Prior to going to the movie, I watched the original Top Gun with my teenage children. I hadn't seen it in 30 years and I was very unpleasantly surprised. Time has not been kind to it. I found I even hated the Maverick character. My kids also didn't like it, though probably for different reasons.

I had the opposite experience watching TGM. I found it easy to root for Maverick as he is not nearly so obnoxious and his arrogance and risk taking have the benefit of a few decades of maturity to temper them. By the way, what happens if you eject from a disintegrating plane going 7,500 MPH? My guess is that survival isn't one of the things that happens, but we definitely aren't here for a realistic plot. I enjoyed the movie from start to finish and found myself smiling several times throughout the show, which is rare for me unless I am laughing. I was glad I wasn't beaten over the head with woke messaging in my fighter jet movie.

Cannoli definitely has a better way than I do of understanding and articulating why a movie works or doesn't work. I'll just say this one definitely worked for me. Also, my teenage kids loved it. I will be seeing it at least one more time in the theater, something I haven't done in probably 10 years.