Oh HELL yes:

As I said back when the original trailer for TOP GUN: Maverick dropped earlier this year, the extremely long-awaited sequel to the gayest non-gay movie of all time really looked amazing.

This new trailer clearly drops some more big hints about the story of the upcoming film. It would appear that Cpt. Pete “Maverick” Mitchell has been recalled to the Navy Fighter Weapons School by his superiors to train pilots for combat, most likely after a cock-up with an experimental fighter jet that you can see him flying right at the very end of the trailer.

In the process, he evidently ends up training his old RIO’s son, who has now come of age and looks like the spitting image of his father. Clearly there is some sort of training accident that kills one of his trainees, bringing back horrible memories of the way that his best friend and radar operator died in his arms – and due to what he still feels, all those decades later, was his mistake.

But somehow he perseveres and trains his boys (and, unfortunately, girls – but it IS the modren Navy we’re talking about, after all) to fly in combat.

And that is precisely where they end up – up to their eyeballs in enemy fire with nothing but terror and death all around them. Somehow, once again, Maverick’s skill, experience, and balls-out bravery pull them all through – along with a new and powerful quality that had only been hinted at in the previous film: leadership.

The Maverick of this new movie is quieter. The brash, cocksure, arrogant young man that he once was has matured and mellowed into a man supremely confident of his own skills, yet haunted by the death of his friend. He has come of age, yet the stubbornness and pride that drove him to be the very best pilot of his class has never gone away.

He still longs for the tremendous kick in the back that comes from getting launched off the deck of a carrier at the business end of a catapult.

He still loves the crushing feeling of the g-forces slamming him down into his seat as he pulls off yet another insane high-speed manoeuvre that would get any lesser pilot killed.

He still chases the thrill of aerial combat, even if it is only simulated, against unspanked young cubs that he is tasked with turning into wolves.

He still feels the need. The need… FOR SPEED!!!

And so do I.

Now, look, we know that Hollyweird cocks up great movies as a matter of course these days. We know that (((those in charge))) have no problem with bending great franchises and properties over a barrel and raping them for all the money that they can get before throwing away what little is left. That is their modus operandi, and they have made billions with that approach – even as the beloved franchises and films that they feed on have withered and died, and the fans who grew up watching those old films have grown more enraged with every release.

It could very well be that this film will follow that same pattern, wherein the heart and soul of the franchise will be drained dry by the daemonic vampires of Hollyweird. But the trailers so far indicate that this is not the case.

Instead, it appears that Tom Cruise has truly returned as an older, wiser, more mature, highly experienced, seasoned, calm, and yet still absolutely lethal fighter ace in this new film.

The trailers show a film that pays homage to the old material while clearly indicating that the torch will be passed to a younger, hungrier, leaner generation. And that is both good and inevitable.

Let’s see if this Tomcat has wings in 2020.