Top Gun
Published 2012-03-18
Film info
- Title Top Gun
- Director Tony Scott
- Year 1986
- Run time 1hr 50m
- Genres Drama, Action, Adventure
- Tagline Up there with the best of the best
- Cast Tom Cruise, Val Kilmer, Tom Skerritt, Meg Ryan
A hip, heart-pounding combination of action, music and incredible aerial photography helped make Top Gun the blockbuster hit of 1986. Top Gun takes a look at the danger and excitement that awaits every pilot at the Navy's prestigious fighter weapons school. Tom Cruise is superb as Lt. Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell, a daring young flyer who's out to become the best. And Kelly McGillis sizzles as the civilian instructor who teaches Maverick a few things you can't learn in a classroom.
Live Blog
| Time | Comment |
|---|---|
| 0:59 | The music is dating it a little bit. |
| 2:56 | Ooh, I run to this song. Weird. I'll stop talking about music in a minute, too. |
| 4:04 | When films say 'Present Day' they are not really thinking about viewers in the future. |
| 8:11 | How do planes know they have been locked on to? |
| 11:06 | No one could ever ask where he got the name Maverick from. |
| 13:46 | Isn't Tom Cruise a bit short to be a pilot? |
| 16:49 | There's a Top Gun trophy? I wonder what it looks like. |
| 17:32 | How can Maverick and Iceman hate each other already? |
| 22:24 | I would actually die if I was her! |
| 24:43 | He's followed her into the ladies room... creepy stalker, much? |
| 25:43 | She's fun. |
| 28:46 | He is hideously smug. No wonder Iceman hated him on sight, I take it all back. |
| 32:08 | How did Maverick ever find a co-pilot? He's crazy as! |
| 37:24 | Jester's cap says Top Gun so it is more than just a nickname from the pilots. |
| 41:27 | Aggressive volleyball playing. They'll get epic sunburn too. |
| 46:47 | "Somebody must know." |
| 48:22 | He has spent this whole film looking like he needs a shower so far. |
| 53:44 | How can you take any scene seriously with Take My Breath Away playing? |
| 57:50 | Playing chicken with your boss doesn't seem like a good plan. |
| 1:01:01 | We're not supposed to like Iceman but he is actually talking sense. |
| 1:04:46 | The flight sequences are incredible. |
| 1:10:18 | Not much sympathy in the Navy. |
| 1:14:25 | Pete Mitchell is not as good a name as Maverick. |
| 1:19:59 | "To be the best of the best means you make mistakes and then you go on." |
| 1:25:47 | Who is this Wolfman and where has he been the whole movie? |
| 1:27:37 | He's gone back to the ship with Strickland? All this time, and he's back where he started. |
| 1:30:42 | Hard to tell if he's sweating or crying. |
| 1:31:03 | Radars seem kinda useless. |
| 1:36:11 | Ice and Mav... like... working together? |
| 1:39:15 | I would like to use bugging out in a sentence some day. |
| 1:41:51 | "But I thought the old lady dropped it into the ocean at the end." |
| 1:44:00 | He's going to waste his talents as an instructor? |
Thoughts
I hadn't seen this until I met Mr C, and we watched it once together. I remember thinking it was okay, but significant portions of it were quite laughable. Ahead of our re-watching, I said to Mr C: "I feel the need..." and waited for him to finish. He wasn't on the same wavelength as me at the time and didn't get it, so I was in a bit of a strop that my film knowledge had crashed and burned.
As I remembered, it is both awesome and a little bit cringeworthy at the same time. If you can ignore the disturbing conversations between men in white pants, and the awful sequence of him hitting on her at the beginning of the film, then we've got something really very good. At its best, we have a complex tale of a troubled pilot wanting to do what is right for him, his friends, colleagues and country. Strip that away and we have a man dealing with friendship and loss. Take all of that away, and you're left with some pretty spectacular plane porn. Bundled all together, we have a hit.
I just wish the music didn't make me want to hide.
Rating: 5 / 5