Run Time: 110 minutes
Cast: Tom Cruise, Kelly McGillis, Val Kilmer, Anthony Edwards, Tom Skerritt, Michael Ironside, John Stockwell, Barry Tubb, Rick Rossovich, Tim Robbins, Clarence Gilyard, Jr., Whip Hubley, James Tolkan, Meg Ryan and Adrian Pasdar
Writer: Jim Cash and Jack Epps, Jr.
Director: Tony Scott
Everything I heard about this film prior to watching it, turned out to be grossly exaggerated. I learned that the things we think are great when we're kids, probably aren't that great later on in life. The majority of the people I talked to about this movie were colleagues within my age category. Most of them spoke about how cool they thought the film was when they were younger. A few were able to admit that viewing it now, as an adult, the film lacked a lot of substance. Interestingly enough, they still considered it to be a great American classic. How disappointed they all were to hear that I did not like this film.
Just when I thought I was alone in my disdain for Top Gun, I discovered there was actually a contingent of viewers that also disliked the film. Similarly to myself, they're reason for disliking the film centered around the incredibly shallow storyline, the unbelievably bad acting and the lack of overall entertainment. This not to suggest that the film did not have it's entertainment moments, for sure it did. There were even three moments during the film when I really wanted to like it. The first was the entire bar joining in with Maverick to sing "You've Lost that Lovin Feeling," when he met Charlotte Blackwood. The second was when Goose died. The third was during the final dogfight scene. In this particular scene, you wanted Maverick to succeed and of course he did. However, after the fight is over, you're hit with what it probably the cheesiest movie line from the 80's, if not of all time ("You can be my wingman anytime"). It's those types of moments that made this film not a great one for me.
If giving the option to watch this film again, I'd have to emphatically decline, unless I was getting paid for the waste of my time. My time would have been better spent just taking a nap. Hopefully, my viewing of this "American classic" will prove useful in future trivia outings. In the end, this movie is worth 1/5 stars and the D grade I'm giving it. Granted, I realize that I should probably just look to it for entertainment purposes, but even those moments were minimal. Without the planes, this movie would have been a complete disaster. Maybe it will be better if I watch it on mute and just turn on the volume when the planes are playing.
1) Did you like the film? No
2) Would you watch it again? No
3) Would you recommend it to others to watch? Yes
4) Would you add this film to your library? No
5) If I had free time, would I watch this film? No
Bonus Question: Would you immediately watch this film again? No
Did you understand the film? Yes
Do you need to watch the film again because you didn't understand it? No
Do you want to watch the film again to understand it better? No
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