History Film / TopGunMaverick

** As awesome as the "Blinchik" supermaneuver looks, it probably still wouldn't let the 5th-Gen. fighter dodge the missile fired by [[spoiler:Maverick and Rooster's stolen F-14,]] considering a normal heat-seeking missile would also be packing a proximity fuse. Even if the SU-57 did manage to avoid the missile fired, all this maneuver would have done is set Maverick up for a picture perfect gun kill.

** As awesome as the "Blinchik" supermaneuver looks, it probably still wouldn't let the 5th-Gen. fighter dodge the missile fired by [[spoiler:Maverick and Rooster's stolen F-14,]] considering a normal heat-seeking missile would also be packing a proximity fuse.

* CripplingOverspecialization: Maverick is subject to this, although it's clearly by choice. He's probably the best fighter pilot in the ''world'', but being a fighter pilot is all he wants to be. It ''does'' impact his naval career. He's a Navy Captain, equivalent to an Air Force or Army full colonel. He's not serving in a position befitting his rank. A Navy Captain would be commanding ships, submarines, Air Wings, or entire bases, not serving as an instructor pilot. Maverick is, however, perfectly happy with that, knowing he doesn't have the administrative, personnel, or political skills to really succeed or be satisfied in any of those positions. It's made clear several times that his being close friends with Iceman, who has risen to be one of the top admirals in the Navy, has allowed him to stay in the cockpit. Iceman probably has been looking out for Maverick ever since they met, knowing Mitchell is ill-suited for anything other than being a fighter pilot.

** [[spoiler:In the final battle, Maverick is confronted by a third Felon, but is unable to defeat it due to being out of bullets and weapons, and Rooster is unable to eject. Just as it moves in for the kill, [[BigDamnHeroes Hangman saves the day and shoots down the enemy]].]]

* EtTuBrute: Rooster's resentment towards Maverick is a case of this. [[spoiler:When Rooster applied to the Naval Academy, Maverick, acting under Carole's secret DyingWish, pulled some strings to block his application and deny him admission. Feeling hurt and betrayed that his father's best friend destroyed his dream, Rooster cut off all contact with him.]]

** [[spoiler:While Maverick and Rooster masqueraded as friendly pilots to steal the Rogue Nation's F-14 Tomcat, not a single enemy soldier on the ground seem to notice the F-14 perform an unauthorized takeoff-run on the taxiway.]]

** During the first training session, Rooster draws Maverick's fire to save his wingman, and ends up getting "shot down" himself, showing that he's prepared to put his team's safety ahead of his own; [[spoiler:After Maverick gets shot down for real during the bombing raid, Rooster goes back and saves him from an enemy gunship, only to get shot down himself, stranding them both behind enemy lines]]

* IronicEcho: Maverick repeats to Rooster his DontThinkFeel flying philosophy from the first film. [[spoiler:After they're both shot down, Mav is furious at Rooster for coming back for him, and Rooster retorts, "You told me not to think!" which renders Mav completely speechless. Comedy gold.]]

* MarriedToTheJob: Despite it having been more than 30 years since 1986, Maverick remains a childless bachelor because he repeatedly declines to retire from being a naval aviator when others his age would have retired or pursued other career paths. Being the very best pilot actively serving in the US Navy has also caused Maverick to be frequently deployed abroad and away from Penny, his longtime on-and-off girlfriend. When he reunites with her on his assignment to train Dagger Squadron, she's become wary of restarting things with him again.

