REVIEW #181 Top Gun (1986)

Top Gun follows pilot Maverick and his best friend Goose as they join the Navy’s most elite piloting programme, Top Gun. They are competing for the prestigious trophy which would make them the best pilots in the academy, but tragedy hits and Maverick finds himself struggling to finish. 

I will admit straight from the off that I was extremely late to watching this classic and the only reason I watched it was because Top Gun: Maverick is releasing soon and it peaked my interest. That being said I should have watched this film years ago, I understand why it has a bit of a cult following despite its poor critic reviews. Tom Cruise brings his charm, delivering humour and emotion from start to finish. Yes it has some cheesy dialogue but I kind of think that helps the film. Top Gun takes the audience on a journey of emotions because it could have you laughing one moment and all emotional the next. The cinematography is fantastic! Tony Scott’s decision to create the fighter jet scenes organically by attaching cameras both inside the cockpit and outside, on the wings paid off well because it created incredibly exciting scenes with a wide variety of angles and perspectives for the audience to enjoy. On top of that I really enjoyed the musical score, it really does stand out. Now the storyline is pretty one dimensional, it’s not the most inventive that’s for sure. Yet they do use that to their advantage, using the simple foundation of friendship to make these characters relatable and above all, very likeable and that’s what helps stir up the different emotions. The love drama throughout the film is pretty uninteresting but the start of Maverick and Charlottes relationship is pretty entertaining nonetheless. To summarise, Top Gun is a fun film that really took me by surprise, holding up well 36 years later. It’s a classic 80’s action flick, it has that 80’s vibe and I think a lot of audiences would enjoy it. I can’t wait for the sequel! 

Overall (8/10)

Thanks for reading.

Callan