Corrected entry: Phoenix says Hangman is the only active-duty pilot in the Navy with a confirmed kill, but she is wrong because Maverick has 3 confirmed kills and is still an active-duty Navy pilot, even though he has been flying test aircraft. (00:25:10)
kayelbe
27th Sep 2022
Top Gun: Maverick (2022)
12th Jan 2023
Top Gun: Maverick (2022)
Continuity mistake: In the first training session, Maverick eliminates both Hangman and Rooster, meaning they should return and do their push-ups and we are shown this, meaning once you have done your PT, that is it for you. However, later in the sequence, both Hangman and Rooster are shown still in the air where Hangman is talking to Rooster about his relationship to Maverick, who has been observing them the whole time.
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Suggested correction: Rooster does his pushups after the first sortie, flying with Payback and Fanboy (who made up the rules). Next up are Fritz, Harvard, and Yale, followed by Hangman, Phoenix, and Bob. Omaha, Halo, and Coyote lose next. Then Rooster goes out again but this time with Hangman. Because of their beef, that sortie ends when Maverick tells them to knock it off. Hangman technically didn't get shot down, so Rooster does the last set of pushups by himself. Nowhere is it said the day ends with one set.
Speaking as someone who has worked on pre and post-production on over five hundred films, I must respectfully disagree with this. My point is that the editing has been screwed up, as all the people who were shot down by Maverick stayed down and did not go back up again. We do not see Rooster go up again, so I have to take issue with this.
13th Sep 2022
Top Gun: Maverick (2022)
Corrected entry: Only the USAF (via Lockheed) builds, tests and flies strategic reconnaissance aircraft like the U-2, SR-71 and rumors of a new SR-72, Darkstar etc. The Navy wouldn't be running the project.
Correction: There are several civilians on the project team. The project is past the prototype phase and is being tested. The Navy controls the purse strings, and the Test and Evaluation Squadron, VX-1, is operating the aircraft. As to why the Navy is running the project, a fictitious one in the movie? Maybe the Navy will be flying it. Maybe it's a joint project with the USAF.
21st Jun 2022
Top Gun: Maverick (2022)
Character mistake: The Admiral refers to Top Gun as Maverick's final post. As Maverick is a Naval aviator, it should be referred to as his final duty station. The army uses the term post.
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Suggested correction: "Post", in the Navy, is also used in the same manner as "adjourned" or "dismissed". It could be argued that the Admiral was stating this is the last duty station from which he will "post".
9th Aug 2022
Top Gun: Maverick (2022)
Corrected entry: During the final mission, it's mentioned that a T-LAM strike from the Ticonderoga-class cruiser USS Leyte Gulf will precede the Top Gunners and destroy the airfield. However, the number of tomahawks shown in flight is far too many to have been fired from a single ship given how close together they are (practically in close formation).
Correction: Yes we can fire that many in a short amount of time.
Granted it's been over 20 years since I was on a Tico (a snipe at that), and we only fired a dozen in a single strike, but maybe our mission profiles didn't call for rapid succession. I would defer to someone who has more contemporary experience.
12th Sep 2022
Top Gun: Maverick (2022)
Corrected entry: Tom plays a Captain but there is a scene in the hangar where he is wearing the rank of Lt Colonel on his shoulder.
Correction: I've rewatched this scene (I assume the one where they find out who POPS really is) in particular and there's not a really clear shot of his rank patches, and from what I could tell they were the eagle of a USN Captain.
There is no rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the US Navy. The equivalent rank (three stripes or a silver oak leaf cluster) is Commander.
13th Sep 2022
Top Gun: Maverick (2022)
Corrected entry: The movie had Top Gun in San Diego. The Naval Air Weapons School (Top Gun) is in Fallon, Nevada, nowhere near water or an ocean. Part of the reason for this location is to have more exercises with nearby Red Flag at Nellis AFB.
Correction: All of what you said was correct. However, it can be argued this is intentional. The group of pilots are all TopGun graduates, not students. They are referred to a few times as a "detachment." My interpretation is that they were assembled by the TopGun command, but trained out of North Island. Doesn't explain the Fightertown USA banner featured prominently in a few scenes.
