Top Gun: Maverick

So last year everyone was singing the praises of Top Gun: Maverick but Covid shut down all the theaters within 20 miles of my house and none of them have reopened. Needless to say I wasn't going to drive a hundred miles, yes, the only theater I knew would be open and showing the movie was a 100 miles away, just to see this film. Well now it's streaming on regular subscriptions channels so I figured What The Heck and I watched it. 

Ummm....it's OK. I mean with all the action scenes it was probably pretty good in the theaters, as long as you don't have to worry about motion sickness. But store wise it's a bit thin. Basically Maverick has been doing his thing for years and thus everyone in Naval Command hates him. He's on the verge of being forcefully retired when "gasp", some unnamed country has built a nuclear reactor and is about to start processing weapons grade uranium. The Navy decided to send in a group of hot shot pilots in on a suicide mission to take out the reactor. Sure, the US has the most sophisticated military in the world and could probably launch a couple of missiles to hit the base with pinpoint precision but Stop With Your Logic And Accept That This Is Going To Happen!

Alright, the team is made up of a group of very forgettable people, and Goose's son. I should mention that Goose's son hates Maverick, but not because of the death of his father, instead it's because even though the entire military hates Maverick he still had enough pull to keep Goose's son out of the academy, and yet here he is at Top Gun. 

Bravado, Machismo, playing ball on the beach, yeah they rehash the original plot until they discover that the reactor is going on line right away and they are out of time, and the only person who can pull off the mission is Maverick himself, even though the whole military hates him. Everything from this point on is pretty much expected until the end.

Forgettable characters that we have zero attachment to, over the top bravado action, major plot holes and so forth. So, again it's OK. Yeah it's worth the watch if your expectations are low and you turn your suspension of disbelief up, 7 or so. And as far as I know there is no end credit scene.