TOP GUN (15)
D: Tony Scott
Paramount (Don Simpson & Jerry
Bruckheimer)
US 1986
110 mins
Action/Adventure
W: Jim Cash & Jack Epps, Jr.
DP: Jeffrey Kimball
Ed: Billy Weber & Chris
Lebenzon
Mus: Harold Faltermeyer
Tom Cruise (Lt. Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell), Kelly McGillis
(Charlotte Blackwood), Val Kilmer (Lt. Tom 'Iceman' Kazansky), Anthony Edwards (Goose), Tom Skerritt (Viper)
Top Gun was the biggest box office hit in the summer of
1986 and is still held in fond regard by its vast legion of fans. Still, it's okay to say the film is a bit rubbish, held together by a paper-thin plot about a mercurial jet pilot who think
he'll get laid if he starts World War III.
Tom Cruise plays Maverick (in name and in nature), who is
promoted to the top flight school in America where his unorthodox style is scrutinised by a female training expert who ends up falling in love with him. The story flirts with a bit of action
involving Russian fighters jets, but this is mostly so the male side of the audience don't realise that this is a love story.
Despite some iconic moments, the film is far too light on
any memorable action scenes and is merely a love letter to the US Air Force. It may have some great songs to compliment the on-screen nonsense, but it's not worth sitting through just to
listen to the soundtrack. Albeit, despite its many flaws, it rides in the pocket between a utter nonsense and an 80's classic. Completely subjetive.
6/10