Summary
Maverick sits near the runway watching planes go by. The next day at graduation, some of his fellow Top Gun students wonder where he is. After graduation is over, and everyone is enjoying a drink near the pool, Maverick shows up and joins his class. Iceman got the Top Gun trophy, and Maverick approaches him to congratulate him on winning. Suddenly, Viper makes an announcement that some of them need to leave immediately to deal with a “crisis situation.” Iceman, Maverick, and a number of other pilots’ names are called. Viper offers to fly with Maverick, if need be.
The next day, Maverick and the others are back on the aircraft carrier in the Indian Ocean and Stinger is outlining the mission. A communications ship has become disabled, “has wandered into foreign territory,” and now needs rescuing. Stinger adds that there are MiGs involved, and instructs the men, “If you witness a hostile act, you will return fire.” Maverick is assigned to fly with Merlin, backing up Iceman and Hollywood. Iceman goes to Stinger and wants to talk about whether Maverick is the best backup, but Stinger tells him to get over it and go on the mission.
The naval aviators go on their mission. In the air, Iceman takes the lead, and Maverick holds Goose’s dog tags. There are 5 bogies in the air, and they quickly shoot down Hollywood. With Hollywood down, Stinger orders Maverick to launch and come in as a reinforcement, with Merlin as his RIO. Soon enough, Maverick is surrounded by the bogies and gets caught in a jetwash, just like on the day Goose died. He has a flashback to that instance and flies away, leaving Iceman trapped. “Talk to me, Goose,” he says to himself, as everyone angrily urges him to help Iceman. Eventually Maverick musters the courage to go back and help Iceman, and he destroys 4 MiGs and saves the day.
Maverick is rewarded for his courage and he and Iceman finally come to respect and admire one another. We see him throw Goose’s dog tags into the sea, having made peace with his friend's death. Top Gun offers him any job he wants, and Maverick chooses to become an instructor there.
Analysis
The Top Gun students’ training is put to the ultimate test in the rescue mission in the Indian Ocean. Just when it seems that Maverick has resolved his issues with Top Gun and his personal tragedy with dignity, he is immediately called upon to put his skills as an aviator to the test yet again. “This is what you’ve been trained for,” says Stinger on the aircraft carrier, reminding the pilots that they have all the skills they need to put them to practice on a real mission. After all of the ups and downs and difficulties that Maverick has had with Top Gun, the mission is a climactic moment in which he has the potential to show his bravery, grit, and skill, and use it for good.
This section of the movie becomes rather heightened and melodramatic. All of the factors that have built the dramatic tension of the film are brought to a head in the final sequence. Maverick, rendered hesitant and scared by the death of his best friend Goose, is taking to the sky again. Not to mention, he is back on the aircraft carrier from the start of the film, under the charge of the officer who sent him to Top Gun. Furthermore, Viper, who flew in Vietnam with Maverick’s father, has offered to fly with Maverick. As the music becomes more dramatic and we see beads of sweat on Maverick’s face, we know that this is a decisive moment in his life, an opportunity for him to confront the demons of his past and his family history, and redeem himself in both his own eyes, and the eyes of his associates.
The mission is all the more dramatic for Maverick because he is backing up Iceman—and in the exact scenario in which his plane malfunctioned in the training maneuver, and in which Goose died. He is visibly nervous to be going on the mission, and Iceman tries to get Maverick replaced, worried that his reckless colleague could ruin things for him. The fact that no one seems to know how Maverick will fare in the mission—even Maverick himself—adds a great deal of dramatic weight and tension to the final act of the film. The viewer cannot quite tell if Maverick will push through his doubts and be able to maintain levelheadedness in the air, or if he will balk under pressure.
Instead of being bogged down by the trauma of Goose’s death, Maverick confronts his trauma head on and uses it to propel him into the mission. It is the memory of Goose that guides Maverick through the mission and that sets him back on track after a moment of post-traumatic discouragement. When his plane is caught in a spin for a moment—the scenario that led to Goose’s death—Maverick disengages from the mission, rattled to have been reminded of the circumstances of his friend’s death. Rather than run from the fear and trauma, however, Maverick consults with Goose’s memory, holding his friend’s dog tags like rosary beads and asking him for help. Maverick can feel Goose’s loyalty and friendship in his memory, and it is this that motivates him to go and save Ice.
The film has a happy ending, with Maverick saving the day and proving his mettle to all of Top Gun, just when they were doubting it the most. By harnessing his bravery and nerve as a pilot to do good and not just be reactive, Maverick shows his colleagues that he is an asset to the Navy. Even Iceman, his Top Gun nemesis, acknowledges Maverick’s dangerous flying as a good quality, telling him, “You can be my wingman anytime.” They hug and Maverick is celebrated by the other men in the program as triumphant music plays.
