Oct 25, 2001 12:03 PM
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There is a thought that says all movies should be compared on an Absolute Scale. It would translate to something that a movie must have a deep plot plus phenomenal and profound acting to be a good movie. People who fall into this category should not watch Top Gun. They won't enjoy it at all. Other people who like to think the opposite, and have an approach of looking at each movie individually, disregarding everything else but the movie. For these people, no outside reality or credibility is important, because for them, a movie exists to entertain in whatever way it chooses to. These people would enjoy Top Gun very much coz when it comes down to basic entertainment, this movie rains supreme.Having said that all, it is truly difficult for me to imagine that anyone who is even remotely a movie fan and has not seen this movie.
Today, all action films cannot survive without various essential components - handsome stars, pulsating soundtrack, powerful cinematography, new and inventive action shots, exotic locales. Top Gun was the first on the scene to adequately and successfully combine all these elements into one film. It is a trendsetter and has, needless to say, inspired the production of thousands of other films.The movie is to boys what Dirty Dancing is to girls, the number one adolescence film of all time.This is my favorite film. But not because there was a special message of the acting was great - there was obviously none of that. It's my favorite film because of the F-14 Tomcat. From the first ''Stay on my wing, I'll take you all the way in'' to ''You can be my wingman anytime'' this movie is a classic American heroism at it's best .This movie is everything 80s youth craved.
For the few readers who have never seen this one, It's the story of Top Gun, a fighter pilot training facility designed to pick out the best fighter pilots and turn them into The Best Of The Best - in particular, to teach them to `dogfight' a skill which seems to have been largely lost due to the convenience of missiles and locking mechanisms. The top 1% of the nation's flyers gather here . Tom Cruise unleashes a powerful performance as Maverick Mitchell, a Navy pilot sent to the Top Gun. He is a superb fighter pilot with a semi-subconscious and potentially dangerous need to live up to the skill of his father, who mysteriously died in battle. Kelly McGillis plays Charlotte Blackwood, the love interest of Maverick. She goes by the name of Charlie, but looks all woman .The age difference was a little hard to believe, but her performance was believable, and perfectly played. She grew from the hard-nosed who's only thrill out of life is teaching pilots about new enemy intelligence, to a woman interested in teaching Maverick how to maneuver around her body. Anthony Edwards play Maverick's long time friend and co-pilot along with Meg Ryan who has a small, but very noticeable part as his wife. Val Kilmer plays Iceman, good hardass villain type.That final battle scene was probably the best part of the film where the rivalry between Maverick and Iceman was eliminated, rather than having one of them (it would have been Maverick, of course) come out as the winner as the other sulks away in defeat.
The air combat scenes are by far the best of any jet fighter film. They are great because no shots were computer images. There was trick photography in some shots, like using models that shot missiles and the one scene where 'Maverick' and 'Goose' did the inverted dive and flipped-off the MiG pilot. It is clearly a formula film and even the obligatory romantic subplot is fairly believable due to the quality acting, as well as an excellent 80s soundtrack (oh, admit it).I am grateful that Tom Cruise regained his stardom from Top Gun, leading the way to better films like Rain Man and Born on the Fourth of July. Maybe I'm wrong, and Top Gun is the best movie Cruise ever did. I'll never believe it though :)
The one star in this movie that doesn't get enough recognition in my opinion is the F-14 Tomcat. This plane which has been the backbone of the US navy for a long time, is the real star of this film. An aircraft that is capable of supersonic flight, able to track 20-some targets on radar and shoot down six simultaneously,is huge but extremely nimble and is able to wipe out targets up to 80 miles away with it's Phoenix missile.
In closing, if you enjoy those deep movies , don't even gaze your eyes on this movie as you pass it in the store. If your looking for a movie with fantastic action packed sequences, and macho un-realistic acting, hey welcome to the club. Pick this one up for sure, you'll really enjoy it.As for me I’ve got my flight suit on and I'm ready to go where the best of the best are meeting to take the highway to the danger zone . . .
