Admit it, you heard the Kenny Loggins song in your head (Danger Zone) when this first caught your eye. And why not? Top Gun was one of the most loved movies of the 80s and it’s been a legendary movie ever since. When the first rumors came out that this movie was coming back with a highly-anticipated sequel people about lost their minds since for years now a lot of folks have been wanting see Maverick and Iceman make a comeback in a big way, and now it’s going to happen. What we’ve learned from the trailer however is that Maverick, for all his skill and all his training, has never seemed to rise above the rank of Captain. Iceman has become a Commander, and Goose’s son, Bradley, is now learning from Maverick, who is the flight instructor of Top Gun, which seems fitting, but is also kind of confusing.
Taking place well over three decades after the original, this movie seems to show that Maverick has either never really grown out of his youthful ways or has perhaps found himself in trouble more than once along the way, thereby making certain that he’ll never rise above a certain rank. But for all that it still seems that he’s now the old dog, the guy that is bound to watch new pilots come and go and ascend to levels that he will never attain. If anyone could have predicted this back in the 80s they might have stated that Maverick would have at least attained a slightly higher rank, but they would have been wrong of course. If anything this character seems as though he just enjoys the feeling of being in the cockpit too much and didn’t want to move on. As anyone in the military might know the natural ascension through the ranks is a normal progression. It does seem that a person can refuse a promotion that might allow them a bit more prestige, but it’s also likely that Maverick is just the kind of person that would seek to stay where he’s at.
The idea that he’s now training Goose’s son is interesting since it would seem that there might be some type of guilt that will follow him as he takes the younger man under his wing. Whether he and Iceman are still on good terms is going to be hard to say, since by the end of the first movie it did seem that they’d made their peace. Whatever you want to say about what’s going to happen and whatever predictions you want to make based on the trailer it’s likely going to be off the chain just because that seems to be the whole feeling that the director was going for. There’s no doubt, as Madeline Farber of Fox News implies, that there’s going to be a lot of story that will go into explaining why Maverick has never advanced, why Bradley is following in his father’s footsteps, and what mission they’ll undertake to make the plot ramp up just enough. What does seem likely to happen is that this could be Maverick’s last appearance since the exchange between Cruise and Ed Harris, who’s playing the part of his superior, seems to indicate that his time is coming to a close, and that his luck will only hold out for so long. Maybe this time around it will be Goose’s son that has to watch Maverick die, though hopefully it will be in combat. Given the state of things in the world at this moment though the conflict that might come along might be heavily charged in a way that might offend someone, though it will also be likely to be something epic, since that’s the only fitting way to see Maverick go out.
At this point you simply know that a lot of people are getting their jackets and their dark aviator glasses out since the movie is on its way and will be here as of June 2020 according to Brady Langmann of Esquire. It might seem like a long time to wait, but quite honestly there are a lot of movies coming out in the next several months that will help the time to fly by, no pun intended. The chance to see Maverick in the cockpit again is going to be absolutely great, but one has to wonder if there’s even a chance that we’ll see Iceman climb back in the cockpit. A lot of people can recall when Val Kilmer was still in the best shape of his life and was one of the most desired guys in Hollywood. But seeing him as he aged kind diminished that image, where Cruise at least stayed in pretty good shape since he kept up with the action films. Hopefully Kilmer was able to get back into decent shape for the movie, but it will be great to see him all the same.
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