Should There Even Be A Top Gun 3?
As we all know, Top Gun 3 is already in development (and fans are already making their own trailers; see them embedded in this article). The producers are trying to find a script that works (and China approves of).
For those who did not know, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) Tech giant Tencent invested in the balls-to-the-wall US patriotic film Top Gun: Maverick. In the trailer of the sequel to the 1986 original, Tom Cruise’s character, Pete Mitchell, is seen wearing a flight jacket with several patches from places he’s seen in his career.
There was a patch that showed the flags of Japan and Taiwan together. Tsk, Tsk, Tsk. The People’s Republic of China did not like that because Taiwan is, you know, Taiwan.
So, the trailer was edited, and the flags were changed to similar colors with ambiguous symbols. This characterizes the PRC’s influence on Hollywood. Of course, when the word was spread, the people went ballistic on Paramount in response to the 2019 trailer featuring the censored jacket. This outrage demonstrated that there is a cost to catering to PRC censors.
However, in 2019, Tencent withdrew from the project, and Paramount put the original patch back on Cruise’s jacket. They deserve no credit for doing so. That alone turned me off from seeing the picture in theaters.
However, we need to step back in time regarding Top Gun III, like the Top Gun franchise.
To quote Jeff Goldblum in Jurassic Park, “Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.”
Top Gun: Maverick, Nostalgia Done Right
It was a little surprising that the film did so well. Usually, films like this are precisely the kind of nostalgia-fuelled blockbusters that audiences are generally quick to toss under the bus.
But the original was so popular, Cruise is a bonafide action superstar, and the flight scenes were terrific, so these are reasons that the sequel film resonated so well.
I was surprised the film was made. 2022 is far different from 1986 when the original came out. The original took place during the Cold War and the Reagan era, and patriotism was on the rise. Military action blockbusters were in, and Top Gun checked all the blocks.
The original had it all. Brash, cock fighter pilots who are more at war with each other than the perceived enemy, a beautiful love interest whose character, unfortunately, was pretty one-dimensional, gorgeous sunsets, and aviation scenes that we’ve never seen before, and of course, the good guys triumph by working together in the end. It was the type of flag-waving, America-is-good type film Hollywood hates today.
However, Hollywood loves money-makers and banks on proven franchises these days. After the pandemic, films like Top Gun: Maverick and Avatar 2 probably saved the film industry.
The 2022 sequel basically stretches credibility to the breaking point, with Pete Mitchell, 36 years after the original film, still a Navy aviator. D
o the math. To get to Top Gun school in the original, Mitchell had to have nearly 10 or more years in the Navy. The required career spanned time in the Academy, flight school, transition to fighters, and at least one squadron tour.
He’d be pushing 70, which is why all of the original co-stars look so aged (Val Kilmer) or didn’t appear in the sequel (Kelly McGillis).
However, regardless of that, the newer film touches on all the same themes as the original. This time, instead of IceMan (Kilmer), Maverick’s antagonist is Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw, who is the son of “Goose,” Maverick’s back-seater RIO, who died in the original.
Expect more gorgeous sunsets and aerial scenes that will knock your socks off. Oh, the love interest this time is the incredible Jennifer Conelly, who, like McGillis, is one-dimensional and should have had more chops in the film.
Top Gun 3: So Where Might They Go With the Story?
Top Gun: Maverick was the perfect ending for Pete Mitchell. Cruise’s character finally comes to grips with his past; he and Goose’s son, Rooster, work together to accomplish the mission and bond. He takes Ice Man’s advice to “let it go,” and he and Connelly fly off in his refurbished P-51 Mustang.
That scene and the film’s beginning, where he test rides a thinly veiled SR-72 to Mach 10, were probably the film’s best parts. It is a perfect ending to the Top Gun story.
Coincidentally, Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works built the mockup of the SR-72 for the film, or did they?
During the filming, a Chinese satellite took pictures of the mockup. So you can bet the house that soon a Chinese J-72 will appear that looks remarkably like the mockup in the film.
If they insist on making this picture (Top Gun 3), and obviously they do, because Hollywood can put up with the patriotic flag-waving that it hates if it is putting money in its pockets. And it will. But how about #3, which should be a prequel, where we learn about Pete Mitchell’s father?
But, unfortunately, there aren’t any more F-4s around.
About the Author:
Steve Balestrieri is a 19FortyFive National Security Columnist. He served as a US Army Special Forces NCO and Warrant Officer. In addition to writing for 19FortyFive, he covers the NFL for PatsFans.com and is a member of the Pro Football Writers of America (PFWA). His work was regularly featured in many military publications.
