MSNBC Editor Slams Pro-Military ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ as ‘Poisonous’

MSNBC’s Zeeshan Aleem didn’t bash the military as badly as Jane Fonda did during Vietnam, but he’s not a fan. The journalist complained that “Top Gun: Maverick” paints too rosy a picture about the U.S. military.

Aleem described the Oscar-nominated movie’s message as “insidious” and “poisonous” in a report published Saturday. He claims the studio surrendered script control to the Pentagon in exchange for access to military hardware like planes and ships.

The writer asserts the sequel to “Top Gun” is nothing short of a military propaganda piece full of action and glory, designed to promote positive perceptions of the military.

The Daily Wire further reported:

One MSNBC editor is actively rooting against the adrenaline-fueled and Best Picture-nominated “Top Gun: Maverick,” complaining that it paints too positive a picture of the United States military.

MSNBC opinion writer and editor Zeeshan Aleem explained in a Saturday column that the movie, while an entertaining break from CGI and animated content, was sending a message that he called “insidious” and “poisonous.”

“‘Top Gun’ is as insidious as it is entertaining. It does not merely revive a forgotten human-centered spectacle; it also beckons for a return to accepting the American war machine as a beacon of virtue and excitement,” Aleem wrote, claiming that the movie glorified the excitement of battle — which in turn, glorified war in itself. “It’s a poisonous kind of nostalgia, one that smuggles love of endless war into a celebration of live action.”

Aleem referred to the summer blockbuster as “literal propaganda,” noting that the military had given filmmakers access to real aircraft in exchange for some oversight.

“In exchange for access to military aircraft, the producers of the movie agreed to allow the Defense Department to include its own ‘key talking points’ in the script. Perhaps equally important, the script had to be written in a manner that flatters the military in order to secure the buy-in of the Pentagon,” he wrote.

Aleem went on to argue that the 2022 film and its predecessor were used to “rehab” the military’s image, after periods of waning popularity. The original film, he said, helped the military’s reputation recover after Vietnam — and the sequel “diverts from the failed war on terror, and comes as defense officials eye the rise of China.”

“I don’t object to anyone’s enjoyment of the film, but I hope it tanks at the Oscars,” Aleem concluded. “It’s possible to make thrilling action without so brazenly priming the public for warfare.”

In addition to “Top Gun: Maverick,” the other 2023 Best Picture nominees are as follows: “The Banshees of Inisherin,” “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” “All Quiet on the Western Front,” “The Fabelmans,” “Avatar: The Way of Water,” “Elvis,” “Tár,” “Triangle of Sadness,” and “Women Talking.” The ceremony will take place on March 12, 2023, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.