I don’t rate this highly for several reasons;

1/ Romance story line - romance was core to the TG1 story and not just romance but somewhat forbidden love (teacher and student). It was sexy and provocative. TG2 forced a love story that had zero back story; Who the hell is Penny? Why did it not workout between her and May previously? Why are they sailing together? It fell really flat for me and consumed too much screen time. 

2/ Music - similar to romance, music was a major part of TG1; a legendary Kenny Loggins-heavy soundtrack coupled with “take my breath away”. You can’t top that, and frankly I didn’t expect that TG2 would, but the music choices fell really flat. Can you recall one song from TG2 that was memorable and played well with the story or characters? I cannot.  

3/ The sports match - TG2 felt compelled to recreate a legendary scene from TG1. Big miss here IMO. The shirtless volleyball match from TG1 was a battle of good and evil and an extension of the dogfight rivalry between Ice and Mav where we (the audience) rooted hard for Mav to beat Ice. This version was the epitome of woke culture; an all inclusive, team oriented, rapport building, everyone gets a trophy, playtime on the beach. The scene didn’t have teeth fell totally flat with me.

4/ Maverick as a super hero/action star - somehow over the last 30 odd years Mav evolved from a cocky, instincts-driven pilot to nearly a Marvel-level superhero. In TG2 he exists above the Top Gun program, rather than within it. The program is bigger than anyone one man and that’s disrupted in TG2. Dodging bullets in the snow and then stealing a plane from an enemy hangar? Felt more like mission impossible Ethan Hunt than Pete Mitchell.

5/ The biggest miss in the writing - Mav never revealed to Rooster “the promise” that he made to Rooster’s mom. This avoids the real tragedy of the Mav-Rooster relationship which should’ve have been central to story line. There was actually a pretty brilliant catch-22 there for the writers’ taking; Mav was forced into the role of caretaker and he selflessly alienated himself from Rooster. There was a chance for Mav to reveal this right secret before the final mission as a moment of healing between him and Rooster that could have added tension to the final mission. I can’t believe they chose not to incorporate that.  

6/ Nobody dies! - not that I’m rooting for death, but this is what made TG1 so great; absolute heart break when Goose goes down. There was no feels to be had in TG2.

7/ Maybe the biggest problem of them all - the final mission was nearly identical to that of blowing up the deathstar Star Wars a New Hope. The pilots having to navigate a canyon at top speed to avoid the gunners above then dropping a bomb into a tiny hole. Exactly the same as Star Wars.