10 Greatest Unspoken Action Movie Plot Points

3. The Enemy Airstrip Is LITERALLY In The Middle Of Nowhere - Top Gun: Maverick

V For Vendetta
Paramount

Top Gun: Maverick categorically refuses to identify the rogue country whose unsanctioned uranium enrichment plant Maverick (Tom Cruise) and his team are tasked with destroying.

It was obviously a diplomatic, commercially motivated choice to ensure the film didn't anger any of the usual suspects and risk harming its precious box office.

But beyond leaving audiences to ponder exactly which nation the enemy aircraft are from, the movie doubles down on presenting the antagonists as neutrally as possible by having their location be in the literal middle of nowhere.

We briefly see a map of the nearby airstrip where Maverick and Rooster (Miles Teller) end up in the third act, complete with co-ordinates.

The co-ordinates aren't just made up or plucked out of thin air, though: they correspond precisely with Point Nemo AKA the oceanic pole of inaccessibility.

It is the place in the ocean that is the farthest from any land, surrounded by roughly 1,670 miles of water in any direction. This ensures that nobody could read the co-ordinates in the movie and then assign the airstrip to any particular nation. Genius.

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Contributor

Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.