Top Gun (1986) Movie Review

    Tom Cruise is one of those talents who just refuses to let his carrier die. He first struck fame in the 1980’s, and even now in the late 2010’s he’s still proving to be an action movie star with no equal. Despite all his highs/lows and even his age, it’s really amazing that Tom Cruise still continues to make a name for himself, especially with the success of all the recent “Mission Impossible” movies. With his career soaring higher then ever before, it felt like the time was right to look back at a nostalgic little gem from the mid-1980’s, and subsequently is the very movie that introduced me to Tom Cruise in the first place. 1986’s “Top Gun” is one of those special time capsule movie’s that take audiences back to a simpler, care free time, when a critically mixed film could still be regarded as a motion picture classic. No joke, “Top Gun” didn’t fair to well with the critics, yet it’s still considered by many as a staple of 1980’s action cinema. Heck, the Library of Congress deemed the film worthy of preservation in the National Film Registry for being culturally, aesthetically and historically significant. So, how dose “Top Gun” really hold up after all these years, is it truly a classic or just a nostalgic hit film from the 80’s?

   Tom Cruise stars as a US Navel Pilot named Maverick, who’s the hot shot, fly-boy that aims to be the best pilot there is. Thus, he’s sent to Top Gun flight school to see his dream soar sky high. Along the way he falls in love with an instructor, and all kinds of admittedly formulaic things begin to take shape. A romance is born, a rival pilot challenges his skills, and our hero struggles after the loss of a fellow pilot, but after one inspiring speech he can finally prove himself during a climactic battle. Truthfully, the romance, drama and familiar formula aren’t this movies strength, it’s the films self-awareness of its own clichés, and how it just embraces them with a humble charm, and its gun-ho airborne action. It’s one of those films where you can predict every single event, but it’s all done with such a charming presentation that it’s hard not to have fun with it.

    Without a doubt, my favorite aspect of the film is its musical soundtrack, as it really gives the film it’s nostalgic identity, and makes it feel the most like a product of the 80’s. Speaking personally, as a kid I was introduced to the soundtrack years before I ever saw the film, and probably wouldn’t have seen it in the first place had it not been for my love for these songs. This is one of those special, awesome, yet admittedly dated and cheesy soundtracks that characterized action movies of the 80’s, most notably films like “Rocky 4” and “The Transformers: The Movie”. 

In many respects, I often found these soundtracks more fun than the actual films. Kenny Loggins “Danger Zone” always stood out to me as the official “Top Gun” theme song, although there is the equally iconic “Top Gun Anthem” composed by Harold Faltermeyer & Steve Stevens. “Playing with the Boys” is another memorable song by Kenny Loggins that always stood out in my mind as the theme song for Tom Cruise flight training sequences. One of the subtler mid 80’s songs is “Sittin On the Dock of the Bay” performed by Otis Redding, which I’ve personally never been a fan of, but I’ve also never forgotten it. My absolute favorite song of the whole track is “Mighty Wings” performed by Cheap Trick. While this song never inspired me to actually go flying, it has for longest time been one of the first songs that always pops into my head whenever I go bike riding. It just gives me that heightened excitement, and inspiration to push myself whenever I’m doing a physical activity. Perhaps the most significant song of all is Berlins “Take my Breath Away”, which won the Oscar for best original song, and subsequently it’s the films only Oscar win. There’re other great songs I could mention, but I’d be trailing a little too of topic of my movie review if I listed them all.        

   Now let’s finally talk about the cast, beginning with my favorite character “Iceman” played by Val Kilmer. This is another hot shot pilot who’s a rival with Tom Cruise’s lead character Maverick, but he isn’t a one-note bully either. He actually expresses a reasonable amount of concern for our leads fly-by the seat attitude, which are perfectly valid. While we do cheer for Maverick, he certainly isn’t a perfect person, so it’s great that the rival character is the one to call him out, yet also show respect for his opponents flying skills. Seeing them form mutual respect for one another was truthfully in my opinion the most touching character arc of the film. Michael Ironside plays a flight trainer named Jester, and he’s always a great talent to have on screen. We then have Kelly McGills as the love interest named Charlotte, who despite a decent performance was always my least favorite addition to the film. I just never felt any real chemistry between her and Tom Cruise, resulting in some very boring romantic scenes that always slowed the film down for me.

     At last we have Tom Cruise himself as Lt. Maverick, and even though it’s not his absolute best role, this is the one that I always associate the actor with the most. Whenever I passively hear the name Tom Cruise, instantly the first thing that always comes to mind is him sitting in the cockpit of a jet, with the flight vest and wearing the cool classes. Looking back, his performance really is the glue that holds the film together. His transition from cocky fly-boy, to someone trying to regain his self-confidence all feels genuine without going too far into either melodrama or goofy annoyance. He also brings a distinct charm to the role that makes him appealing to watch. While 1983’s “Risky Business” was his first true breakout role (arguably his best), “Top Gun” undeniably launched his carrier, and he hasn’t come down sense.     

   Lets finally talk about another one of the films many great contributions to cinema, it’s electrifying aerial flight footage, which is a masterful testament on how to shoot action scenes that are in flight. While “Top Gun” achieved Oscar nominations for best film editing, sound effects editing and overall sound design, I’m perplexed it didn’t get any credit for its cinematography. Seriously, after all these years, the air battles and flight cinematography on display are still a thing of beauty to behold. Despite being branded as one of the definitive action movies of the 80’s, there’s only one real battle scene at the end of the film, which was a bold move on the part of the writers. The films only method of action are the air battles, which could have gotten repetitive, but by focusing primarily on the flight training of our pilot, it gets us more pumped for this final sky battle show-down. Combine that with the riveting aerial battle footage and you have yourself set for a powerhouse climax.

   In the end, “Top Gun” is far from what I would call a masterpiece, but it’s unmistakably a fun film that leaves me feeling great every time I watch it. It’s clearly a product of its time, so it can’t really soar as a classic and it has some admittedly boring parts that keep it from being as re-watchable as other great action films of its era. Still, there’s a lot of appeal to the film, including a very nostalgic soundtrack, breathtaking cinematography, and it still stands as a career defining turn on Tom Cruise’s successful resume of hit action films.    

Thanks for reading my review of the 1986 Action movie classic “Top Gun” ... and continue to enjoy the movies you love!