Movie Review #15 "Top Gun (1986)"

Movie Review #15 "Top Gun (1986)"

Okay ... Okay ... Most people my age have seen this at least once ... twice ... well ... I'm in the 50s on the number of times I have seen this movie.  My brother and I used to watch this, turn down the volume, and take a character's dialog and do the movie ourselves ...

So ... I'm a little sentimental ... This is the movie that made me cut my "Greg Brady Afro" to a crew-cut!

On IMDB: "Top Gun (1986)"

Benny Tabasco Rating:  8 / 10 Tabasco Peppers

Synopsis:  A fighter pilot goes to Top Gun Aviator Flight School to become "One of the Best Fighter Pilots (excuse me, Naval Aviator) ... He has some misfortune due to his cockiness and falls in love with one of the instructors.  I don't think that the plot was much more than that ... Sorry ...

Cast: Tom Cruise, Val Kilmer, Tom Skerritt, Michael Ironside, Meg Ryan, Kelly McGillis, and Anthony Edwards ... There is so much testosterone in this film that it borders on same sex marriage ... Well ... I won't reprint rumors ... :)

Direction:  For the most part, this is a guy's film ... The acting is so-so ... Not much direction that I could see ...

Quotes:  "I feel the need, the need for speed" or "Take me to bed or lose me forever" ... I could go on ... "Hey Slider ... You stink" ...

Cinematography: Still to this day, one of the best aerial shots there is ... The planes (primarily the F-14 - now retired) and some T-38 for the Migs ... were filmed OUTSTANDINGLY (Is that a real word?) ... If you ever watched the TV show, "JAG", they used some of the footage from the movie ...

I do have to mention one scene that I thought was filmed brilliantly ... When Maverick (Tom Cruise) and Charlie (Kelly McGillis) are having dinner ... The use of natural light and camera angles was something that I have tried to replicate in my own work (unsuccessfully so far) ... That one scene makes me want to continue as a filmmaker ...

Writing:  It should have been titled "An Officer and a Gentleman Part 2" ... Very cliche ... Very expected ... Dialog for the most part is trite and unoriginal ...

Overall Review:  It's worth a sit-down and a bowl of popcorn with your TEENAGERS ... Not for the little ones ... Unless you fast-forward through the bedroom scene ... I love this movie ...