news stories touting Manny Jacinto's casting to be a sign that his career was on an upward trajectory after appearing in The Good Place. Come the final cut, however, Jacinto's appearance is so brief that he's only seen on screen for a handful of seconds.
  • Hilarious in Hindsight: The F/A-18E/F Super Hornet's that they use in the film are descended from the F-5 Freedom Fighters that doubled as MiG-28s in the original.
  • Ho Yay: While not to the infamous levels that the original had, the movie does contain a bit of this with Hangman and Rooster. Not only does their dynamic mirror that of Fan-Preferred Couple Maverick/Iceman, they also share a handshake at the end that has a good deal of subtext.
  • Like You Would Really Do It: Maverick is shot down by an SAM during the final mission. But with plenty of minutes still left in the runtime, there's no way Maverick would die that easily.
  • Memetic Mutation:
    • It took mere hours after the release of the film's trailer for it to be combined with the very similar announcement trailer for The Rise of Skywalker.
    • "I will release the movie when I'm goddamn good and ready! You got that?"Explanation
  • More Popular Replacement: While Maverick and Penny's romance is largely considered a classic Token Romance that doesn't contribute much to the main plot, many people found it to be much better than Maverick's original romance with Charlie, noting Tom Cruise's much stronger chemistry with Jennifer Connelly over Kelly McGillisnote  and the storyline establishing reasons for Penny and Maverick to love each other beyond superficial attraction. His relationship with her also forms a crucial part of his character arc — a distinct contrast with his original romance, which was only added to the film so audiences wouldn't think he was gay.
  • One-Scene Wonder:
    • Iceman only appears in one scene. And it's quite the heartbreaker.
    • The fictional Darkstar only appears in the first arc and is never mentioned again after it, but the whole flight scene is awesome (until it crashed), and served as the catalyst to push Maverick back to TOPGUN.
    • The Navy and Air Force's newest fighter, the F-35 Lightning II, only appears in the opening sequence and got one mention later on, despite being slated to replace the F/A-18 Hornets. Justified, as using the F-35 for filming will be really expensive IRL, and it's stated during the briefings before the raid that the enemy is using signal jammers that would render the F-35's weapon systems useless.
  • Salvaged Story:
    • The pilots never used their cannons at all in the first film. Here, Maverick actually uses his F-14A's cannons in the final battle to take out the first Felon before dealing with the second one in a dogfight, eventually resorting to them again after exhausting all his missiles.
    • After being widely criticized for removing the Japanese and Taiwanese flags on Maverick's iconic bomber jacket - supposedly to appease Chinese government censors in hopes of releasing the film in China - the theatrical release preserved the flags on the jacket. One Taiwanese news outlet reported that, on opening night, the return of the Taiwanese flag on Maverick's jacket was met with cheers from the audience.
  • Shipping: Hangman/Rooster are by far the most popular ship that emerged from this film, much like Maverick/Iceman from the original Top Gun, though there are fans that ship Rooster with either Phoenix or Bob. Phoenix/Bob is also a reasonably popular ship in its own right. Some people also like Maverick/Rooster as a pairing, but many prefer them having a surrogate father-son relationship like in the movie. And of course, there's the Official Couple of Maverick/Penny, who are quite popular (or at least generally well-liked) among most fans who aren't die-hard Maverick/Iceman shippers.
  • Ship Mates: Many Hangman/Rooster shippers also support Phoenix/Bob, and they tend to feature in Hangman/Rooster fics as a beta couple with a Bickering Couple, Peaceful Couple contrast to them. Maverick/Iceman is also very well-liked and is present in many Hangman/Rooster fics as a beta couple with a Like an Old Married Couple flair, as they shared a similar dynamic in the first movie to Hangman and Rooster.
  • Signature Scene: If there is a YouTube clip involving the final dogfight, chances are the 5th Generation Fighter's High-Speed Missile Dodge will end up being the most replayed moment.
