Thus it comes down to right versus wrong, which alas, is always in the eye of the beholder. The tricky part comes when realizing that villains also defy norms. Heroes are also deviants, people who dare to defy social norms in pursuing the “right” thing to do. Maybe to appreciate Maverick, we must return to the dictionary definition of maverick: “an unorthodox or independent-minded person.” When you compare this to the definition of a hero, there’s definitely overlap. Baby Boomers and Gen-Xers everywhere are cheering about the laws of nature being violated here. Yet there is Maverick, not just smarter and stronger than everyone else, but also without a single gray hair. The idea that Tom Cruise, at age 60, can keep up physically with 25-year-olds, and even surpass them, is pretty ludicrous. What this is telling me is that more than anything else, Top Gun: Maverick is a film about denial. Personally I can’t wait until 2052 when he’s 90 and still running, perhaps with the help of cybernetic implants. Cruise may be 60 years old but he’s one of these Hollywood heroes who has an eternal physicality. Now here we are in 2022 and Tom Cruise is still sprinting from bad dudes, this time in a faraway unnamed country. Greg, thirty years ago, in a nice 1992 film called The Firm, we saw a young Tom Cruise sprinting down the streets of Memphis, trying to get away from the bad guys.
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