The World Loves Top Gun: Maverick

Last I checked in on Top Gun: Maverick, the long-awaited sequel to the Tom Cruise fighter-jets-go-fast ’80s cheesefest, it was to note how good a movie it was (better than the original), and how its international success despite not opening in China (or Russia) should send a message to Hollywood. In recent decades, Hollywood had made an increasing play for the Chinese market, resulting in a proliferation of the sort of big-budget spectacle that translates easily, and, quite frequently, in outright censorship of movie elements that were politically sensitive to the Chinese Communist Party.