Top Gun

★★ out of ★★★★

Top Gun (1986)

Runtime: 109 minutes

MPAA: Rated PG.

It might seem rather strange that the beloved classic "Top Gun" ultimately feels cheesy today. Sure, "Top Gun" is mostly cheerful and its action sequences are bursting with kinetic energy, but its on-the-surface script feels like a let-down most of the time.

A plot recap: United States Navy elite fighter Pete "Maverick" Mitchell (Tom Cruise) is a skilled yet reckless and dangerous pilot, whose stunts always end up endangering and almost killing himself and his other crewmates. He and his best friend, Lieutenant Nicholas "Goose" Bradshaw (Anthony Edwards) are sent to the United States Navy Fighter Weapons School, or Top Gun. There, Maverick encounters a rival, Lieutenant Tom "Iceman" Kazansky (Val Kilmer) and his RIO Ron "Slider" Kerner (Rick Rossovich).

Maverick soon also has an affair with Top Gun instructor Charlotte Blackwood (Kelly McGillis), which also starts to affect life in and outside of Top Gun. Furthermore, after the death of his friend, Maverick is shaken up and leaves the academy, leaving the award to Iceman. Maverick then has a final chance to prove himself by joining a mission to save the SS Layton, a disabled communication ship that has drifted into enemy waters.

It's easy to see why "Top Gun" is enjoyable. Director Tony Scott makes most of the action or plane sequences often innovative and exuberant. Merely judging "Top Gun" in terms of technical aspects is already impressive and accomplished in its era. Cruise and Edwards also make the friendship between Maverick and Goose believable, and most of its supporting cast, though with limited roles, give game performances.

However, "Top Gun" is set back by way more problems that really interfere with the overall experience whenever it isn't focused on the rattles and missiles of loud, cranking planes and their slick maneuvers. The injection of the romance subplot feels rather unnecessary, and Cruise and McGillis feel like one of the weirdest combinations I've ever seen on screen. Both of them have almost no chemistry, and at one point I was convinced they could have made good buddies instead.

The decision to add music throughout almost the entire running time also changes the tone throughout, making the action sequences feel like video game cutscenes, and the non-action sequences like the background in music videos. Many irrelevant subplots and frequent scenes in the air also largely reduces the sense of tension and competition that should be inevitably ubiquitous throughout the time-limited programme. Even Iceman, who is consistently presented as a threat and nemesis to Maverick, feels like a supporting side character that rarely appears to deliver a few cheesy quotes when the film feels like it.

This is not to say that "Top Gun" is terrible. In fact, it improves slightly when it's focused on the death of a close individual and how it affects people around them. Although scenes cut immediately when Maverick starts breaking down in tears, a rather cheap move, there is a time for "Top Gun" to breathe and explore the grief of Maverick, and how the people around him become supporting figures that uplift him into not completely giving up his passion.

It all goes well, until... a motivational dialogue once again cuts the film to a moment of inspiration and back into action. It backs away from deeper territory to deliver a formulaic yet thrilling third act, with many sequences being largely predictable. By the end though, at least you'll be cheered up a little, with some time to grin about its production values and quirky narrative.

Perhaps it needs more complexity and a polish. It's a problem when "Top Gun" feels more like a video game or a music video rather than an actual movie.