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- Neil Middlemiss
Top Gun was well-loved upon its release a quarter century ago. Besides some ruffled feathers over the perceived ‘pro-war’ tone and message, audiences lapped up the swift and likeable star of Tom Cruise, the machismo and hoorah of the American elite naval fighter jet force known as Top Gun, and the whirlwind love story between Cruise and Kelly McGillis. 25 years on, the action-film fan inside me is surprised at how well the aerial sequences (against an unnamed enemy force) hold-up in today’s visual effects laden predominance. As for the rest of the film – and whether it matters or stands up today- that’s a little more complicated.
Top Gun
Studio: Paramount Pictures
Year: 1986
US Rating: Rated PG
Film Length: 109 Minutes
Video: AVC MPEG-4 1080P High Definition 16X9
Aspect Ratio: 2.20:1
Audio: DTS-HD Master Audio English 6.1, English 5.1 Dolby Digital TrueHD, French and Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital
Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, Spanish and Portuguese
Release Date: August 31, 2011
Review Date: September 4, 2011
“On March 3, 1969 the United States Navy established an elite school for the top one percent of its pilots. Its purpose was to teach the lost art of aerial combat and to insure that the handful of men who graduated were the best fighter pilots in the world. They succeeded. Today, the Navy calls it Fighter Weapons School. The flyers call it: TOP GUN.”
The Film
3.5/ 5
Maverick (Tom Cruise) is the king of the skies. Confident, cocky, and at times careless, he might just be the best of the best. When Maverick and his co-pilot, Goose (Anthony Edwards) are selected to attend the elite flight school to compete for the coveted title of ‘Top Gun’, the competitive environment and high-octane action lead to trouble. Maverick falls for Charlie (Kelly McGillis) – the civilian instructor, engages in a taut rivalry with another fighter pilot, Iceman, and happily flaunts authority.
Top Gun helped launch Tom Cruise’s stellar career and with good reason. Cool headed, handsome, charming, and easily likeable, Cruise – despite being shorter than the traditional leading man – had everything that the big screen and alike audiences cheerfully absorb. And there’s a seriousness about Cruise’s performance – even amongst the predictable ‘rah-rah’ and teed up fist pumping – that serves as a presage for some of his finer performances in works like Magnolia and Minority Report.
Before his long days and nights as Dr. Mark Greene on NBC’s megahit ER, Anthony Edwards sported a porn moustache to play Goose. The role, an outgoing, easy to like, all-American farm boy type, suited Edwards nicely. In the film he’s married to a very young Meg Ryan whose role is a little larger than I remembered as a free-spirited southern lovely. As Maverick’s main antagonistic rival is Iceman, played by a reportedly reluctant Val Kilmer. Kilmer doesn’t really get to say or do very much beyond expressing annoyance and irritation at Maverick’s ways but he does just fine with what he’s given. Kilmer was reported as not wanting to be in the film but appeared due to contractual obligations. If true, one can’t see that in his performance.
Top Gun, beyond all the testosterone aggression and fighter pilot shenanigans, was a love story between Cruise’s Maverick and McGillis’ Charlie. There is chemistry between them but it is slight. The heavy use of the Berlin ballad “Take my Breath Away” hammered home the love element of the story just as Kenny Loggins’ “Highway to the Danger Zone” hammered home the jet action. It’s all a little clumsy but these two songs in particular helped define the Top Gun experience.
So does it hold up today? Well, yes and no. The plot is straightforward and uncomplicated, staged for the audience to root for the cocky protagonists and filled with the kind of Americana that action films of the 80’s were layered thick with. It’s an easy film to have fun with – fighter jets, motorcycles (a sweet looking Kawasaki Ninja 900 / GPz900R), good guys against bad guys, a dash of the underdog, and enough cheese to make the entire state of Wisconsin proud. But it’s a little too straightforward and the plotting is uneven. Surprisingly, the predictable hero ending doesn’t exactly come to pass as one might have expected, but there’s celebration to be had all the same.
