Top Gun Ripped Off By Multiple Movies, But For Unusual Reasons
The 2022 release of Top Gun: Maverick reinvigorated the franchise and showed audiences and studios alike a blueprint for how to effectively produce a high-quality legacy sequel. However, the film had an even greater global impact which nobody could possibly predict. Due to the success of the film, several countries, including India and China, are currently planning their own Top Gun rip-offs as a means of promoting their global military image.
Despite Top Gun: Maverick being hailed by critics and audiences alike as a terrific film with a gripping narrative, it is still, at the end of the day, a propaganda film for the American military-industrial complex. This isn’t an insult to the artistry that went into crafting the film, but it is an explanation as to why foreign interests would want a Top Gun film of their own. China, India, and other global superpowers have been working diligently to catch up and keep up with the United States on a number of fronts, including the construction of robust space exploration programs, nuclear weapons stockpiles, and non-Hollywood film studios.
Now, it seems that the success of Top Gun: Maverick has led these countries to realize that they need compelling military propaganda films of their own. China released a film titled Born To Fly in 2o23, which received less than favorable reviews by American critics for lacking a sense of humor and leaning too hard on the propaganda angle without appropriately shrouding the pro-military message behind a leading man’s shiny smile. Now it seems that India is joining the social club with the upcoming release of Fighter, starring Bollywood actor Hrithik Roshan.
While it’s too early to know for sure, it seems likely that the inclusion of the six-time Filmfare award winner will make Fighter a better candidate for positive reviews than its Chinese counterpart. Hrithik Roshan is one of the highest paid and most easily recognizable faces in Hindi cinema, rivaling the star power of Tom Cruise with an even larger audience of fans. As India follows suit, rolling out its own Top Gun, the eyes of the international stage have turned to Russia, a nation frequently included in global superpower discussions.
However, a multi-year war against their neighbor Ukraine and a global battle against sanctions from just about every nation not under their thumb has left Russia on the precipice of geopolitical decline. As far as the public can tell, the nation has no plans to shift its resources away from the ongoing war in Ukraine to lazily construct a film about how powerful and mighty the Russian military is. With no Top Gun to call their own, this throws the power of Russia into question, with many analysts firmly believing the nation has lost its position as a superpower.
Top Gun: Maverick made a splash at the American box office and allowed fans an opportunity to see a proper legacy sequel of an old classic. While film fans likely expected to see a ripple effect at the box office as a result of the blockbuster movie, it’s surprising to see that the film has created a significant global shift in power.
Source: The Guardian
