Everything Wrong With Top Gun: Maverick in 23 Minutes or Less

Top Gun Maverick is one of the best stories about cinema in 2022. It dominated, in no small part thanks to it being a pretty awesome movie. We still gotta do our thing, though, and count the sins.

Next week: SciFi sins from the aughts, recent animated sins.

Remember, no movie is without sin. Which movie's sins should we count next?

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[A.F.Whitepigeon]

You know, I actually did believe they might kill Maverick at the end. With the number of times they hammered home how he was being forced into retirement, how obsolete he was becoming, how this was his last mission... It really felt like a "one last ride"-type of deal. It didn't seem entirely out-of-the-question to have him heroically die in action, passing the torch on to the next generation.

[doit]

This movie single-handedly saved some movie theaters from going out of business

[Bender]

Retired F/A-18 pilot here. Yes, targeting systems (radars) can get confused when they look down into "ground clutter" to try to make out the target from the background. Normally up at altitude it's not an issue, but down low the terrain can make it more difficult to obtain/maintain a radar lock.

[Driggsdamonstah]

I remember seeing some behind the scenes videos of this movie. The actors actually had to be trained like military personnel including survival training and everything in order for everything to be shot properly because they were flying like actual naval aviators while getting footage for the movie. Really shows their dedication when getting to fly with Tom Cruise.

[jedsithor]

The entire mission is basically the attack on the first Death Star in reverse in that in Top Gun the trench run happens first and the dog fight happens second. Honestly, I'm surprised the ending of the video didn't include the rebel briefing from Star Wars overlayed with the mission briefing here.

[MrSbfan]

It makes sense that a plane that is built to go Mach 9 or 10 would not rely on the old pilot/seat ejection system. It would have a system that would eject the cockpit module as a means to keep the pilot safe from the forces involved. That's how I chose to explain to myself the ejection at such high velocity.

[DeusExNihilum]

This movie could have 10, 000 sins, and even less logical sense, and I'd still think it was one of the best films of recent years. Each and every sin has a badass moment to wash it away with

[personMN]

5:33 - the REAL sin is that Ed Harris didn’t tell Maverick his military record was long and distinguished so Maverick could respond, “so is my Johnson.”

[sweetlisa]

You forgot to explain why Hondo was on the aircraft carrier too. The man has 3 distinct jobs in this film. First he is running the top secret testing program, then he is in charge of counting push ups at Top Gun, and finally he is the Deck Chief on a Carrier off the coast of the Country "Fifth Generation Fighter"

[DjMikeWatt]

The admiral making the mission "more achievable" was because he wasn't concerned with them coming home. You can take 4 minutes to get to the target if you're ok with the enemy fighters being there when you come out.

I'm surprised you didn't get that.

[trinaq]

I'm so glad that they brought back Val Kilmer, and gave Iceman a dignified death, as well as writing his real life condition into the script.

[jasonw]

The biggest thing for me is that at no point do the recruits successfully complete any of the training segments for the mission. Failed at dogfighting, failed at navigating the canyon in time, failed at hitting the target. But don't worry, they'll put it all together on the day of the actual mission.

[gesangmanggala]

I don't care how many sins you gave to this movie. If there's one thing this video achieved, it's that it makes me want to see the movie again.

[definitelynicholascage]

Sin Counter #16. When I was a marine access control point guard on a conus military base all officers 0-6 and above got unimpeded access and could generally breeze through the gate. Not at full speed mind you. But if Maverick went through that gate on a regular basis and post orders haven’t changed in the last 20 years then him driving through the gate without stopping is possible.


Boy am I happy I explained all that.

[SirBoycie]

A glaring thing is that on the actual mission they flew under bridges like they didn't know they were there...in training there was no mention they would have to. You'd think the fact they would have to fly very fast through bridge arches would be have been known beforehand and quite an important part of the simulated training haha!

[pagangodx]

I took my wife of 25 years to this movie on our anniversary. We made the mistake of going to see the last Jedi a few years ago. Haven’t gone to see a movie since then.
Totally worth it

[alexburke]

One of the best cinematic experiences of my life

[dougim]

I genuinely enjoy that Bob’s call sign is “Bob”.

[Mannchini]

Maverick proving the mission can be flown should have had at least 10 sins off.

[LeonardoKlotz]

PRACTICAL EFFECTS BEFORE CGI

That's my motto