Review of Top Gun (1955) by Wesley W — 01 Oct 2014

While the aerial sequences were well done and were exciting, they didn't overshadow the films flaws. This movie lacked any emotion or heart and there was no attention given to characters. The dialogue was stupid and silly most of the time and I was either rolling my eyes or moving my head around in dismay when a cheesy line of dialogue would be spoken.

The whole supporting cast was full of dull, one-dimensional, and lifeless characters and none of them ever served a real purpose to the film and were just on screen to fly a fighter jet or say some cheesy line of dialogue.

When the pilots lives were on the line and any of them could get seriously injured or possibly get killed, I didn't care about anybody and when something bad would happen to one of the characters, there was no emotional payoff.

This is the movie that jump started Tom Cruise's career and I do not think this is one of his best movies. I love Tom Cruise, he is a fantastic actor and he has shown us time and time again after this movie that he can play a character really well.

But here he is not given much to do as an actor and he didn't give that great of a performance in my opinion. With a better script and better direction, he could have really shined here. Kelly McGillis in the movie was nothing more than a cliched love interest and the relationship between her and Tom Cruise didn't stand out and was forgettable.

Now flaws aside, there were some other positives that I found. The soundtrack, production design, and the cinematography were outstanding and James Tolkan did really good as a navy officer.