13th Sep 2022
Top Gun: Maverick (2022)
Plot hole: How could the E-2 Hawkeye not spot the enemy helicopter? It must have been airborne for many minutes at least before attacking Maverick. But less than 90 seconds before we see the helicopter, Comanche only confirmed the two Bandits approaching. (01:40:29 - 01:42:00)
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Suggested correction: The helicopter is never shown on film more than 50 feet off the deck. It was previously established that the Hawkeye lost radar contact of Dagger Flight when they lowered their altitude on the approach-and they were over water at the time. The helicopter was shown exclusively within the heavily forested area which would almost certainly mask it from radar regardless of altitude.
Only the carrier lost radar contact, which is why they switched to "E-2 picture." The Hawkeye had radar contact with the Daggers all the time when they were cruising low through the narrow, forested, snowy canyon. The enemy helicopter would be as visible to Hawkeye radar as the Daggers.
I stand correction-corrected. Thanks.
23rd Aug 2022
Top Gun: Maverick (2022)
Corrected entry: The team is required to fly at high speed due to the anticipation of 5th gen fighters intercepting them on the way out. Issue 1 - They blew up the nearest airbase, so where would these fighters come from? Issue 2 - If they expected them from another nearby base, they should have launched the tomahawks later in the mission (as it was, they would have given the enemy a major head start by blowing up the runway about a minute to early). Note: The only planes that arrive were totally unexpected.
Correction: They say in the film that the point of the runway strike is to stop new aircraft taking off, but that some will already be in the air on patrol - those are the ones which come after the US planes.
I wondered too why they attacked the airfield when they did. That attack is what tipped the bad guys off, right? Without that warning the team could have flown up the canyon with less speed, have an easier shot at the target, and climb out with less danger. Escaping without crashing into the steep mountain was perhaps the most difficult part of the mission. So why not hit the airfield after the target it hit?
That is fair, but they seemed fairly surprised when the 2 bandits appeared on radar, and the Air Boss even asked where they came from. If they anticipated patrols, he shouldn't have been so surprised. They still launched the tomahawks way too early - there was no reason not to time them to hit at the approximate time that Maverick was in position to fire. Time was stated as their biggest adversary, and the tomahawks landing early cost them decent amount of it.
My assumption was that after taking out the initial aircraft, they'd assumed that was all there were, presumably with no others on radar. The final two may well just have been further away than radar range. The missile timing is a bit debateable - given their job was to stop any new fighters taking off, and the F-18s being under the radar would keep them secret anyway, it didn't need to be down to the second. Perhaps they wanted to hit the runway early enough to give the planes time to cancel the attack if the runway wasn't properly disabled.
They WERE surprised when they appeared on their radar. That's the point of the 5th generation stealth technology! The "where'd they come from" response was spontaneous, since the radar picture was clear and then it wasn't.
31st May 2022
Top Gun: Maverick (2022)
Corrected entry: The beginning footage shows the USS Roosevelt CVN 71 as the carrier being used for flight ops, yet they refer to it in the movie as the USS Lincoln, CVN 72.
Correction: You are absolutely correct, except it's never suggested they are the same aircraft carrier. The opening sequence is just for "flavor."
18th Jun 2022
Top Gun: Maverick (2022)
Continuity mistake: In the first scene when Maverick enters the airbase on his motorcycle it is mid-morning based on the sun and shadows. When he takes off in the test jet it is pre-dawn.
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Suggested correction: The movie sequencing/reveal is shoddy for this. Prior to him uncovering the motorcycle and heading out he slaps the calendar on the wall where it says, If I recall, "Mach 8." the day before on the calendar says something like "training" or "physical test" or something (I honestly forgot). That happens the first day ("afternoon") as shown with him on the treadmill; he sleeps on-base to get up "pre-dawn" and that's when the admiral arrives and he takes off.
This shot is likely referring to the fact that at Mach 10 he's travelling so fast towards the west that the sun (which only just set) appears to be rising again, as he outraces the darkness.
Travelling that far west would bring aircraft and pilot well over the pacific. No chance to find a lift back there.
