I had no interest in watching this until I read the now famous interpretation that Maverick died in the opening scenes and the rest of the film essentially depicts his heaven. Sure enough this is such an apt interpretation that it’s impossible to view this film in any other way, particularly near the end when it abandons any semblance of realism. Yet this is produced so slickly, plumbs the nostalgia well so effectively and is overall so unabashedly positive that it’s infectiously likeable and entertaining. I think it’s a dumb film and I don’t want to like it, but damn if this doesn’t manage to win me over anyway.

Despite his age, Pete “Maverick” Mitchell is still a captain in the Navy and a test pilot. He is working on an experimental hypersonic scramjet plane when it is threatened with cancellation. He goes against orders to prove the project’s viability by hitting Mach 10 but then goes too far and destroys the plane. Instead of being fired, he is saved by his former rival Iceman who is now an admiral. He is sent back to the Top Gun school to develop a plan to an enemy uranium enrichment plant and train the pilots to perform the mission. Due to the elaborate defenses at the site, the plan calls for the team to fly F-18s through a narrow canyon to avoid radar, concurrently deliver two bombs on a small target, make a steep climb to get out of the canyon and escape superior enemy aircraft. His students are the best current pilots in the US and one of them is Rooster, the son of his dead best friend Goose, but naturally none are as good as Maverick himself. He also reconnects with an old girlfriend Penny who now owns the bar frequented by the naval aviators.

Now I’m no rivet counting aviation geek, but this film is so rife with errors and deviations from reality it’s like they don’t even care. The mission itself is a variation of the famous Star Wars trench run and to explain why they need to fly F-18s instead of using cruise missiles they just throw in a line about GPS jammers. The film touches on how unmanned drones are replacing human pilots but doesn’t want to talk about how stealth technology would obviate the need for fancy flying. The air battles in here are basically video games as the anti-air defense fire dozens of mostly ineffectual missiles at their planes and are batted aside by flares and chaff. For all of their technology, the pilots fly as if radar doesn’t exist and they need to physically look around to see other planes, and Maverick can always sneak up on everyone whenever he wants. I can’t imagine that this would be very appealing to people who actually like planes but it makes for passable action.

What this film excels in is in evoking nostalgia and doing it in such a wholesome way that it feels petty to disparage it. Everything from uniforms, cinematography, props, even Tom Cruise’s precise posture and smile which is actually lampshaded in the dialogue. The group dynamics and rivalries of the original film are replayed in the younger generation, only this time Maverick is there as the elder mentor to guide them and of course reminiscence about the good old times as he watches them. This is also why the interpretation of it all being Maverick’s heaven is so compelling. He gets to relive the best moments of his life and fix all of his problems and regrets, have Rooster present to get closure over the death of his best friend, even establish once and for all that he is the greatest fighter pilot who has ever lived. It also works as a last hurrah for the fighter pilot as the world moves on to unpiloted drones and technology makes dogfighting skills obsolete. His repeated claims that it’s the pilot in the box that matters not the plane itself is romantically defiant but is removed from reality. So when the final battle has him pull off a series of increasingly implausible feats, you don’t shake your head at how dumb it is. Instead you feel why not just let him have his Don Quixote-style moment.

So despite my misgivings, this was actually a film that I rather enjoyed. I only fear that its commercial and critical success might encourage the filmmakers to make more sequels and that would totally obliterate any goodwill this film has earned. I also note that this makes for a great example of a male fairy tale movie in which everything goes right for the male hero and he gets everything he ever dreamed of. Next time someone complains about wish fulfillment fantasy films for women you can just point to this as an example of how men have their own equivalent and everyone seems just fine with it.