Top Gun Film Review: Can The Fascination Be Explained

Director: Tony Scott.

Cast: Tom Cruise, Val Kilmer, Kelly McGillis, and Anthony Edwards.

Top Gun has often being cited as the film most closely associated with the 80s. It is strange that a film with so many weaknesses is so fondly remembered by many. In fact film director, Quentin Tarantino, memorably misquotes some of the script in the film ‘Sleep With Me’.

One could do an honest review of the film and tear it apart starting with the poor dialogue, the barely plausible plot construction and the risibly simplified morality that the film espouses. However, all of this misses the point of Top Gun. It is a film constructed purely around male adolescent fantasy.

In the word of Top Gun, people are known only by their callsigns. Lieutenant Peter Mitchell, played by Tom Cruise, is known only by one name, Maverick. In short the names of the characters become shortcuts to understanding their personalities. The film follows an incredible dare-devil fighter pilot called Maverick who is sent off to join the Top Gun Naval Academy to train with the ‘best of the best’.

‘It is this testosterone-driven visceral experience that has proven such a hit with the audience.‘

Top Gun has become a cultural icon for the 1980s. Since the film’s release, the US Navy has seen huge interest in people wishing to become fighter pilots. It is also seen by many as being pro-war. One of the reasons why Bryan Adams did not want one of his songs for the film was because he felt it glorified war. He was probably right on that count. The film certainly does make flying a high speed jet, with the twin aims of avoiding your own death and trying to kill your enemy, highly attractive. It is this testosterone-driven visceral experience that has proven such a hit with the audience. In the world of heroes, there is no room for shades of grey.

One of the key reasons why the film remains so popular can be partly put down to nostalgia. For a lot of people reaching adulthood in the 1980s, Top Gun probably coincides with some of the most significant moments in their lives. Harold Faltermeyer’s synth-lead soundtrack encapsulates the sound of 80s music and therefore it is highly natural to want to recapture and relive those precious moments of your formative years. What a better way to do this than to watch one of the films that typifies a generation.

However, nostalgia alone does not fully explain why so many people like Top Gun. So therefore, there must be other reasons. Of course the main reason rests with the nature of the film. Top Gun is conceived out of male fantasy. Everyday normal reality is superseded by the dreamworld of the adolescent, a world in which male desires can be fulfilled.

‘Every hero must have suitable foes and adversaries to make him seem impressive and worthy to be deemed a hero.’

Maverick is the young hero. A guy who is taken very seriously by his peers. He is great with women and girls are driven to his personality, like the oft-mentioned ‘iron fillings to a magnet’. It is hard not to be envious of him. This is a guy that has almost super-human powers. He can consistently out-maneuver locked-on missiles, something that is physically impossible in the real world. His risible chat-up strategies work almost effortlessly and he has the confidence and charisma to make you want to be like him. He is, in short, the male hero that every adolescent wishes to emulate.

Every hero must have suitable foes and adversaries to make him seem impressive and worthy to be deemed victor. Without comparison nothing can be gauged, someone can only be judged to be the fastest sprinter if they beat other fast sprinters. Maverick is no exception and his enemy is the menacing threat of Communist Russia. An enemy that has almost become mythical in Western eyes during the ‘Cold War.’

Nevertheless, this is not all he has to contend with. His competition in the Top Gun academy is of the highest calibre and his adversary Iceman, played by Val Kilmer, is an incredibly talented pilot. Thus Maverick earns the right to be the viewer’s worthy hero.

‘You get to take part in an exotic world, a world that bears little resemblance to the world that we walk on.’

Nearly everyone dreams, in some shape or form, of being in the world of Top Gun. A place where you have the chance to say sophisticated and cool things to impress other people. A place where you can say exactly what is on your mind without fear. A place where you get to be brave and valiant. This is Maverick’s world.

In reality not many people have such confidence in themselves and fewer still would manage to get away with having the arrogance to utter cheesy lines in order to snare women in sober environs. Yet, it is precisely this fantasy that makes the film so likeable. You get to take part in an exotic world, a world that bears little resemblance to the world that we walk on.

Top Gun certainly will not be winning any awards for realism but then again it is not supposed to. One of the simple joys of any form of art is escapism. The ability to detach from everyday life and leave your worries, cares and tribulations behind for just an hour or two. Top Gun fits this bill perfectly.

You can obtain the special collector’s edition of Top Gun from Amazon here.

Amazon.co.uk
For people living in Ireland or the United Kingdom, you can access Top Gun here.

Amazon.ca
For those who live in Canada, you can obtain Top Gun from here.

Amazon.de
For Germany: Top Gun.

Amazon.fr
For France: Top Gun.

January 29, 2010 | Filed Under Film Review

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