I would argue further, as I am in Africa LIVING a movie and not watching one, that this movie likely is popular due to the desperate need to see that type continue to be elevated as the only way a man can be a man-with guns, banging women young enough to be your babysitter and showing 'em all how to fuck things up and prove how big a dick you are. That's America, all right.

As for Kelly McGillis, sadly, her early experiences with rape apparently have driven her to not be so mindful of her body, her health and her aging self. As an athlete older than she is I find it highly offensive that she brushed off her obesity as an age thing, which it is not. I am sorry for her pain, I've been subjected to it as well but I did not descend into obesity and blame it on age. It's trauma. And that requires treatment.

The Top Gun thing is American jingoism at its most offensive best, and it is indeed perfectly timed. We are a dying nation. We need to see reason to believe that all that shit we sold ourselves about our greatness was TRUE man.

Well, it isn't, and despite all attempts by Hollywood to say it ain't so, it's so. From over here in Tanzania as we watch with increased horror all the killings continue, the rapid rollback of all reasonable progress for women and kids and minorities, America, kindly, is an embarrassment. Top Gun, for all its star power, and I will watch it because Cruise knows how to entertain, is just going to be a good long guffaw for me. Especially as a veteran.

I respect Tom Cruise. Not the character he plays. At this point in my life and in my development I no longer find such characters appealing, nor do I find them admirable. They are assholes. And America is full of them, which is why the movie is so popular, the way I see it.