Top Gun (1986) ***
For someone who watches as many films as I do, my guess is that it might surprise a few folks that I'd never seen Top Gun (1986) until now. Top Gun: Maverick (2022) is getting a lot of buzz (many are claiming it's better than the original), so I figured I might as well fill this gap in my movie-watching history. From the perspective of a first-time viewer watching TG in 2022, I can definitely say that nostalgia clearly plays a big part in the love for this one.
I'm not saying it's not good; it is. Everything (and everyone) looks beautiful, the flying scenes are mostly exciting (if not repetitive), and the soundtrack (meaning the songs, the score, and the sound effects) is thrilling (Harold Faltermeyer's "Anthem" in particular is a banger). But the plot is pretty threadbare, the acting is fine, I suppose, and I don't think I've seen another film (that doesn't take place in a desert) where people are sweating so much (seriously, almost every scene).
I saw Days Of Thunder (1990) around the time it was released and while I understand that it is basically Top Gun with stock cars, I enjoy it a bit more (though I'm going from memory; it's been quite some time since I've seen it). To be fair though, neither jets nor cars interest me all that much and Tony Scott, while being a slick commercial talent, was never a top director for me. My favorites of his are his beautiful, artsy debut The Hunger (1983) (review)—wish he'd made more films like that one—and Revenge (1990) (which is another one I'm long overdue to revisit).
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