Ryan McNeil
There are a small handful of you reading this, who have known me for more than thirteen years. Those of you who have known me that long, will remember that in my younger days, people used to call me by a particular nickname. For those of you who remember this humorous time in my young life, you might be surprised to know two things about the fact that I am about to write about TOP GUN for the 1001 Movies Club.
The first is that no, I was not the person who chose this movie. The second, is that as I watched it, trying to think like I’d never seen it before, I have to admit…TOP GUN…kinda sucks.
My full about-face can be found below.
Allow me a brief bit of back-story. As I alluded to in the intro, there was a time where Young McNeil swore by this film. He called it his all-time favorite and managed to earn himself a dubious nickname for his mind-blowing opposite-sex-inadequacies. He could quote every line, wore out copies of the soundtrack, and annually paid to see it on an IMAX screen. While it still holds a particular place in his heart, it’s pretty safe to say that he has left TOP GUN behind in the same pile as his Doc Martens and Sony Discman.
When it was suggested that the 1001 Club watch and write about TOP GUN this month, it actually gave me an opportunity to look back in a somewhat unfamiliar way. I own the dvd of course, but haven’t watched it in a good five years easily. I tried to put myself in the place of someone who has never seen it before…and I can’t say for sure whether that person would have made it past the “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling” scene.
Don’t get me wrong, there are things about this movie that are still cool and/or funny (especially the jokes surrounding flipping a Soviet fighter pilot the bird). Unfortunately though, most of that is drowned in a pond of cheesiness, obviousness, rah-rah Americanism, and homoeroticism. The relationship between “Maverick” (Tom Cruise) and “Goose” (Anthony Edwards) seems to hold up pretty well. However, anytime the story turns itself to the rivalry between Maverick and “Ice Man” (Val Kilmer), it just feels like a pair of douches trying to out douche each other, and not having a ruler to settle the argument.
There aren’t a whole lot of special effects at play to date the movie, but there is one visual bit that leaves me puzzled. For a film about dogfighting fighter planes, why is it that more often than not, we only see one fighter plane in the shot? True shooting these sequences couldn’t have been easy…but wasn’t there one camera that could really give the audience a sense of the death defying acts?
The twelve year old who once was wowed would be ashamed to see the amount of questions he’d be asking himself twenty years later. Like why is the rebellious Maverick still allowed to fly? Who introduces themself to civilian by their call sign? Who plays volleyball in jeans? Why is this movie so morose in the final act? And finally – and perhaps most importantly – how is spinning a pen between your knuckles an intimidating gesture?
I could go on forever, especially since I haven’t even touched on how most of the guys in this plot don’t seem to get as ramped up by the women around them so much as they do with each other in the locker room. However, I believe I have driven the stake into my teenage enjoyments quite enough for one post. What I will say, is that watching TOP GUN reminded me of the reaction I have given to Lady Hatter when she has asked me to watch so many of her eighties favorites:
If you didn’t see it the first time around, there’s no way it’s gonna do much for you now.
But Ryan, Is It List-Worthy?… Not on your life. This movie, while fun for some of us, has not aged well at all. It is not much more than a two hour recruitment informercial for the U.S. Navy, with an overbearing score, and every hot-shot cliché you can think of. It’s a relic of The Cold War and too stereotypical for it’s own good.
I recently re-watched this for the list as well… and yeah, it hasn't aged well. As for the spinning pen in between knuckles: I do it, but it's a nervous twitch…. not something I would call intimidating.
I think it's one of those movies people remember and love more for a handful of scenes than they do it in its entirety.
I saw this movie many times as a kid and always remember enjoying it. I don’t think I have seen it since the early 90’s so don’t know how it stacks up to viewing today. One thing I remember thinking was that it was the first film I ever saw Meg Ryan in and she was the best thing in it.
Havent seen this one in ages! Dont know how it would hold up now, but its got that nostalgia factor attached to it. Especially when it comes to its soundtrack.
But its happened to me as well, where I see a movie years later, and i end up hating it. Because ideologies change, the way you see life changes.
I would probably not love this one now because of this "It is not much more than a two hour recruitment informercial for the U.S. Navy"
Same reasons I never bothered to see The Guardian or Annapolis or
THANK YOU!
I was wondering why he needed jeans to play volleyball. Glad to know I wasn't the only confused one.
Good God, the '80s in a nutshell. That volleyball scene is too much.
@ Univarn… I firmly believe there are still many people out there who still love it in its entirety.
And next time you're in class…look at someone you don't like and try the spinning-pen thing on them…then ask them if they feel in any way intimidated.
Y'know…in the interest of science.
@ Number Six… Meg still is one of the best things in the movie, her firecracker attitude and relationship with Goose still gave me a smile.
@ TFC… In a way it harkens back to something I wrote back in the fall, about how the movies we all grow up with seem inordinately good, until we go back and watch them with a bit of perspective.
It's a pity when that happens, but it's also inevitable.
@ Alfindeol… It's especially weird given how much time he spends half dressed in the locker rooms.
@ Aiden… I guess you had to be there!
And you can thank THIS girl for suggesting we review it, for the same exact reason you just realized it has utterly no relevance anymore whatsoever.
I still rate it well because it's fun to watch for nostalgic purposes, but it really is a ridiculous movie.
Here's my review:
http://www.moviemobsters.com/2010/02/16/throwback-tuesday-top-gun-1986/
Instead of thinking it's cool now, I just laugh my butt off watching how completely unnecessary 90% of it is.
Interesting post which shows how a film which was your favorite years ago can change as time goes by.