I've watched this movie many more times since my comment. The runway assigned is "21", which has a heading of 210°, roughly southwest. This puts him facing the setting sun, but at his speed he's covering such a distance that he's actually seeing it "set" again. Even with the turn, the POV of the breakup appears still heading west. Somehow he ends up in rural (Northern?) California, walking all night to arrive at the diner for breakfast.
8th Aug 2022
Top Gun: Maverick (2022)
Corrected entry: In all the scenes of the movie, only the aircraft carrier is shown. An aircraft carrier is part of a strike group or battle group protected by multiple ships to include cruisers, destroyers or frigates, and an auxiliary ship. All the scenes are of a single carrier and no protective ships.
Correction: The carrier strike group rarely travels close enough to be in frame, unless for a photo op or something similar. The Ticonderoga-class cruiser that fired the tomahawk missiles is shown.
31st May 2022
Top Gun: Maverick (2022)
Corrected entry: Maverick apparently owns a P-51D Mustang, an aircraft that costs anywhere from $2-4 million dollars. He purchased this ostensibly on an O-6 salary, which maxes at around $13,000 a month.
Correction: It's not mentioned, but the few scenes showing the Mustang show Maverick performing maintenance on the plane; He restored it, which would not necessarily cost as much as if he outright purchased it. He's been flying for nearly 40 years and may have connections/friends/acquaintances who helped him get the plane.
Correction: He never had a family and he fixed it up. Pretty easy to save up that much money when you make 120k with no expenses.
31st May 2022
Top Gun: Maverick (2022)
Corrected entry: Lt. Robert "Bob" Floyd Is a F-18 pilot wearing glasses. As far as I understand all fighter pilots are required to have 20/20 vision.
Correction: On top of that (which is a relatively new policy) - he's a Weapons System Officer (WSO), not a pilot, and he wouldn't have the same vision requirements, anyway.
Correction: To become a pilot, that means the candidate's vision can be no worse than 20/70 (correctable with glasses to 20/20) in each eye.
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Correction: She says, "you are looking at the only naval aviator on active duty with a confirmed air-to-air kill." She isn't wrong. Maverick was not an active-duty navy aviator since three years before that moment and would not become one until near the end of the film, i.e, a week later. Second, films are allowed to show characters that make in-universe mistakes. She corrects herself near the end of the film at 1:58:20, saying Maverick is an active-duty navy pilot with five kills.
FleetCommand
Maverick is still an active duty Naval aviator the entire time.
Active duty yes; his designator was a test pilot, not a naval aviator at the time.
People on active duty get promoted based on their service length. In this film, Maverick has not received a promotion for 30 years, and more importantly, has not scored a single aerial kill in 30 years.
FleetCommand
He's had a few promotions in 30 years. In 1986, he was an O-3. In this film, he is an O-6. He hasn't been promoted at the same rate as his peers, for sure, but that's just who he is. He didn't want to be in a position where he couldn't fly anymore. On that note, he's not assigned to a Fighter Squadron at the beginning of the film, but to a test pilot billet - so technically, Phoenix was correct in her thinking if not her choice of words.
kayelbe
Cyclone graduated in 1988. 34 years later, he's an Admiral and air boss. Maverick graduated two years earlier and stayed a Captain for Amelia's entire life, despite having flown missions in Iraq, among other things. Where did all his service time go? The answer is a "dishonorable discharge." He got his service time annulled because of his escapades involving "The Admiral" (Penny's father), "the Other Admiral", and Admiral Cain. He got fired. In the real world, he'd get fired upon.
FleetCommand
You are assuming way too much. While it's true that the Navy would likely encourage him to retire long before the events of the new movie, it's spelled out in the film that he hasn't advanced because he wants to keep flying. He's a maverick, plain and simple. If he has to piss off an Admiral to keep from getting promoted to a desk job, he'd do it.
kayelbe
Let me quote what you just said: "it's spelled out in the film that he hasn't advanced!" There you go. Do you know what else has been spelled out in the film? That at 00:25:10 film time, Hangman was the only active-duty pilot in the Navy with a confirmed kill.
FleetCommand
No, it's spelled out that he is the only active naval aviator with a kill. Maverick is not a naval aviator anymore; he is a test pilot. Different designators.