Top Gun Maverick: Reluctant Teacher

My overall rating: 8/10

Teaching pointers: 10/10

Watch videos at your own risk. Spoilers.

When Josh and I heard that they were making a sequel to Top Gun we were psyched to reminisce and watch more fighter planes soar through the sky to Kenny Loggins’ music. Josh especially loved the “need for speed” of it all. Sadly, Josh passed before the movie came out. The first time I watched it was emotional for many reasons. Thinking back to who I was when I watched the original in the theater, missing Josh and knowing he would have loved this movie, my continued love of the instrumental music of the movie, and my love of Val Kilmer and what has happened to his beautiful voice. By the way, if you have not watched his documentary, Val,  it is a must see. 

So, I had a lot of expectations going into the movie. I knew there would be cheesy scenes at the bar, cocky guys in each others’ faces commanding respect, at least one “talk to me, Goose” moment, etc. What I didn’t expect was Maverick, Lt. Pete Mitchell, becoming a teacher. Neither did he. “You’ve been called back to Top Gun.” Cue music.

Fightertown, USA: Maverick on his motorcycle with that famous grin. He is presented with the “target.” No spoilers, you have to see the movie. Maverick is able to see the challenges of the mission, he quickly analyzes the situation and sees the danger. You can see him calculating the risks of the flight. Then they reveal they don’t want him to fly it, they want him to teach it. 

“With all due respect, sir, I’m not a teacher.”

Watching him assess the mission, I could tell he was breaking down every move and planning what he would do. I knew he would be able to scaffold the mission for his students. I also knew he would most likely have to push them and earn criticism for his teaching techniques. That is just the way these stories go. 

Next we are at the bar. It’s called the Hard Deck which is related to the mission that needs to be accomplished in the film. Cue the full on front loading exposition of who Maverick’s  students will be. Lots of cockiness as expected. Maverick avoids his soon to be students,  especially since one of them is Goose’s son and there is clearly something going on there. His love interest is planted in this scene as well. Of course, “Great Balls of Fire” is played. 

“Everyone here is the best there is. Who the hell are they going to get to teach us?” says one of the two female pilots.

I am going to break down all of the teaching scenes. I am not going to go through every scene in the movie. 

This opening instrumental music gets me every time. Loved it in the original and love it now just as much.

Lesson One: Teaching with the end in mind.

Maverick’s introduction to the “class.” Cliche alert: he throws out the manual. He starts by having them fly so he can assess what they can do. Connection: Giving an activity to students and then observing them as they work is a best practice teacher move. 

Maverick is up there with them, guiding them through it. “Where’s your wingman?”

No spoilers, but there is a dogfight between Maverick and Rooster, Goose’s son. We also find out why Maverick has been avoiding Goose’s son.

Maverick, with the final mission in mind, has assessed what each pilot can do. During his dogfight with Rooster, they do something called lowering the hard deck. Maverick gets chewed out by the higher ups and is told he has to hand in all of his “lesson plans” ahead of time to be approved. A teacher’s worst nightmare.

Lesson Two: Immediate Feedback and Student Reflection/Discussion

Maverick gives a mini-lesson, with amazing visuals, about their mission, what to expect, what they need to do and what not to do.  They then do a simulated route in their planes. The time is scaffolded, not what will be expected in the mission. Baby steps. As a teacher, I found the next scenes of immediate feedback exhilarating as they show the pilots failing and then cut to Maverick asking the pilots, “What happened?” or “Why is your team dead?” The pilots reflect, challenge each other, and Maverick pushes them. Of course it ends with Hangman posturing and calling out that Maverick flew with Rooster’s dad, and a mini fistfight breaks out. Cliche.

Connection: These first two lessons have been mostly the students doing and no long lectures. They also involve immediate feedback and student reflection.

Next is the scene with Iceman (Kilmer) and surprisingly some of the best acting Cruise has ever done.

“I’m not a teacher, Ice. I’m a fighter pilot. A naval aviator. It’s not what I am, it’s who I am. How do I teach that?”

Lesson Three: Team Building

Not volleyball this time, but still on the beach and full of the same testosterone as that iconic scene from the original. They are playing, “Dogfight football. Offense and defense at the same time.”

“Why are we out here playing games?” 

“You said to create a team, sir. There’s your team.”

Connection: In this game, we see Bob, a meek pilot who gets teased a lot, get a touchdown and they all carry him as the victorious hero. Team building helps every student shine and become appreciated as part of the whole.

At the end of the scene, Maverick shares with Jennifer Connelly’s character what he did that made Rooster so mad. No spoilers. See the movie.

Lesson Four: Skills Practice and  Ongoing Assessment

Uh oh! Mission has been moved up by a week. Maverick explains the challenges of the mission to his students. He says there are two miracles that have to happen for this mission to go off successfully. There is a steep climb at the end of the mission and actual physical issues like possibly blacking out involved. This is a mission that is not achievable by just any pilot. Connection: What proceeds is another assessment of his students. Ongoing assessment as well as end of unit assessment is vital. They are back in the planes and Maverick is there to guide them through it including saving one of the pilots after he blacks out. 

Lesson Five: Showing That It Can Be Done

Maverick is told he can no longer teach and the Jon Hamm character lowers the expectations for the mission which raises the risk of the pilots not coming home alive. Maverick decides to fly the simulated mission to prove once and for all that it can be done. Connection: Teachers modeling for their students and tools like mentor text are very powerful.

At this point in the movie, the formal teaching of a class is done. He does give Rooster a “You’ve got this,” abbreviated pep talk right before the mission. Then when Rooster freezes, Maverick coaches, “Come on kid, you can do it. Don’t think, just do.”

Just Sayin’

I will stop there and hope you will watch it if you haven’t already. This film is on many critics' top lists for the year and some are saying that it should be nominated for best picture and Cruise for best actor. I will say that the last 35-40 minutes of this movie are fantastic story wise and visually.

It was fun to see Maverick teaching. His character came full circle. “It’s not the plane, it’s the pilot.”