I find myself watching this quite often I actually love the quote "I feel the need, the need for speed" which is probably quite strange when that is seen more as a boy quote/film.
I think I see this film as a guilty pleasure of mine. And the sex scene remains one of my favorite in cinema mainly because you don't really see much.
I don't know, man, I think you might have gone too long (five years?!?!) without revisiting it and lost your touch. I still love this, and I'll tell you why – because the rebellious Maverick is still allowed to fly, and because he introduces himself to a civilian by his call sign, and because he plays volleyball in jeans, and finally – most importantly – because spinning a pen between your knuckles is considered an intimidating gesture! Classic!
why don't I know how to play taps?
s.
@Caz….I used to scream that quote before I tore off on my Rainbow Brite big wheel all the time! Hahahaha………
@ Heather… Well that solves ONE mystery.
Here's the thing, level-headed-film-loving me wrote pages of notes/questions/observations about why this movie totally sucks.
Chuckle-headed-movie-geek me was still smiling with every dumb line and saying the dialogue a split second before the actors.
By the by, I was always partial to "I'll tell you tomorrow, but it's lookin' good so far."
@ CAZ… Funny you mention that sex scene, as I never did like it much. The silouette makes it seem less like Maverick is kissing her than he is just lapping her with his tongue.
Then again, I think every roll in hay would be infinitely hotter with blue backlighting.
@ Daniel… It takes a lot more than just fancy flying.
@ Doc… No kidding. Next month i hope someone suggests we watch GOOD WILL HUNTING.
You know, I watched this for the first time just a couple months again on MPIX and was floored by how truely awful it was.
Hatter, not sure how old you are, but I think it was David Boardwell who said that, no matter what, we never really stop liking the things we like during high school, which explains why I still tolerate David Lynch movies. So It's hard to fault you for even still feeling the tiniest admiration for this flick.
The thing that really gets me is not how bad the character stuff is but how truely uninspired that actions scenes are. I guess this must have been something new and exciting at the time but as you stated, it's basically one jet at a time, flying by so fast that you can never tell where they are in relation to one another or whose jet is which. It reminds me of that essay Andre Bazin wrote about how usuing editing to make the impossible seem possible just strips a film of its realism.
Oh ya, and one thing I forget to mention, the one thing I like about this movie is how it's nice to see Meg Ryan when her face actually looked human.
'it just feels like a pair of douches trying to out douche each other, and not having a ruler to settle the argument.'
so thats what people mean when they say Laugh Out Loud…
yeah Top Gun has aged a bit thats true and is a bit shite. but its good shite. the documentary on the making-of on my dvd copy is actually pretty sweet, dont think ive even watched the film on the accompanying disc yet.
and Rainbow Brite rocks.
@Heather – That is brilliant! I want a faster car so I can quote that all the time haha.
@Hatter – Yeah I dunno what it is about the sex scene I think its the whole more is less thing.
I completely agree with you. When I was a kid I had a crazy Tom Cruise crush, so I watched this one about a million times (he just looks so good in that uniform!) but even at the time I realized how boring and lame it was. Is there anything to like about anyone in the film?(apart from the volleyball scene, of course.)
@ Mike… Yeah, I really do miss this incarnation of Meg Ryan. Kinda seems like her career disappeared around the same time as her facial features.
I make no apologies for once loving this film, and still calling it my guilty pleasure, and you're dead on about the films of our youth.
You shoulda been there the day I recently rewatched Tim Burton's BATMAN.
@ Ross… Good to know I can amuse, especially since (as Spinal Taap once told us) there's a fine line between clever and stupid!
See you at the next Rainbow Brite Convention.
@ CAZ… Less is more…I coulda used less tongue.
@ Whitney… Anything left to love?? Well, it's still sort of a fun movie for those of us who are old enough, but beyond that…nope. Not much more than the odd joke here and there.
Oh, and thanks for reading btw!
I also once thought this was a cool movie. What the hell was I thinking??? I gave it a 4/10
I'll sit with Daniel in the now uncool part of the classroom where we can, as Mike stated, enjoy the hell out of the things we loved in high school (only I wasn't in high school in 1986, and I'm pretty sure Daniel wasn't, either).
Hating this movie is like hating apple pie or some other nonsensically American inanimate object. I can understand that evil Canuck Hatter for turning on it, but shame on the rest of you who loved it once upon a time only to turn your backs on it when it needs you most.
You want a truly shitty 80s flick? Go watch Labyrinth and get back to me.
This movie is absolutely pure cheese, but – news flash – it was in 1986, too. That didn't stop anyone from loving it then, so why would it now?
"If you didn't see it the first time around, there's no way it's gonna do much for you now."
I certainly wouldn't expect someone who's watching this for the first time to enjoy it like it was enjoyed 24 years ago, but that's not exactly saying much, is it? And yet, this is the same kind of statement I make about why I haven't seen and/or liked so many "classic films" of the 60s and earlier, and yet I get constant eye rolls for that sentiment (not necessarily from you, Hatter, but from the film geek world in general). Funny how one man's classic is another man's "awful" film.
Though if you sonsabitches ever start talking trash about Fletch….them's fighting words.
It was ridiculous then, it’s ridiculous now. It all comes down to whether you’re going to go full out “Film Snob” or not. can you still enjoy a flawed movie? If so, doesn’t that in some way make it good?
Popularity and historical context alone would allow me to place it in my MTESS series, but I’m not about to call the movie bad. It’s great. Cheesy, homoerotic, jeans wearin volleyball playin, plot hole silliness and all.