How Else Would Tom Cruise Show Up for the Premiere of 'Maverick' but Landing a Helicopter onto the Deck of an Aircraft Carrier?

Source - Tom Cruise knows how to arrive in style — and on brand!

At the premiere of his new movie Top Gun: Maverick, the film star, 59, landed on the USS Midway in San Diego, California, on Wednesday in a N547SA Airbus helicopter that he himself piloted.

Sporting American Optical's pilot sunglasses, Cruise smiled as he exited the aircraft and walked along the tarmac, buttoning up the jacket of his bespoke navy Brioni three-piece suit. The copter in the background was branded with the film's title as well as the actor's name in large letters.

This frigging guy. 

I'm tempted to say that real life Tom Cruise is as cool as the fictional Tom Cruises he plays in films. But that would be damning him with faint praise. He's actually immeasurably cooler than any of them. If Maverick, Ethan Hunt, Jack Reacher, Jerry Maguire or Cole Trickle were actual humans and could be anyone they wanted to, they'd all wish to be Tom Cruise. 

I mean, who lands a chopper and steps out looking like he's coming out of the changing room at private fitting in an exclusive tailor's but him? James Bond, maybe. But 007 would trade places with Cruise in a nanosecond too.

I think this puts Cruise over the top. It's no longer enough to simply say he's the ultimate celebrity. We now have to call him the ultimate human being. (Assuming he really is one of us.) All males on the planet need to hold our manhoods cheap while he walks among our kind. 

When he's not free climbing cliff walls:

… or strolling outside Burj Khalifa like he's walking a dog in the park:

… or casually clinging to the fuselage of a cargo jet:

… he's Les Grossman:

… and making a perfect landing on the flight deck of a carrier named after the most famous victory in the glorious history of United States naval warfare in a suit that costs more than your car. Not to mention the fact he married Mimi Rogers, Nicole Kidman and Katie Holmes, all at the height of their powers. And then, not coincidentally, got out when they hit 33. And has been single since 2012. So well played by him.

And since it bears repeating, he's 59 years old. 

You can resent one man having so much going for him, or you can embrace it. I suggest the latter. It's healthier to just acknowledge such a person exists. God saw fit to put such a man among us to show what humans are capable of, so just enjoy watching what this man does. As Voltaire put it, "Appreciation is a wonderful thing. It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well." 

As a general rule, I try to tamp down any expectations for a sequel coming out so long after the original. The second Anchorman and the second Dumb & Dumber were disappointments. The Jar Jar Abrams Star Wars trilogy was a pointless shitshow. But I'm all in on Maverick. I don't care if they made it pre-pandemic or in 1990 or 10 years from now. The actor who plays the title role of this one is immortal. And it will be a triumph, no matter what. 

And my only disappointment of this premier was Cruise didn't land on the Midway in an F-14 Tomcat. After buzzing the tower. Maybe for Top Gun 3 in about 35 years. He can be America's wingman any century.