Top Gun
Some people loathe him. Some people find him repetitive. Some people, like my mother, love him. It is that undeniable cat Tom Cruise. Of course, in the eighties, early nineties and some movies perforating recent years, Cruise became a bit of a legend that makes him one of the most famous actors of all-time. However, his choice to only pick action movies and run for miles and miles of screen time has sort of dampened his talents as we get bored of seeing the same darn thing. And this isn’t a recent thing too because genuinely, Top Gun and Days of Thunder are near identical films with cars instead of planes.
But we’re talking about the former, in all its eighties glory.
Top Gun revolves around Naval Aviators in training at one of the best Navy Flight Colleges ever, in the world, in A-mur-ica. Cruise stars as Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, a loose cannon who plays by gut instinct rather than the rules. Alongside his friend Goose, they stir up a few feathers with their commanding officers and other fighters when he goes against orders and upsets the roost. It is up to Charlie Brackwood, a no shit taking teacher, to hone his rawdy spirit before heading off to several dangerous missions that could put his confidence in jeopardy. All set to a rocking soundtrack of hair rock and emotion
Why Is It Bad?
Unless you like solidified fermented cheese then this movie is a smelly smorgasbord of eighties clichés and pop-rock that will induce nightmares as eating too much cheese would. Cruise schmaltzy his way through this crooning drivel of a film that is filled with such gusto that it almost because unbearable. It is drenched in this soppiness and this intense action that makes you nausea as though you were in the plane spinning around and around. It is just so dramatic and the power ballads don’t help. Top Gun flies through its predictability and yarn as though it is heading for a crash land, and it nearly does.
Why Is It Good?
Because if you are anything like me, a little bit of cheese in your diet helps you get through the day. Top Gun doesn’t try to be anything other than muscle bound fluff but that is ok. It makes cinema going just a little bit easier. The twang of guitars, Cruise pouting off into the distance and the well placed sheets during the sex scenes all enhance the movie and make it so cheesy that you can’t help but love it. There is also some genuine class in acting from Cruise and Kelly McGuiness, both of whom manage to capture the emotional arch that is bubbling underneath the film.
In similar respects to say Flashdance or Days of Thunder or anything Cruise showed his face in, Top Gun just works. It’s hard to explain why but it just does.
Oh I know why, it may have something to do with the semi-naked homoerotic and completely random volleyball scene sandwiched halfway through the film which showcases rippling abs, tighty whities and a lot of sun tan.