* ArtisticLicenseMilitary: While the film has impressive attention to detail, some liberties are still taken.
** Peter "Maverick" Mitchell has been serving for almost forty years. Considering that he was a Navy lieutenant (O-3) in 1986, he must have been commissioned in at least 1982, as it normally takes four years to advance from ensign to lieutenant. Assuming this movie takes place in 2019, the year it was originally meant to be released, he would have been serving for 37 years, give or take a few months, which is more than enough for the time in service requirement for promotion to captain (O-6). Admiral Cain says Mitchell ought to be a two-star admiral by now. Navy captains who are not selected for promotion to admiral ''must'' retire at 30 years of service, it's the law (though there are [[https://news.usni.org/2019/07/22/navy-answers-how-a-57-year-old-maverick-could-still-feel-the-need-for-speed rare scenarios where one could serve past the mandatory retirement]]). Only Ice's position as Commander, Pacific Fleet can explain Maverick's continued service in the Navy despite his unsuitability for promotion to the admiralty.
** Maverick tries to conventionally train the pilots on the flight course, but they fail to complete the mission within its parameters. It's only when he's taken off the mission that he flies it himself and proves that it can be done in an even shorter timeframe than he's been pushing for. If this were a real exercise, the flight instructor would fly the course as early as possible to show the pilots how it should be done, and they would work towards achieving the parameters. Justified in that Cyclone is the one calling the shots here, and it is obvious that he doesn't want Maverick involved in the actual mission, only acquiescing after Maverick successfully demonstrates that it is possible to complete the course within the timeframe.
** The film takes place mostly in San Diego, at NAS North Island (where Dagger Squadron is being trained) and NAS North Coast ([[spoiler:where Iceman's office is]]). TOPGUN is currently based roughly 450 miles north of San Diego at NAS Fallon in Nevada, having moved there in 1996. Justified, as mentioned above, because Maverick is actually training TOPGUN ''graduates'' rather than current students for a combat mission.
** This one is seen in both films: An entire carrier deck crew would ''not'' turn out en masse to celebrate a plane returning, no matter how happy they were. [[spoiler:It's particularly egregious in this one, as firefighting teams are still actively hosing down the crashed F-14 in the background, not 20 yards away. If anything, the rest of the crew should be getting as far away as possible.]]
** Iceman's office is implied to be at NAS North Island. In reality, the HQ for Commander, Pacific Fleet is ''2600 miles southwest'' at Naval Base Pearl Harbor. In ''Hawaii.'' This may also be justified due to Iceman's long illness, with the Navy allowing him to live with his family before his death.
** Also, once again, Mav is refusing to wear his motorcycle helmet.
** Despite the known presence of Surface-to-Air missiles there was no effort to take them out of the equation, instead opting to only [[MacrossMissileMassacre saturate the nearby airfield with Tomahawks]] to take it out of commission. Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses (SEAD) is not even mentioned, despite a quarter of American combat sorties in recent conflicts having been SEAD missions. It's quite possible that the ''Leyte Gulf'' was the only guided-missile cruiser available to help at this point (especially when the mission is moved up by one week), and that a choice had to be made to either target the SAM batteries or the airfield. It's also possible that this mission is being conducted in secret, and having two guided missile cruisers in close proximity to the enrichment facility would be too obvious.
*** A second cruiser would be unnecessary, the standard VLS loadout for a Ticonderoga cruiser as of 2018 includes 32 Tomahawks. As the Leyte Gulf launches 24 of them at the airfield, that still leaves 8 Tomahawks available to hit the SAM batteries.
** The mission plan itself also defies every modern air warfare doctrine that's been established over the past few decades. The premise is that the enemy is using a "[=GPS jammer=]" over the target area, which would supposedly render fifth-generation fighter-bombers useless. This forces Maverick to instead come up with a plan for four older F-18s to fly in and do the job using lower-tech laser-guided bombs. For starters, the Navy's fifth-gen F-35s can just as easily carry and use those same bombs, no problem; but [[OneRiotOneRanger sending only four aircraft]] to perform such a crucial bombing mission - when the movie straight-up acknowledges that they need ''two'' consecutive miracles and can't even afford a single miss - is downright unthinkable. For comparison, the 1981 Operation Opera (on which this mission is loosely based) involved eight F-16s attacking an ''above-ground'' nuclear facility, six F-15s as air cover, an additional two F-15s for electronic warfare (which is not used in the movie ''at all''), and a total of 60 other support aircraft including backup F-4 bombers and rescue helicopters - and this is just what the Israeli Air Force could manage to send given its limited resources! This also brings up another point, since the mission in the film is carried out with exactly zero air cover for the attackers. There isn't a bigger "no no" than that.
** The Blinchik maneuver the Su-57 uses is impressive to look at, but totally useless in a real-life engagement due to modern dogfights taking place at beyond-visual ranges where an enemy pilot would have plenty of time to adjust aim without flying past -- not to mention a large, stationary target to blow to pieces; Maverick empirically has enough time to switch to guns and open fire, with the only possible explanation being that the maneuver's AwesomenessIsAForce that stays his hand. (It ''is'' a badass maneuver.) Finally, even with the [=Su-57=]'s on-paper stealth capabilities, modern radar and weapons are designed for BVR situations where the Su-57's insane maneuverability would be less useful.[[note]]This is why the F-35 doesn't include thrust vectoring in its design: modern US fighter plane doctrine is about designing essentially sniper planes that can destroy targets before the victim is CrosshairAware, and the added cost of things that would never be used in such situations was deemed unnecessary[[/note]].
** The weapon systems are depicted rather unrealistically. Missiles are equipped with proximity fuses and do enough SplashDamage to destroy their targets even if that target managed to shake the lock with a ''Blinchik'' supermaneuver. The same is true of the bullets fired by both the F-14 and the Su-57: they are customarily high-explosive and can destroy targets with only a few rounds. (The F-14 is justified by the FridgeLogic possibility that it might be using "home-made" rounds: the planes were sold to Iran in TheSeventies, which is plenty of time to run out of ammo.) Finally, the rate of fire from both craft are completely off; aircraft-mounted guns typically fire much faster, for precisely the reasons this film demonstrates: if you have only a couple instants in which your weapons are on-target, you'd better make them count.
** Flare countermeasures are completely useless against radar-guided [=SAMs=], as they're meant specifically to defeat IR-guided missiles. Realistically, the Dagger pilots would use chaff decoys instead, which are essentially packets of metal strips that reflect radar emissions. This is justified visually, since it would have been much harder for viewers to see chaff being released.
** When Maverick runs out of missiles during the canyon dogfight, he moves his weapon selector switch from the SP/PH position to the GUNS position. The switch should've been moved from SW instead, SP/PH is used to control radar-guided Sparrow and Phoenix missiles, while SW controls the IR-guided Sidewinder missiles that Maverick was using. It's a very minor detail that's easy to miss, but it's worth mentioning here.
** For a breakdown (by two veteran naval aviators) of the creative liberties taken with the military & aviation aspects of the film, [[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLObcJkVHaiNzX_w1u9yUmIDhMw_-zE5Rx see here.]]
** When Cyclone and Warlock call Maverick back to train the pilots on the bombing mission, Warrant Officer "Hondo" Coleman is initially a supervisor at the Dark Star program, but he not only shows up at the training facility with Maverick, but also follows him onto the carrier to help with the mission itself. Despite his rank, Maverick doesn't have his own staff that accompanies him from place to place, so he either made bringing Hondo along a request to the admiralty, or (more likely in character) told him to hop in the car and come along for a fun mission and that they'd handwave the orders later.