  • Spiritual Adaptation:
    • There was a game titled Top Gun: Combat Zones for the PlayStation 2 and Nintendo GameCube that was just a Dolled-Up Installment with the only similarity to the first movie being the F-14 Tomcat. It involved bombing bases and avoiding Anti-Air batteries... which happens to be what the highly perilous mission in Top Gun Maverick's climax is all about, just with F-18s (though there's an American-piloted Tomcat once again eventually).
    • It's also possibly the closest we'll get to an Ace Combat movie, especially its latest entry Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown. Both the movie and AC7 have a plot element dealing with the replacement of human pilots with drones, and fans of the game have noted the various similarities between AC's signature canyon/tunnel run missions and the mission in Top Gun: Maverick.
    • In contrast to the final dogfight in Top Gun, the final dogfight in Maverick plays out very much like an Ace Combat Boss Battle.
    • Some DC Comics fans have called it the closest they'll get to a good Hal Jordan movie as both Tom Cruise and Glen Powell have been popular fancasts for the character.
    • The final battle involving Maverick being forced to dodge the final 5th generation fighter without the use of any of his weapons might remind some people of the Final Boss of Radiant Silvergun and Ikaruga, which also involved the players being forced to dodge the boss without any weapons.
  • Surprisingly Improved Sequel: While a commercial success with enough cultural resonance to enter the National Film Registry, Top Gun was never much liked by critics, who were not as fond of the parts not in planes. Maverick managed to not only win over audiences but reviewers as well with a 96% Rotten Tomatoes rating (as opposed to the middling 57% of the original), giving praise to the storyline and characters. It also received Academy Award nominations for Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay, a rare feat for a summer blockbuster. Even bolt-counters loved the film, noting the surprising levels of detail in all of the cockpits, as well as the correct procedures for the characters to go through. Even the F-14s Start-up procedure is technically correct, which only a handful of people would know, but it was made to be part of the script anyway.
  • They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Despite being the only other woman in Dagger Squadron, Lt. Callie "Halo" Bassett (Kara Wang) is entirely relegated to background appearances and hardly speaks. Her most prominent role seems to be Phoenix's football teammate during the squadron's beach trip, but she and Phoenix don't ever interact anywhere else in the film. Her final appearance is sitting among the squadron during the final briefing before the chosen trainees embark on their mission, and plays no further role in the climax. One would think that Phoenix would have developed a stronger bond with the sole other female pilot in her squadron, and therefore Halo should have had a more prominent role. If not as a helpful teammate to Dagger Squadron in the climax, then at least as Phoenix's closest friend.
    • Also, there are several other TOPGUN graduates who are picked to be trained under Maverick but they are ultimately left Out of Focus in the film itself. In addition to Halo, there are also Lt. Billy "Fritz" Avalone, Lt. Neil "Omaha" Vikander, Lt. Brigham "Harvard" Lennox, and Lt. Logan "Yale" Lee. All of them made very few appearances and roles throughout the movie.
  • Unexpected Character: Penny Benjamin, who was just mentioned a few times in the original as a past fling of Maverick's, and overall had zero impact on the plot. Who expected her to actually appear in the sequel and in such a large role?
  • Visual Effects of Awesome: Though the film's marketing highlighted practically filmed F-18s, most of the movie's planes (including many F-18s) are actually CGI-only, just completely photorealistic and seamlessly blended with practical plane shots and realistic cinematography. The movie's production actually used no real flyable F-14snote , Su-57s, or Darkstars. The marketing has pulled a sleight of hand to make you believe that the photorealistic CGI planes are practically filmed planes.
  • The Woobie:
    • Maverick, who all these decades later still hasn't gotten over Goose's death and in following Carole's wishes, has ruined his relationship with Rooster by trying to protect him from the same fate. Not to mention, he loses another best friend in Iceman.
    • Rooster. He lost both of his parents, his father when he was just a little kid. And his dad's best friend who he looked up to pulled his papers and set his piloting career back four years, destroying their close relationship.

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