Half-Assed Movie Reviews

September 14, 2009:  Top Gun

Top Gun (1986) really should be beyond reviewing by this point, despite my Half-Assed Movie Reviews policy of reviewing everything I see.  What can be said about this film that hasn’t been said already, about the macho story, pounding 1980s soundtrack, unbelievable box office success, and young superstar Tom Cruise?  About the homoerotic undertones, horrific chemistry between Cruise and love interest Kelly McGillis, lingo-strewn banter among the alpha male pilots during flights, and what planes were standing in for other models of planes in the film?  About the massive stable of up-and-coming along with well-established stars – Anthony Edwards went on to anchor television’s ER; Val Kilmer personified Jim Morrison in The Doors and continues to be a popular leading man; Tom Skerritt was part of the core cast in Robert Altman’s MASH (1970) and later was a prominent guest star in Cheers; character actor extraordinaire Michael Ironside is always a welcome presence; Meg Ryan would go on to wow the world with her orgasmic fakery in When Harry Met Sally (1989); and Tim Robbins in a throwaway role would come to the forefront a couple of years later with Bull Durham (1988) and eventually win Oscar gold.  About high-concept, high-octane, bankable Simpson/Bruckheimer director Tony Scott, who to this day continues to push the boundaries of erratic and frenzied filmmaking techniques, though it seems to me that his best days are behind him.

I think it’s been covered.

But what people don’t talk about, or more accurately don’t admit, is that Top Gun, even 20+ years later and knowing that it’s a train wreck from start to finish, is so compellingly watchable.  The opening strains of Harold Faltermeyer’s score, the building tension as an F-14 Tomcat is prepped for flight, the adrenaline-packed dogfights, the camaraderie among these young American soldiers defending the world (or so they’re told), the testosterone-charged chest-thumping power struggle between the young pilots and the fading but Vietnam-hardened old guard, the fantastical romance between a hot-shot young cock of the walk and a powerful and sexy civilian advisor.  No matter where I happen to start the movie, it’s hard not to watch it to the end.  Of course, it is stunted and over-long, and it’s much more tempting in this random-access day and age to hop around in the movie starting with favourite scenes, but you find yourself caught off guard as they lead into viewing of the following half hour, or hour, or right to the end.  I imagine this is not everyone’s experience with Top Gun, and there’s merit to most of the claims levelled against the film, but anyone who protests just a bit too much, about how stupid and dated and worthless this film is, probably can’t bring themselves to change the channel on a Sunday afternoon when they come across it.

Both a cult and popular classic.