''Top Gun: Maverick'' is a 2022 American action/military drama film and the sequel to 1986's ''Film/TopGun''. It is directed by Creator/JosephKosinski (''Film/TronLegacy'', ''Film/{{Oblivion|2013}}'') with a screenplay written by Peter Craig, Justin Marks, Creator/ChristopherMcQuarrie and Eric Warren Singer.

** Shortly after Jennifer Connelly is revealed to be running the bar Maverick is drinking in, David Bowie comes on the jukebox. Connelly starred with Bowie in ''{{Film/Labyrinth}}'' in 1986.

* SpinOffspring: Rooster, the son of Goose, is present.

* SomeoneToRememberHimBy: Bradley, Goose's son, is present.

* SomeoneToRememberHimBy: Roose, Goose's son, is present.

* SamePlotSequel: The movie hits all the same beats as its predecessor: Both open with a brief text about the history of TOPGUN, complete with the Top Gun Anthem and Danger Zone playing back-to-back, Maverick disobeying orders from a major superior before being sent to TOPGUN, the trainees being introduced in a bar, not knowing their instructor is involved, a rivalry between two trainees, a fun time at the beach, a near tragic accident involving the trainees halfway through the film, [[spoiler:a close friend of Maverick's passing away]], and during the climax, one of the pilots having a [[HeroicBSOD confidence problem]] before getting a HeroicSecondWind. The ending also involves a triumphant return to an aircraft carrier in which the rivalry becomes a friendship, and also ends with Maverick reuniting with the LoveInterest and a plane [[RidingIntoTheSunset flying into the sunset]] over the end credits.

* SamePlotSequel: The movie hits all the same beats as its predecessor: Both open with a brief text about the history of TOPGUN, complete with the Top Gun Anthem and Danger Zone playing back-to-back, Maverick disobeying orders from a major superior before being sent to TOPGUN, the trainees being introduced in a bar, not knowing their instructor is involved, a rivalry between two trainees, a fun time at the beach, a near tragic accident involving the trainees halfway through the film, [[spoiler:a close friend of Maverick's passing away]], and during the climax, one of the pilots having a [[HeroicBSOD confidence problem]] before getting a HeroicSecondWind.

