Again&Again MAVERICK

"MAVERICK. Thirty-plus years of service. Combat medals. The only man to shoot down three enemy planes in the last 40 years. ‘Distinguished. Distinguished. Distinguished.’ Yet you can’t get a promotion, you won’t retire, and despite your best efforts, you refuse to die. Yet here you are: Captain. Why is that?"

"Trust your instincts. Don't think. Just do it."

"It's not the plane; it's the pilot."

Those lines are from the movie TOP GUN: MAVERICK and have been doing free float in my head from the first time I heard them in the movie. And honestly, I've already seen the movie so many times that I could probably recite the dialogue backwards word for word while pretending like my chair is in an F-14 cockpit 😂. At this juncture, it's safe to say that I've seen Top Gun: Maverick at least four times, maybe more if you count the half watches when I find myself "suddenly" playing it while eating lunch or dinner alone in my room but discover myself stuck to the screen again.

Wait, don't get this twisted! My "all-time favourite" movie has to be the Fast & Furious franchise. Literally anything – cars, family, jaw-dropping action, heist – you'll catch me there, and I'll definitely defend Dom Toretto's excessive use of the word "family" any day of the week that you happen to catch me. But Top Gun: Maverick?

That's not just a favourite. That's a movie that I can watch again and again and again and still never get sick of it. Why? Think of favourite movies like wine; you like them and sometimes even "save" them for the right mood. But rewatched films? They're like water. You need them on repeat 😩. You go back not because you forgot the storyline, but because you somehow adore how it "hits" you every time.

Yep, for me, TG-Maverick is all about the jets. The deafening roar of the engines, the air dogfighting combat, the scramblings, the air force steeze, the stunts and everything in-between that can make your heart lose itself so much that it's within your body. There's just something surreal about watching fighter aircraft — F/A-18s, the enigmatic "Darkstar" fighter doing speeds higher than Mach 10 with Tom Cruise, the legendary "has-been", at its cockpit, and the iconic F-14 Tomcat making its legendary comeback. It's a kind of aerial pornography for anyone who's ever looked up at the sky and asked themselves, "What if I were flying?" I mean, who doesn't love fighter planes and jets?

Adding Tom Cruise into the mix, a man who somehow refuses to age and insists on doing half the stunts himself, you're definitely getting peak cinema adrenaline and scenes you most certainly won't forget in a while. But jets alone aren’t enough to keep me coming back four times (and counting) as of the time of writing this.

What makes this movie so endearing to watch ad infinitum is the "human factor. Maverick, the protagonist, is not just a hotshot pilot who's trying to make a comeback. In his aviation and romance life, he's the self-proclaimed "has-been" who still has much to give the next generation of hotshots. Watching him clash with, guide, and eventually earn the respect of his students is, somehow – dare I say – comforting.

In fact, there's this one particular scene in the movie that got me so excited; it's the mythical dogfight simulation exercise where Maverick tells the new recruits that they will be doing push-ups each and every time they are "killed" in the simulation.

This might sound easy because they are the best of the best, the top of their class, but at the end of the day, NO ONE of them can seem to manage to actually hit him. He weaved through the skies like he had some secret cheat codes enabled, sometimes even pulling moves that are questionable and arguably safe, like hitting the hard deck, etc., leaving the so-called “best of the best” eating his contrails.

The funniest part is that the more they fail, the more push-ups pile up 😂, and the looks on their faces are priceless. By the time they’re panting on the ground, I’m on my couch or bed cackling like a little witch watching a Kevin Hart comedy skit. That scene alone is worth watching again and again, in part for the action, but mostly because of the sheer humiliation Maverick serves then on a neat air force plate.

And then there are other little things — the callsigns like Maverick, Rooster, Phoenix, and Hangman — all of which add colour and personality to the team. The bad words, the rivalries, the redemption arcs. In fact, every time I rewatch this movie, it feels like I'm catching up with a group of friends who just so happen to fly supersonic jets as part of their profession.

So no, "Top Gun: Maverick" isn't really my "favourite" movie. That crown still belongs to "Fast & Furious".But as for the movie I will never get tired of watching again and again, it is TG Maverick, and it takes the prize and flies it off into the sunset. Favourites will stay in your heart, but rewatchables will find their way back to your phone/laptop screen, always ready, always entertaining, always reminding you that sometimes, it really isn't the plane.

It's the pilot.

All screenshots from my movie player