![]() Now it’s the living epicenter of global conflict.īut why does “Maverick” invoking NATO automatically invoke Russia? For that, you have to connect one more dot: the original “Top Gun.” That movie climaxed with a battle against Russian MiGs. The alliance was always vital (even as some argued that it had become irrelevant). But the meaning of NATO, since the war in Ukraine began, has changed. That seems - or must have seemed, when “Maverick” started shooting four years ago - like a relatively safe sphere of actuality for the movie to invoke. The Top Gun team is on a mission to protect NATO. ![]() ![]() But to root the film in something that resembles the real world, they slip in one telltale word: NATO. In “Maverick,” no one says the word “Russia.” On the contrary, it’s obvious that the filmmakers were bending over backwards to make the whole standoff as politically neutral and non-topical as possible. Pete “Maverick” Mitchell is training an elite squadron to attack a weapons site - basically a hole in the ground they have to zoom under the radar and bomb with pinpoint precision, much as the heroes of “Star Wars,” in 1977, had to target a rare vulnerable spot in the Death Star to blow the thing to smithereens. It’s Vladimir Putin’s Russia.Īll you need to do is connect a few dots. Yet you can feel it as you watch the movie, lurking in the shadows. The filmmakers didn’t even know about it. Of course, what good would an action movie be - one that’s all about the interface of 19 - if it didn’t also have a great villain? “Top Gun: Maverick” has one.
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