I am a NFWS graduate, right as the first movie released. Other than a few flying scenes, I thought it was embarrassingly stupid. The “plot” was which infantile pilot would do the dumbest thing while trying to get their name on the trophy. To hell with aircraft, to hell with RIO’s, to hell with the mission, just get your name on that (completely fictitious) trophy.
The actual school as you might expect, was completely different, the most professional training I ever attended anywhere, with the best lecturers I’ve ever seen. One of the best aspects was that we learned to give far better presentations ourselves, which served us well throughout our lives. Crews took the information back to their fleet squadrons, and gave the lectures and shared the latest and greatest tactics and training with their unit.
I heard this one as a plot, which is to take out a target that a single Tomahawk Land Attack Missile could do after a few minutes of programming, and a Tactical Officer pushing a button while drinking coffee.
The movie is heavily promoted as it the lead in a massive push to get customers back in theaters. Not in any hurry, but I’ll have a look in due course. Probably on my nifty 4K HDTV in a few months. BTDT, have the patch.
Whatever you think of Cruise personally, he generally makes good movies. Nothing wrong with putting your mind in neutral and just enjoying the fun.