Daily Times

The producers of Top Gun Maverick had low expectations for the film. However, they minted almost $1.5 billion from a sequel that premiered 36 years after the original classic.

Top Gun Maverick is filmmaking at its best. Tom Cruise’s personal passion for aviation shines through in the film, because he pushed the actors to go the extra mile. As they say, luck favors the prepared mind. The actor’s youthful appearance in his early 60s gave the film a major boost. We see Captain Tom Cruise driving his Yamaha motorbike with the same gusto with which Lt. Pete Mitchell, a smug ace pilot, rode in 1986. In 2022, Captain Pete Mitchell is still the gutsy pilot, but he is also a kind soul who looks out for old friends and has almost a paternal affection for his fallen comrade’s son – whom he saves by literally taking the missile for him.

The film warms our hearts with friendship, loyalty, camaraderie, and moral uprightness. It also showcases marvelous dog fights and aerial combat. It makes the audience vicariously enjoy the thrill of fighter flying. The storyline and the fantastic cinematography makes for an endearing film.

That said, many films are excellent on all levels, but they never become commercially successful, or at least not as successful as Top Gun Maverick.

The Pan-European western world has defined the world order for two centuries now and in the post second world war era, the US emerged as the world’s dominant power. However, that dominance is now being threatened by the rise of regional powers across the globe.

Top Gun Maverick is also a political triumph. It came at a time when the Russia-Ukraine war was at its peak, and threats of nuclear armageddon were very real. It also followed the US’s withdrawal from Afghanistan after a 20 year long siege, which could not end in a military or moral victory. It came at a time, when the world was recovering from a two year period of COVID-19-induced isolation, and fear.

Top Gun Maverick subconsciously represented a return to normalcy. No one is wearing a face mask in the film. It is the triumph of good over evil, when an unauthorized nuclear reactor is destroyed through a mission impossible pulled off by the daring pilots of the US Navy.

Top Gun Maverick is the 11th highest grossing movie of all time. It stands out from others in the list, because – with the exception of the 1997 film, The Titanic – all others films in the top 20 category are fantasy movies, such as The Avatar, The Avengers, Jurassic Park, The Lion King and Spider Man etc.

Hollywood is perhaps the United States’ greatest goodwill ambassador. When we watch the US Navy pilots on screen, they are automatically the good guys. When these pilots are setting out to destroy another country’s nuclear weapons facility, we are rooting for them. When they invade a country’s airspace to destroy the nuclear facility of a sovereign nation and then shoot down the combat air patrol of that country, we cheer for them. When they steal a plane and set out to escape in it, we want them to reach the US aircraft carrier alive and well.

This is how Hollywood endears the US to the world – even successfully endearing its military which has been invading nations beginning in Vietnam, continuing in Iraq and ending in Afghanistan . The US military dominates the globe and as of 2021 it had established 750 military bases at strategic locations in 80 countries. Inspite of its recent invasions that killed millions and wrecked entire countries, Top Gun Maverick’s pilots are the good guys in our minds.

The most significant political event in the US’s recent political history is the Capitol insurrection of Jan 6, 2021. These rioters were middle-aged educated professionals who were responding to the threat of the Great Replacement Theory. The theory states that, white European populations at large, are being demographically and culturally replaced with non-white peoples.

The Pan-European western world has defined the world order for two centuries now and in the post second world war era, the US emerged as the world’s dominant power. However, that dominance is now being threatened by the rise of regional powers across the globe. China, Russia, India and Saudi Arabia are asserting their dominance. Against the backdrop of the Russia-Ukraine war, the world saw the US Dollar being challenged by the Russian Ruble and the Chinese Yuan as well as the Indian Rupee, when global trade was conducted using these currencies, instead of the USD.

Top Gun Maverick mitigated the Great Replacement Theory with the kinetic thrill of air combat instituted by the US Navy. It recovered on celluloid the prestige lost by the costly US defeat in Afghanistan. It demonstrated the US’ military prowess, which was being questioned when it could not achieve victory in Afghanistan. The film also helped shed the moral baggage of the deadly drone strikes in the Pakistan-Afghanistan region, which had resulted in massive civilian deaths, euphemistically referred to as collateral damage.

In one fell swoop Top Gun Maverick did what President Trump had promised but failed to deliver, AKA to make America great again – in the perceptions of a global audience.

The writer is an independent researcher, author and columnist. She can be reached at aliya1924@gmail.com