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Top Gun Maverick

What I liked: Never since 1986 have the dudes with the flashlights who direct planes looked so cool. I like the airplanes. There are airplanes that go super duper fast. There are moderately new airplanes. There are old airplanes. There are friendly airplanes and enemy airplanes. Airplanes that land on ships and airplanes that land on land. Even some airplanes that try to land on snow. You see the outside of the airplanes and, most importantly, you seed the inside of the airplanes while they are flying. With those cool air streams coming off the wings. I liked that ejecting in high altitude at extreme speeds is a ok. It seems like NASA should really take note, we could save a lot on an updated reentry plan. I liked that Maverick and Iceman are still friends and I'm glad that at least one of them got a little bit responsible. I also liked that the romance was much better than last time, still not great mind you, but better. The call backs to the original were fun and I'm glad that playing volleyball or football on the beach is still the best solution for team troubles. I liked the training dog fights. I liked that the bad guys keep all of their airplanes, the really old ones and the brand new ones, in good repair and ready to fly. And that they don't seem to mind if you borrow one. I'm glad that no one on the aircraft carrier was concerned about potential hostile action, that would have ruined the celebratory atmosphere. 

What I didn't: I am curious how someone can apparently routinely steal airplanes and ignore orders and manage to be in a position to continue stealing airplanes and flying them where they aren't allowed. If they were launching an artillery strike ahead of the airplanes why not launch enough missiles to take out the anti-aircraft installations. And why are the bad guys even in that weirdo mountain? There weren't any roads going in and no airstrip inside and probably hard to fly in the crazy terrain even if you aren't being shot at. How did the get the building materials in to build their cool underground secret bunker? How do they even get groceries? Was this all an elaborate counter intelligence move to get the US to bomb a box? 

Who should watch this? The airport flashlight dudes. People who love airplanes. People unconcerned about anti-aircraft hardware accuracy. 

Would I watch it again? It was fun. I've seen the original twice, I probably see this one that many times too.

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