Top Gun moves at a brisk pace – and the aerial photography is a chief character in the film – but beyond the simplicity of the outline and the peppering of new and familiar talents, like Val Kilmer and Tom Skerrit, there really isn’t much to it. Tony Scott – brother of Ridley Scott (Alien, Blade Runner) – is the more commercially inclined director and has defined his films through mosaic cuts, orange sky filters, and A-B-C plotting (with the exception of Déjà vu). Top Gun represents the early stages of his style’s evolution, but this film is undoubtedly his.
The Video
4/5
Struck a few years ago, Paramount’s HD 1080p HD transfer is generally strong but contains just a few areas of weakness. The level of fine detail, particularly in close-ups, is impressive, as are the detail revealed of the sets – such as the briefing room, karaoke bar, and in the cockpit. In fact, the cockpit shots are perhaps the finest example of this transfer. Paramount didn’t commission a new HD transfer for this release so this is the one used for the previous Blu-ray.
The opening shot is the most problematic – with noticeable distortion in the smoke on the Carrier deck as the crew prep the jet launches. The issue with this opening sequence shot has been around since Top Gun appeared on home media so one would have to assume at this point that the problems are with the source material and not the transfer. There are one or two moments throughout the film where some digital tinkering is noticeable – but so brief are these moments that it should not be a bother.
Top Gun was released on both 70MM and 35MM so determining if we are presented with the original aspect ratio isn’t possible, but the 2.20:1 framing is perfectly suitable for this release. I would have expected more grain than is seen here, but did not see this in the theater and, well, even if I had I don’t think me as an 11 year old would have taken much notice of the image quality! As it stands, this is a great looking disc.
The Sound
4.5/5
The DTS-HD Master Audio English 6.1 is a beast. The rumble from the fighter jets will shake your foundations. The song-laden soundtrack – which helped propel the soundtrack sales – is terrific sounding throughout the speakers. Surround audio in particular is quite rambunctious and dialogue is issue free in the center channel. I was pleased with how the synth heavy (and not always fitting) score by Harold Faltymyer came across. I should also note that the cues as heard in the film are not well placed, with awkward transitions between scenes and between score and song. But is all sounds crisp and powerful on this Blu-ray.
The Extras
3.5/ 5
Paramount’s package of extras for this 25th Anniversary release isn’t new, but as far as I can tell, it is complete. The production and consultant commentary is a revealing listen though probably more for the unflappable fans than those of a more casual nature. The six part documentary covers quite a bit of ground and is worth the time to enjoy – as are the four key music videos which retain the 80s feel a heck of lot more than the film itself does. Overall, a pleasing set of extras.
Commentary by producer Jerry Bruckheimer, director Tony Scott, co-screenwriter Jack Epps, Jr. and naval experts
Danger Zone: The Making of Top Gun (six-part documentary)
Multi-Angle Storyboards with optional commentary by Tony Scott
Best of the Best: Inside the Real Top Gun
Music Videos:
- Kenny Loggins—“Danger Zone”
- Berlin—“Take My Breath Away”
- Loverboy—“Heaven In Your Eyes”
- Harold Faltermeyer and Steve Stevens—“Top Gun Anthem”
TV Spots
Behind-the-Scenes Featurette
Survival Training Featurette
Tom Cruise Interviews
Digital Copy—Offered in Windows Media for PC and iTunes for Mac & PC
Final Thoughts
Director Tony Scott was apparently fired three times during production of Top Gun. The Navy granted permission to use an aircraft carrier and mount cameras on their Jet Fighters to get some incredible aerial shots – but restricted the amount of shots the production could use of missile discharges (hampering an otherwise fine finale fight sequence against the enemy – and enemy that remains unknown at the insistence of the military.
After a long day at Comic-Con last year, a few of us went to eat at a Barbeque restaurant near the convention center – Kansas City Barbeque – a hole in the wall bar and eatery that happened to be used by the production for the piano and karaoke bar scenes. The establishment is proud of its connection to the 1986 blockbuster and, since last year, I had been eager to catch up with the fighter pilot fun. I wasn’t disappointed. It’s just as easy to enjoy Top Gun today as it was when I was a kid marveling at the fighter jet fights and fly-bys.
Fans will most likely already have this on HD and have no need to pick this up – but for others, at the current low price (just $9.99 as of this writing) – it’s hard to pass up!
Overall (Not an average)
4/5
Neil Middlemiss
Kernersville, NC