Top Gun (1986) Review

Top Gun (1986) Review

Top Gun: Maverick is finally hitting theaters this weekend, in preparation for that movie I’m reviewing the original Top Gun. Let’s get started!

The Good:

For me the best part about this movie is that it’s an entertaining movie of the 1980s. Where it’s so much fun to watch, you get plenty of fun sequences. The flying sequences are iconic and super memorable to watch. The characters are a lot of fun, it’s funny, and you just enjoy the story and the movie as a whole. You’re never bored by this movie, or at least I certainly was never bored while watching this movie. And it feels like a movie that could only have been made in the 80s, if they made this movie and made it in the year 2022 it would not work. It would feel so dated, but it’s a movie that is a true product of the 1980s and it’s a lot of fun to watch. 

With this movie, you have to talk about the cast. And this is one of the early movies for Tom Cruise and one of those movies that solidified him as a movie star. And he’s great at playing this cocky young fighter pilot that is also very likable and charming, that’s what Tom Cruise does so well. But the whole cast here is just pretty great, and it’s an iconic cast as well. Where you get Anthony Edwards before he was on E.R., one of the biggest shows of the 90s. Val Kilmer as IceMan is iconic, and he’s great as the main antagonist of the movie. 

It’s also a movie that has stood the test of time, and it’s aged very well. The soundtrack here is still catchy and great. The characters are still great, everything about it is still great. And in the year 2022, it works. It’s 36 years old but all of it still works in the modern world. And it’s also a movie that has such iconic and memorable sequences inside of it. Where you have all of the fighter pilot scenes, you have them playing volleyball on the beach. You get them singing in a bar to Kelly McGillis’ character. Or Maverick and Goose singing “great balls of fire” on the piano. 

Also the movie has a nice sense of humor all through-out the movie. Tom Cruise and Anthony Edwards and their bromance provides some really funny moments that work for me. But there is a non-stop stream of solid jokes running all through-out this movie. 

Finally, the score and the soundtrack for this movie are both great and memorable. “Danger Zone” by Kenny Loggins is a great song that plays roughly 1 billion times in the movie. But the main score for this movie is iconic, and as soon as you hear it you know what movies it is from. 

The Bad: 

And the big thing here is they overuse the soundtrack. Now I praised the soundtrack, I think it’s a great soundtrack. “Danger Zone” is a great song. But they play “Danger Zone” every 5 minutes in the movie. They play “Take My Breath Away” several times in the movie, so after a while it does get a bit tiring here the same songs in the same movie over and over again. But honestly, that’s a fairly small issue in the grand scheme of things. 

Also, the romance between Tom Cruise and Kelly McGillis feels a bit rushed, and not probably developed or fleshed out. The romance as a whole feels pretty one note, and I just never really bought into it. Maybe that’s just me, but that is something that did frustrate me about this movie. 

Final Thoughts: Top Gun is one of the classic movies of the 1980s and classic movie in Tom Cruise’s filmography. It’s an entertaining product of the 1980s, it has a great cast, it’s funny, and the soundtrack is just fantastic. There are some small issues here and there, but overall it’s a fun time. 

The Score: 9.0/10 (A-)