* SamePlotSequel: The movie almost feels largely the same as its prequel: Both open with a brief text about the history of TOPGUN, complete with the Top Gun Anthem and Danger Zone playing back-to-back, Maverick disobeying orders from a major superior before being sent to TOPGUN, the trainees being introduced in a bar, not knowing their instructor is involved, a rivalry between two trainees, a fun time at the beach, a near tragic accident involving the trainees halfway through the film, [[spoiler:a close friend of Maverick's passing away]], and during the climax, one of the pilots having a [[HeroicBSOD confidence problem]] before regaining a HeroicSecondWind.

* SamePlotSequel: The movie almost feels largely the same as its prequel: Both open with a brief text about the history of TOPGUN, complete with the Top Gun Anthem and Danger Zone playing back-to-back, Maverick disobeying orders from a major superior before being sent to TOPGUN, the trainees being introduced in a bar, not knowing their instructor is involved, a rivalry between two trainees, a near tragic accident involving the trainees halfway through the film, [[spoiler:a close friend of Maverick's passing away]], and during the climax, one of the pilots having a [[HeroicBSOD confidence problem]] before regaining a HeroicSecondWind.

* ActorAllusion: Shortly after Jennifer Connelly is revealed to be running the bar Maverick is drinking in, David Bowie comes on the jukebox. Connelly starred with Bowie in ''{{Film/Labyrinth}}'' in 1986.

* ThisCannotBe: [[spoiler:After Maverick and Rooster manage to get airborne in an F-14, Rooster activates his locator beacon, alerting the crew that he's alive. They quickly realize that Rooster is airborne and that the plane he's in is an F-14. Meaning that the only explanation is that Maverick survived as well and they're on their way back. Cyclone and Warlock are shocked.]]

* SequelEscalation: The first movie's climax was small-scale, simply consisting of a dogfight against some enemy [=MiGs=]. In this one? [[spoiler:An AirstrikeImpossible against an enemy base, followed by escaping from the hostile territory by stealing one of the jets, ''then'' the obligatory dogfight against the enemy fighters (only this time there are three of them as opposed to six, except all of them are destroyed instead of a few of them bugging out). Also, the hostiles this time are flying the Su-57 "Felons", which are ''way superior'' planes than the Hornets (and later a Tomcat) that the protagonists are flying, to the point that one of the reasons why the mission is as hard as it was is that Maverick wanted to ''avoid'' fighting [[TheDreaded them]], and he only engaged them when he is simply left with no other options.]]

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: Rooster is an ''Aviator,'' not a Naval Flight Officer, who came up through the fleet flying exclusively F/A-18 Super Hornets. Without his father's specialized training in operating the radar systems of the F-14 Tomcat, he's reduced almost entirely to being Maverick's backseat spotter during their flight in the stolen F-14. He also fails to arm the F-14's ejection seats before buckling in, which nearly has catastrophic consequences for himself and Maverick.

* RealityEnsues: Rooster is an ''Aviator,'' not a Naval Flight Officer, who came up through the fleet flying exclusively F/A-18 Super Hornets. Without his father's specialized training in operating the radar systems of the F-14 Tomcat, he's reduced almost entirely to being Maverick's backseat spotter during their flight in the stolen F-14. He also fails to arm the F-14's ejection seats before buckling in, which nearly has catastrophic consequences for himself and Maverick.

* RealityEnsues: Rooster is an ''Aviator,'' not a Naval Flight Officer, who came up through the fleet flying exclusively F/A-18 Super Hornets. Without his father's specialized training in operating the radar systems of the F-14 Tomcat, he's reduced almost entirely to being Maverick's backseat spotter during their flight in the stolen F-14.,

-->'''Cyclone''': Okay, you have less than three weeks to teach them how to ''fight as a team'' and how to ''strike the target''.\\

'''Maverick''': I don’t, sir.
** After one failed training session, Maverick asks Rooster why he was dead. Rooster insists he was the only pilot to make it to the target, but Maverick counters that he was too slow and would be intercepted by superior enemy fighters.
-->'''Maverick''': You're not flying fast enough. You don't have a second to waste.
-->'''Rooster''': We made it to the target.
-->'''Maverick''': And superior enemy aircraft intercepted you on your way out.
-->'''Rooster''': Then it's a dogfight.
-->'''Maverick''': Against fifth-generation fighters.
-->'''Rooster''': Yeah. We'd still have a chance.
-->'''Maverick''': In an F-18.
-->'''Rooster''': It's not the plane, sir, it's the pilot.
-->'''Maverick''': [[YouAreNotReady Exactly!]]