"I feel the need..."
Maverick
"..The need for speed!"
Maverick & Goose
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| Looks as though Val doesn't understand how to play 'rock-paper-scissors'. |
Synopsis:
Tom Cruise takes the lead as Lieutenant Pete "Maverick" Mitchell, a gifted pilot selected to attend the elite 'Top Gun School' for training ahead of rising tensions with Russia. However, his reckless attitude causes friction among his fellow pilots. And to confuse matters even further for the hot-headed Maverick, he develops an infatuation with Ms Blackwood, his astrophysicist instructor.
Script: 1/2 - a generic sports arc plotline, but you're not here for the plot, are you?
Pace: 1/2 - not bad, but a little baggy in Act 2.
Acting: 1/2 - the scenery is sufficiently chewed.
Aesthetic: 2/2 - a film that drips in 80's excess cool.
Intention: 1/2 - as a drama it's pretty weak, it's at its best when the jets are in the air.
Final Word: 6/10
I missed this film growing up, it just sort of passed me by, never having been fond of Tom Cruise or planes. Perhaps, because of this lack of judgement-bending nostalgia, my reaction to the film was only luke-warm. I found the character of Maverick almost impossible to root for, and I was actually pretty glad to see him taken down a peg (I'm not convinced that was the intention). Kelly McGillis makes for a love interest with all the sex appeal and chemistry of a used cotton bud, and if Val Kilmer was any more wooden he'd start sprouting roots and leaves... Having said that, the plot and the characters are a thinly veiled excuse to get the jets up into he air, and it's in these moments that the film comes to life. It's easy to see how so many impressionable (read "stupid") youngsters decided a glamorous life in the Navy was for them after viewing watching Top Gun. Naturally, all that time in the class room needs to pay-off, resulting in a logic and history defying dog-fight with Russian jets which somehow doesn't trigger World War III. On it's own terms, I guess there's some fun to be had with Top Gun, I just came to this particular party too late it seems.
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