Top Gun Maverick: Pushing Against the Rules (To Our Detriment or Benefit?)


 How do you define “blockbuster?”  I suspect that in Hollywood the simple answer is determined by the box office - how much money did the movie make?  In the case of Top Gun Maverick there are $1.493 Billion reasons to consider it a blockbuster.  This long awaited sequel (35 years) that endured release delays (thanks to Covid) finally made it the big screen on May 27, 2022 and it did not disappoint.  It is everything we have grown to know and love about movies - big stars, excellent cinematography, an easy story to follow, and in some quirky way…relatable.  That’s right, relatable.  I suspect most of you reading this have not been a naval fighter jet aviator who had the privilege of participating in the Top Gun school.   Burt maybe you have found yourself coming up against the curb of expectations, rules and regulations, not to mention societal and familial norms that may have rubbed you the wrong way.

And when you consider all of this you find a kindred spirit in the main character, Captain Pete “Maverick” Mitchell (played by Tom Cruise - like, who didn’t know that?!).  While all of Maverick’s peers have advanced in their naval careers, he is stuck.  It’s not because of his competency or abilities.  He is stuck because the expectations, rules, regulations, and norms are not a comfortable fit for him.  He’s a swashbuckler in a fighter jet cockpit.  He wants to prove to the world (and I suspect himself) that he can do what others only dream about doing.  He wants to do the impossible even if the rules, regulations, and norms bid him not to do it.  I suspect that in your life you have come up against such moments - barriers at work, difficult moments with friends and family, and even some times where you feel as though you are being limited.  

The question is:  What did you do about it?  Did you pull a Pete “Maverick” and toss caution to the wind or did you acquiesce?  Did you boldly step forward and do the impossible or challenge the status quo or did you yield to the expectations, rules, and regulations?  Chances are these barriers didn’t include a multi-million dollar piece of property (an F-35 naval fighter Jet); but I suspect it did have an impact on your relationships with the people around you and maybe even things that you own (like your automobile).

We love Maverick because he goes for it.  Maverick throws caution to the wind to show the world what is possible and why rules occasionally need to be bent or broken.  And the reason we love that is because people typically back away when they come close to the law.  When we consider the law through the lenses of faith we see it is as a curb (that which prevents us from doing something), a mirror (reflecting back what we are doing wrong), and a guide (pointing us in the direction we are to live.  When you think about your daily life it’s not hard to see those laws that “curb” us from doing wrong as well as those that reflect where we have failed to live up to God’s standards.  The real struggle is considering the law of God as a guide.  Knowing how we should live versus how we actually live is the rub.  When we rebuff the Law’s demands we are acting like Pete “Maverick” Mitchell.  But if we did that every day can you imagine the chaos (and the anarchy) that would ensue?  

So where does that leave us?  Well, I suspect it leaves us contributing to the $1.493 billion dollar bonanza that Top Gun Maverick has become cheering our our renegade hero and seeing a little (or a lot of us in him) and knowing it’s a wonderful movie filled with Hollywood magic that reminds us that expectations, rules, and regulations have their place in our life.

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