The movie is good and very entertaining mainly because of the ridiculous or impossible low flight paths in the mountains by those F/A-18 jet fighters and the ensuing fierce air combats with the enemies, both of which are considerably more exciting than the original “Top Gun” >36 years ago. But it’s a movie full of Hollywood/American clichés (and kind of too predictable) at times — I mean, it’s absolutely opposite to any kind of indie movie with certain innovative style. Admittedly, the nostalgic feel is one of the winning elements of the movie.
In the movie, it’s said that US now doesn’t have a significant/real advantage in terms of their weapons (even their jet fighters !) any more. So, they emphasized that it’s the pilots which were the most important — of course, I guess there is a limit that your weapons can’t be too much worse than your enemies. 😄 In the movie, they called the enemy’s planes “fifth-generation fighter jets” — presumably Russian jets sold to Iran — which were on par with US fighter jets and I guess this factor is needed in order to make the movie more exciting. Hollywood movies of course would flaunt American heroism, like one able to kill ten etc. It’s certainly good entertainment in US. ( Honestly, I have enjoyed it probably as much as the rest of the audience in the same theater. ) But in reality, I wonder whether US typically wins when US side outnumbers the enemy or has much superior weapons.
Often, in US, one would see something like 10 vehicles (ambulances, fire trucks and police cars) just in one emergency incident. It’s like, there have to be 10 of them in order to do the job. I don’t think you’d see that many of police cars, ambulances and fire trucks for a “normal” emergency in other countries. I guess it’s certainly good that US has so much resource in those circumstances.
Nevertheless, wondering aloud in my mind, when there is only one police officer in US, would s/he be able to deal with one thief or robber or killer/shooter ? Or, we “always” need several police officers to deal with one killer ?! After a few days’ inquiries from the journalists, we realized in the recent Uvalde school shooting tragedy (May 24, 2022) that there were 19 officers waiting in the school hallway for >40 minutes or >1 hour when the killer was inside a classroom ! The blame seems to be on the commander (school police chief) who made that decision not to go in … but I feel that many American police officers are just not that used to engaging on one-on-one fights. Not really John McClane in the “Die Hard” movies ! They either need many to fight against one or possess much better weapon than their opponents …
Increasing the scale a bit, we can evaluate the wars in which US fought after World War II. In the Korean War, though US might have better weapons, they were outnumbered by the no. of Chinese PLA soldiers and this resulted in a tug of war. An armistice was needed to at least temporarily end the war. In the Vietnamese War, US obviously lost the war to the determined and indomitable army of the Viet Cong plus probably many Vietnamese civilians. Even though US quickly defeated the Iraqi army in the “shock and awe” strategy with the superior weaponry in 2003, we didn’t quite feel that US really won when US withdrew in 2011. Not to mention Afghanistan that I am probably not the only one who feels that Taliban seems to be the ultimate winner when US withdrew in 2020.
I certainly feel that US has much better intentions to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan than the Russians invading Ukraine. But, it’s clear that to invade another country is no trivial matter even for the biggest military powers, Russian or American. During the 2019 democratic movements in Hong Kong, many naïve Hong Kong students and citizens were hoping or dreaming that US could fight and defeat China and teach China/Communist-Party a lesson. I also wish that could be a reality. Unfortunately, not being able to succeed in Afghanistan after ~20 years does not enhance any likelihood that US would dare to invade China in any realistic way …… unless China invades US first.
I went (alone) to watch “Top Gun: Maverick” in the Matinee hours (1:10 pm) in the nearby “Movieland Cinemas”, partly because the ticket is only $6 for “Bargain Matinee” compared to $10 (General Admission after 4 pm in this movie theater). Though cinemas around have long opened (for > 1 year), this is the first time that I go to see a movie since Jan. 9, 2020. Without any particular reason, I remember again that when I was a graduate student in Oxford/England (1993-6), I discussed going to see movies in the matinee hours with a girl I kind of liked. She told me that she’d not go to see a movie during daytime. As a result, there was probably only once that (only) the two of us went to see a movie together. I guess I didn’t like her enough to waste/spend more money than I feel I should. … Hmm … Mmm … My mind wandering a bit, an obscure picture of me going to see a movie together with an Indian girl (from Hong Kong) in Oxford — probably during matinee though I’m not very sure now. The funny part was that after that movie, she never wanted to get in touch with me any more ! I am still not sure whether it’s because I didn’t see her home after the movie or something else. Maybe, she misunderstood and expected that that was a “date”; but to me, it’s just two casual friends going to see a movie together. I guess all these result in me still going to see movies alone today, which I kind of prefer anyway.
Kin's space 