Top Gun 2 – Looks Like the Flying is Real

So much of what you see in the movies these days is CGI - computer generated, that you don't what's real and what's fake. That's been one of the questions about the upcoming Top Gun 2 (officially named Top Gun: Maverick), scheduled to be released next June 26th.

The original Top Gun was written by Michigan State professor Jim Cash and Jack Epps, Jr., who was one of Cash's students at MSU, before he moved to southern California. Thankfully, they both get writing credits in the new movie under "based on characters by Jim Cash and Jack Epps, Jr". Jim Cash passed away in 2000, but Jack Epps, Jr is alive and teaching in California.

It is my firm belief that the original Top Gun is one of the greatest movies ever filmed. (This may or not be due to the fact that I had just gotten my pilot's license in 1984 and had friends of mine telling girls at bars that I was Tom Cruise's taller brother. Hey - there was no internet - how would they know?). The new movie? We'll see. My original thought was that movie would be full of CGI flying scenes and I would be disappointed. I may not have to worry. A video put out by the Top Gun: Maverick production team seems to show that a lot of the flying is real. I'm sure there's some CGI, but I think I'll be able to live with it. Check it out: