Review of Top Gun (1986) by Ggolding — 07 Jul 2018

Out of all the films that came out in 1986, why was Top Gun the most popular? Regardless of my own personal opinion of the film (which is quite obviously a low one), I kind of understand the draw. If I had reviewed Top Gun at the time it came out I would have probably been taken aback by the stunning aerial cinematography done during the dogfights. At the time I would have praised the film much more heavily than I am now due to our current ability to do these shots with much more ease than we had before. The film was impressive due to the limitations of the time. A factor that would move it up to a one out of 10 for me if that was all I liked about the film. I have to admit that the film's soundtrack is, for the most part, well done with suiting music for each scene. Kenny Loggins provides the film's main theme with the song "Danger Zone" (which would later rise to fame again through the animated show "Archer"). But this is where my praise for Top Gun ends.

Top Gun is a terrible film when watched as anything other than a two-hour-long advertisement for the US Military, more specifically the air force. The script is a male power fantasy that over-glorifies war. It portrays all women as emotionally weaker than men, even those that hold positions of power over men. Maverick got the girl by not taking no for an answer and being over-confident in himself. The script was terrible to the point where I started laughing halfway through the film because of how forced some of the lines were. There was an overly forced romance between Maverick and his instructor while most of the chemistry was focused on Maverick and Goose to the point where they play what I can only describe as a porn song over a serious scene of the two talking. I thought they were going to get it on because the moment seemed so right for it to happen.

There are better military films. There are better military academy films. And there are better actions films.