When Top Gun: Maverick was confirmed, I was a bit skeptical. Putting out a sequel to a classic ‘80s movie over 30 years after the original is always a risk with audiences, but I remember being pleasantly surprised by the Top Gun follow-up. Top Gun: Maverick toed the line between nostalgic fan service and a new engaging plot perfectly, and it makes me genuinely excited for the prospect of a third Top Gun film. However, given that the sequel upped the ante for cinematic value, I was surprised to learn its final mission is actually "pretty realistic" according to a real-life Navy pilot.
I should never have doubted Tom Cruise, who insists on doing his own insane stunts, when it came to making a realistic Top Gun film. The Mummy actor, director Joseph Kosinski and producer Jerry Bruckheimer were committed to making the aviation sequences as real-looking as possible, working with the Navy and the real-life Top Gun school, and putting their actors through three months of grueling flight training. But it’s one thing for a movie to look real, and it's another to actually be realistic, especially when it comes to Top Gun situations. Retired Marine Corp. fighter pilot Dave Berke broke down the final mission sequence for ScreenRant, comparing it to real-life naval practices:
