Top Gun Maverick Still Reckless and Fun

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Last night my family and I watched the timeless classic where a 54 year old who is in unholy good shape , probably by blood transfusion from olympic athletes decided to keep the same job for 30-40 years and refuses all attempts at promotion. Wait, the job part of the story is hitting me a little closer to home than I like. Anyhow he is still the best at what he does , yeah we are tommy. Somehow he has the reflexes of a Korean Starcraft2 players with 5 espresso shots and is brought to run a suicide mission where he has been asked to teach these overhormonal kids on how to beat the odds. Unfortunately for him this is also a therapy session for his estranged pseudo-nepher Rooster who is the son of Maverick’s long lost best friend Goose (yeah cant make this stuff up) where is is trying to make up for accidentally killing the kids father by being fearless and reckless.  So the way he will save the kids' life is by using the same disregard for the rules and authority and the same reckless behaviour that killed the others in the first movie. Yeah this all makes sense to a Gen-X like me who also watches K-Drama and some Anime.  I have to admit the cinematography is excellent alebeit shot for shot with the same plot and scenes as the first movie.  I do give them kudos for putting a wonderful and gorgeous actress Jeennifer Connelly , who does a wonderful job of hating him but of course falling for the same guy who will always break her heart.  The action is nonstop pointing and obviously filmed using a lot of classic physical effects which I always appreciate.   Now here comes the bad part, I liked everything about it , but is it a great movie? Well nope, it is a good popcorn movie. Characters that you don't care too much about, other than poor Val Kilmer, because that dude rules.  The plot is beaten into you like a season 5 stranger things episode like 4-5 times,  remember “the hard deck is 5,000 feet” says the dude from MadMen and “those 10G’s”  ….. Anyhow , this was a fun movie, especially if you already have access to Paramount plus, yet I would not pay for it.  “Project Hail Mary” it is not, but then again Ryan Gosling is the true Goat legend, so how does one ever top that guy?  My favorite parts were the GTA in the snow parts and those scenes with the F14 TomCat cause we all know that plane is just the best regardless of decade.  Now I just want to play some Afterburner on my Sega Master System.  Well that's all folks, see you next time, and remember to always play retro!!!