The Chinese come to the rescue of NASA and the movie literally concludes with one of the American heroes fist-bumping a Chinese astronaut on a joint mission back to Mars. It's a sad reminder of how bad the new cold war has become in just a few years.

2015: :wholesome: We can explore space together! :solidarity:

2022: President Xi is going to invade Taiwan at any moment LAUNCH THE NUKES NOW! :guts-rage:

:sadness:

  • poppy_apocalypse [he/him, any]
    ·
    2 years ago

    They still need that money and go out of their way not to offend Beijing. Funny example is Maverick. The hogs loved that the film kept Maverick's jacket with the Taiwan flag on it. Unlike the first film where we were clearly doing battle with the Soviet Union, in Maverick China is non existent. I don't think Maverick played in China, but Paramount did not face the wrath of the Chinese Film Bureau and chose Iran as the antagonist.

    • RedundantClam [they/them]
      ·
      2 years ago

      I choose to believe Maverick exists in some alternate universe. Since while the target makes sense as Iran, Iran doesn't have Su-57s.

      • invalidusernamelol [he/him]
        ·
        2 years ago

        Love how he just suddenly knows how to fly an old Soviet aircraft better than people trained in it and equipped with Su-57s

        • RedundantClam [they/them]
          ·
          2 years ago

          The plane they stole was an F-14 Tomcat which is an American plane, I think it was the primary jet in the original movie. After a brief google search the Iran connection may be stronger than I thought, I guess the US gave a bunch to the Shah before the revolution and Iran continues to operate them. So the Su-57 is the only thing making me think not Iran since they're Russian and they don't have very many.

          • invalidusernamelol [he/him]
            ·
            2 years ago

            At no point did anyone in the movie question the fact that the people they were fighting had American planes?