36 | New Scientist | 11 June 2022
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The film column
NEAR the climax of Joseph
Kosinski’s delirious sequel to
1986 hit Top Gun, a state-of-the-
art, fifth-generation fighter plane
engages Pete “Maverick” Mitchell’s
aircraft in a dogfight around snow-
capped mountains. Suddenly, the
huge, hulking wonderplane banks,
stalls and turns, hanging over
Mav (Tom Cruise, even more
steely eyed than usual) and his
wingman Rooster (Miles Teller)
as though it is painted on the sky.
“What the fuck was that?”
Rooster cries, although an actual
graduate of TOPGUN (official
name, the Navy Strike Fighter
Tactics Instructor programme)
would probably know a Herbst
manoeuvre when they saw one.
The Herbst (also known as a
J-turn) is the kind of move you
can pull only if you are flying one
of a handful of very expensive
fighters designed and built since- The Russian Sukhoi Su-57 is
one; China has the Chengdu J-20.
We aren’t told which aircraft
Mav is up against here, but he
is in trouble: the F/A-18s he is
commanding are no slouch, but,
being children of the 1990s, they
are neither super-stealthy
nor super-manoeuvrable.
Mav is also facing off against
progress, personified by a rear
admiral nicknamed the Drone
Ranger who (in a splendidly
sour cameo by Ed Harris) declares
that drones are the future, and
that carrier-based fighter pilots
like Mav are dinosaurs.Most of the time, however,
this sequel steers clear of ideas,
and devotes itself wholly to 1980s
nostalgia, as Mav (now a test pilot)
sets about making his peace
with the orphaned son of his
old wingman Nick “Goose”
Bradshaw. This is a well-told
tale of misunderstanding and
redemption, interspersed with
one-liners and Easter eggs for fans
of the earlier film. In one touching,
funny scene, Mav thanks Ice (now,
God help us, commander of theThe need for speed Part war film, part techno-thriller, Top Gun: Maverick might
lack narrative realism, but this 1980s nostalgia-fest is still a thrilling display
of aeronautical stunts, featuring some very fast planes, says Simon Ings“ Tom Cruise’s Maverick
breaks all speed
records, reaching
an epic 3.5 kilometres
a second”US Pacific fleet) for keeping
him in fighter planes and out
of promotion. Of Kelly McGillis’s
Charlie, Mav’s love interest in the
first movie, there is no mention,
but not every storyline can look
back, and in this film, Mav’s old
flame Penny Benjamin (Jennifer
Connelly) proves no pushover.
This is a peculiar project: part
war film (as our heroes steal a
plane from under the noses of the
enemy), part techno-thriller (as
Mav breaks all speed records and
reaches an epic 3.5 kilometres
a second) and part sports movie
(as Mav welds his TOPGUN pupils
into a world peace-saving team).
Films can be good fun-fair rides
as much as they can be good
dramas, and it would be silly to
criticise this thrilling display of
real-world aeronautical stunt work
for its lack of narrative realism.
What we might look forward to
eventually, though, is a film that
looks for peril and heroism in
a more contemporary theatre,
featuring aerial combat that is
truly fifth-generation: super-
stealthy, super-manoeuvreable,
and drone-enhanced.
Until someone makes that
imaginative leap (and, crucially,
can take a global audience along
for the ride), we can expect armed-
forces movies to draw increasingly
on science fiction for their plots.
Why is the pilot dogfighting with
Mav dressed like an Imperial TIE-
fighter pilot from Star Wars? Why
is the illegal uranium enrichment
plant that is the target of Mav’s
raid equipped with a 2-metre-wide
exhaust vent lifted from the Death
Star? Because this is what science
fiction is, much of the time:
a placeholder, a hoarding that
reads, “Coming soon: the future.” ❚PA
RAMOUNT^ PICTURESPete “Maverick” Mitchell
(Tom Cruise), steely eyed
in an F/A-18 combat jetFilm
Top Gun: Maverick
Joseph Kosinski
Out nowSimon also
recommends...
Book
The Right Stuff
Tom Wolfe
Vintage
“What is it that makes a
man willing to sit on top
of an enormous Roman
Candle ... and wait for
someone to light the fuse?”
Tom Wolfe’s 1979 account
of US test pilots and their
aircraft is as timeless as
“the right stuff ” itself.Video
F-22 Flight Controls
Delivered to pilots studying
at MIT in 2019, this is a
jaw-dropping account of
why fighter jets are easier
to fly, and more frightening,
than you could imagine.Simon Ings is a novelist and
science writer. Follow him on
Instagram at @simon_ings