Top Gun (1986)
1986
PG
110 Minutes
For Lieutenant Pete Mitchell and his friend and Co-Pilot Nick Bradshaw being accepted into an elite training school for fighter pilots is a dream come true. A tragedy, as well as personal demons,...
User Review
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WHAT I LIKED: Like many subsequent Tom Cruise movies, Tony Scott's 'Top Gun,' takes a man from reckless, careless, hyper-masculine playboy, to thoughtful, serious, hyper-masculine hero. In this film his character Maverick just happens to be a US Navy pilot who goes to an elite training school where he initially impresses and upsets his instructors by showing off, then, after things go horribly wrong, shakes, then inevitably comes back on top as the ultimate fighter pilot.
The script unravels that plot pretty glibly and character scenes are often short, but it's engaging not only because that kind of hero's journey is so age-old, but also because Cruise's face is so captivating and sells so much emotion in single looks. The dogfights in between those scenes are also brilliantly and inventively filmed to add moments of real atmospheric tension to proceedings, and in the end that all results in a passably engaging drama both in the air and on the ground.
WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE: It is all very Hollywood. The script thinks a few dramatic lines in a conversation with his girlfriend and a quick courtroom scene are enough to sell all of Maverick's turmoil, and Scott's camera zooms and the score swells to magnify every intended emotion. Also, the amount of winking, muscle flexing, shoulder slapping and shouting matches gives Guy Ritchie a run for his money...
VERDICT: Another brawly, muscly Hollywood drama that glibly takes Tom Cruise from playboy to hero; 'Top Gun,' is exactly the film you think it's going to be.1 member likes this review.
