Top Gun (1986)

Maverick: You don't have time to think up there. If you think, you're dead. "Up there with the best of the best."There's a lot of people who hate Top Gun and a lot of people that love it. It's clear why. If you love movies that are pure popcorn entertainment then Top Gun is for you, as it is extremely entertaining and fun. If you need a movie to have real story and characters, then this isn't for you, as it is more about aerial maneuvers than it is about story or character. As it is I enjoyed Top Gun for just how fun it is. It's a fast paced movie with a lot of plane action. I know it isn't a great movie when it comes to filmmaking, but it does what Tony Scott means for all of his movies to do; it entertains. He doesn't make movies that are going to make it on AFI lists. He makes movies that are going to be fun, and he does a good job at doing that. Top Gun is just another example of Scott doing what he does best.The film is definitely at it's best when it is in the air as the aerial sequences are just amazing. On the ground is where the problems lie for many. Obviously there's a lot of man cliches at work down there, and a lot of the time what we watch and listen to is ridiculous, but I still can't say that it wasn't fun to watch. Then there's the romance, which was weirdly underplayed and overplayed at the same time, but it didn't ruin the movie by any means. The acting isn't perfect, but really it doesn't need to be. Movies like Top Gun don't call for Oscar level acting. They call for loud screams and stupid one liners and on that level the cast succeeded. Top Gun has sort of gotten itself to classic action status. There are so many people(mostly guys that were in there teens to twenties in the eighties) that just love the hell out of this movie. The movie is well known for the call names Maverick and Iceman and for some of the iconic lines said. Still I don't think anyone out there who loves this movie would argue with me saying it is pretty stupid. It uses an overused story, overused characters, and falls back on overused songs. Still I have to say I enjoyed it, even though I really wish I could just say I hate it. I guess I'm sort of in the middle on this one.Top Gun is a classic guy movie. It isn't going to win any intelligence awards, but for pure visuals and cinematic excitement, it isn't too bad. It's a perfect movie to watch when you just want to have fun and not have to think about deep characters or a storyline that has some source of originality.