It was a holiday. Luckily, I didn’t have to work. The night before, I’d made up my mind to dive into the world of advance screenings and press screenings, thanks to a post from a colleague on Instagram that had motivated me enough to follow the same path. I reached out to a film release specialist with years of experience to see if she had any spots open at the events she organized. She replied with a simple:
“Got two passes to see ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ tomorrow morning in IMAX."
I called up an old friend, he said he was in, and the next morning, we met up halfway to head to the most immersive theater out there. It was a rainy day—my expectations were zero, and so were his. I didn’t even know there was a sequel to the ‘80s classic coming out. But then the miracle came. After a glorious 130 minutes of pure adrenaline and old-school testosterone, the revelation hit me: it had been way too long since I’d had a moviegoing experience like the one this long-awaited ‘Top Gun’ sequel gave me. Joseph Kosinski became my new hero. Tom Cruise climbed to third place in my personal pantheon of cinema gods, right behind Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg, as the third-greatest living legend in film.
Three years later, I still stand by it: I freaking love ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ as much as I did on May 25, 2022. I know it’s a movie designed for popcorn munching, I know it’s packed with well-placed clichés and a high self-awareness of what it wantsto reflect, but I also know how it made me feel in the moment—genuinely, without preconceptions, without overthinking it. Raw. Direct. Straight to the point. I know it made me laugh and cry, I know it made me want to learn more about this F-14, F-15, and F-18 fighter jets, I know it made me wanna throw an american football around for a while. But most of all, I understood the whole point of movies like this.
For decades, Hollywood has ingrained in us a very specific culture—or at least an idea—that we now unconsciously take for granted without question: No matter who stands in their way or what methods they use, Americans are the best in the world at absolutely anything they set their minds to. You don’t even need to spend two hours (or more) watching the classics—old or new. Just catching the news, scrolling through Instagram, or watching a few YouTube videos is enough. The sheer marketing power behind it all convinces us in an instant that there’s no force on Earth stronger than the one driving the Yankees.
“Don’t think, just do,” Maverick (Tom Cruise) tells Rooster (Miles Teller), the son of the late Goose from the first film, during a key moment in the movie’s first climax—echoing the words of the Italian philosopher Horatio. And in that simple line, you can sum up the feeling we get when we see the American flag. Does thinking play a part in doing? Sure. But overthinking can also mean not taking the risk. Is there something unique in America’s DNA—some superior nucleotide, some kind of sugar the rest of the world hasn’t discovered yet?
Last week, Warner Bros. invited me to see ‘F1,’ Kosinski’s latest immersive experience, hitting theaters this week. And it follows a structure (or a DNA, to stay on theme) pretty similar to the acclaimed ‘Top Gun: Maverick’:
The rebel who never quite reached glory is now seen as a fading legend, forced back into his comfort zone to teach the rookie—who’ll likely follow in his footsteps—a few life lessons while wrestling with his own demons.
The setup and formula are exactly the same, but somehow, it works. There’s the spark, the charisma, the over-the-top stereotypes and ego… but there’s also an inner fire driving the protagonists that seems impossible to extinguish.
How do we strike a balance between thinking and doing? Sonny Hayes (Brad Pitt, in his least complex but most iconic type of role) embodies this equilibrium through his thoughts, decisions, and actions. Sonny wakes up, spends hours racing in a simulator, jogs around the track, and—minutes before hitting the circuit—bounces two tennis balls against a wall with both hands to improve his steering balance. Meanwhile, Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris), the young prodigy of team APXGP, is constantly overwhelmed by his agent, posing for photos and checking his phone every three minutes. He sees himself as a future legend but hasn’t yet grasped that the real joy is in the journey—a classic Gen Z struggle.
Sonny thinks while he’s on the track. Joshua thinks when he’s off it. He thinks about sponsors, stats, and his Instagram follower count. Sonny merges thinking with doing; the kid keeps them separate. Maybe that’s something only experience teaches—the wisdom to know time is slipping through your fingers, just like Sonny in the final stretch. “He’s flying” says the character played by Kerry Condon, an engineer designing the cars. Sonny made it to the top and left his mark, but he didn’t do it alone. He also learned that sometimes, being the best doesn’t mean hiding in the shadows.
Published on JUNE 26, 2025, 12:20 PM | UTC-GMT -3
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