There are five obvious forces at work in Top Gun: Maverick. There are the actors, the directors, the people responsible for the technical parts of the movie (from both the military side and the Hollywood side), the military and the writers. Three of these parties overcome the other two to make some of the most engaging action ever put in a movie.

I’ll only briefly touch on this as, for the most part, I think the piece of art that this group of people put together is actually pretty fun at the end of the day. My conscience does not permit me, however, to say nothing about these two CRIMINAL groups of people. For one, the writers of this movie swung hard at the character drama and missed. After Maverick goes back to Top Gun, too much time is spent developing the relationship between him and the woman (I don’t even remember her name she had so little importance to the plot). The tension between him and Goose’s son was alright, although in my opinion it overshadowed the mission just a little bit too much.

And then the military. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a red-blooded American patriot that, just like any other American, loves to see me some three hundred foot flags in the background of my classrooms. For the most part, I love how closely the military worked with the people making the film to bring it an element of realism simply not possible without actually having the actual thing. That being said, I think there may be parts of the film that edge into being a little ridiculous, like having a three hundred foot American flag behind you while you teach a class. The other most obvious place this manifested to me was the “perfection” of the death scene for Mick Jager. The previous scene with him and Maverick was touching and an awesome farewell scene to his character. I understand having the full send off for him. But something about the scene was too “clean.” It was also packed to the brim everything America, as if to show that America treats the people who serve it diligently with nothing but respect.

To me, the most engaging part of the movie was the midsection when Maverick is trying to push the other pilots to be what he needs to be to fly the mission. Up until they actually complete the mission’s objective, the movie engages you completely in overcoming the insane barriers needed to actually pull it off. Although the enemy is faceless as the military obviously requested the writers include, it’s not any antagonist or big bad enemy that matters to us the viewer. Sure, the motivation is important for the characters and for the technical aspects to take place, but it’s those technical challenges that stir the heart of the viewers.

And it’s halfway through the movie when one of the characters decides, no it’s not possible. Jon Hamm tells Maverick that he’s going to take over the mission, and promptly tells the cadets that all the parameters for the mission have been made easier, despite it making it more dangerous. Maverick decides to prove them wrong by flying the course himself under his own parameters. It’s hard to describe how cool it is to see Tom Cruise actually fly the plane himself, as even just knowing the effort everyone put into making the scene actually makes it feel a lot more real.

The lengths for which this movie strives to bring reality to its story through technology and realism makes its action sequences grip the audience in a way other films cannot. I think that despite the overarching narrative lacking depth, and despite the government utilizing certain scenes to inspire feelings in the audience for its own benefit, the people who worked hard to create the tension and reality of training for and actually executing the mission of the film elevates Top Gun: Maverick beyond other big budget movies to a piece of art with lasting moments of true merit.