Iceman could’ve easily been written out of this film by having him leave the military to work as an airline pilot, something so many former military aviators do, given he personified “playing it safe” in the first Top Gun. The fact that Tom Cruise fought to have him in the film, and that Val Kilmer said yes made me respect both of them that much more.

I love how this movie treats the enemy pilots as competent people who have gone through all the training and preparation the heroes do. They’re not goons to be dispatched easily, they’re genuine talented pilots who deserve respect

After the line "Don't break her heart again" I've never heard a cinema go from laughter to dead silence so quickly.

"Never underestimate an old man in a field where others die young"

I love how they let the young actors choose their call signs. And Rooster is a clear homage to Goose. And Bob... it makes it even funnier to know the actor chose it himself haha

The real win here is that Maverick is a fully likeable character in this… we can fully root for him, on top of that Roosters presence means Maverick and Goose get to go on the adventure we always wanted to and we get to watch them succeed

My dad after we left the theaters after the movie said to me, “now you have a Top Gun to call your own” I can’t tell you the emotions that I felt after that. This movie truly perfect from start to finish.

Fun Fact:

The scene between Maverick and Iceman really made me tear up. I love how respectfully they wrote Val's real life condition into the script, and it shows how far the two old rivals have come. The funeral was also a beautiful send off for Ice as well. 💖

Something I loved when Mav was shot down is that when they tried to go back for him, Cyclone says there’s nothing they can do for him but when he says it you can hear a break in his voice. Shows that he isn’t stone cold and he actually cares

One of my favorite moments that I was bummed didn’t make it to the win counter was when Mav extends the wings on the F-14 and Rooster bumps his head against the glass and then says “…why are the wings coming out Mav?” Something about that moment is just golden to me lol

Two wins I believe were missed:

One of my favorite lines is during the approach sequence where Rooster says, "Talk to me dad". This was an emotional punch as it is but then we immediately cut to Mav saying, "C'mon kid, you can do it". The fact this was just them talking to themselves but framed as if they are responding to each other is just perfect

My favorite moment will always be Rooster’s last line:

A Phycisist actually did a breakdown of the Maverick high-altitude explosion and concluded that he very well could've survived that incident. Not exactly something he'd just walk away from, but survivable and recoverable

No mention of blowing the roof up from the guardhouse when Darkstar took off? Ed Harris standing stoic while the building 20 feet away has its roof sucked off. Epic! Unplanned with no CGI.

Plays the entire movie

One thing that my dad said about this movie as we were walking out of the theater was very good, so Im gonna steal it. He was talking about the relationship between Maverick and Penny, and he said that he felt that the writers knew that we were smart enough to understand that these had a history together, so the writers didn’t have to shove in a backstory to give us everything

Here's another headcanon to make you feel more stuff: Mav telling himself stuff like "try not to get fired on the first day" is probably him imagining what Goose would say to him if he were there with him.

Daughter of a veteran here: if your boss tells you 200 push-ups you aim for 200 push-ups and pray they lose interest.