Classic Movie Review : Top Gun (1986)
Long before an unlikely sequel was ever announced, the words "top gun" were ubiquitous in popular culture. They were synonymous of well-produced eighties schlock. Of good natured, all-American popcorn movies. Top Gun is a not only a landmark in a certain kind of carefree and opulent filmmaking. It is also a landmark in Occidental zeitgeist. It represents more than the story it is actually saying. Top Gun is shorthand for a certain way people want to feel towards their sources of entertainment.
In this classic movie review, we’ll investigate why that is.
For the uninitiated, Top Gun tells the story of Pete "Maverick" Mitchell (played by the literally immortal Tom Cruise), an elite fighter pilot who’s invited to join an elite fighter pilot school after intercepting Russian MiGs in the Indian Ocean. The reason why there's an elite fighter pilot school for fighter pilots who are already better than everyone else is unclear, but this is where Maverick meets Iceman (a young and awesome Val Kilmer), a pilot who is equally skilled as he is and who doesn't trust his hot temper.
Dick-Swinging : The Movie
I hadn't seen Top Gun in almost thirty years. Since my brain hadn't finished forming the last time I’ve seen it, my viewing was as good as a first. The only thing I really remembered was Tom Cruise playing volleyball in jeans. First thing that occurred to me was that it's not just some rah-rah imperialist movie about fighter jet pilots like everyone is claiming. It's partly that, but it's not JUST that. Since there's technically no enemy for most of the movie, it’s more complicated. It's a simple movie about a controversial idea.
That idea being: ego is a good thing. Self-belief if you will. Our culture still being largely informed by Judeo-Christian values, ego is perceived to be a bad thing. It is the harbinger of unearned confidence and arrogance-fueled social ineptitude. But not in the world of Top Gun. All of these fighter pilots are equally competent since they are better than everyone else. They are the 1% like they’re constantly being told. The exercise of being part of the Top Gun school is therefore structured around their egos.
Sure, these guys are arrogant cocks going at each other’s throats and risking their lives aboard multimillion dollars machines, but in the context of the world within they exist it's a positive trait. When your skill isn’t in question, your level of confidence is the only different market between you and someone else breathing the same rarified air. In other words, everyone can be good but you need to be very fucking confident to be the best and Top Gun is a movie exactly about that. Being the best of the fucking best.
For all the dick-swinging in Top Gun, it's somewhat of feel good classic for bros and a movie about how believing in oneself can make the difference between victory or defeat and also between life and death. It is both smart AND over-the-top.
Why do people love this movie so much?
It is self-evident from watching the movie, yet difficult to put in words. Top Gun acts as a safe space for people to root for what is essentially a selfish character. Maverick is unselfish by definition because he's constantly risking his life for his country, but everything else about him screams self-obsession: he's a player, he doesn't respect anyone's rules, he takes rash decisions that put other people around him in danger. Maverick is not nice. but he’s great and he’s a lot of fun to root for.
Top Gun is a solipsistic refuge for anyone who secretly believes they’re being unfairly kept from achieving their full potential and I not-so-secretly believe this is just about anyone. That’s why I believe such a simple (and borderline pointless) movie about an elite fighter jet pilot school feels so great so watch. You get to be a well-meaning dick by proxy. You get to root for a character who invests 100% of what he has in himself and who is right for doing it. Everyone would love to do this, but almost no one is.
Sure, Goose’s death is a great counterargument to my point (spoiler: spoilers about a thirty-five years old movie aren’t REALLY spoilers). It basically serves as a warning for Maverick against the dangers of his own self-assured ways. You know… except for the fact that it wasn’t his fault at all. I believe Goose’s death was a rewrite. That is was put into Top Gun, so that it wouldn’t JUST be a movie about oiled-up ass slapping bros fighting for bragging rights in their planes. It would’ve been too awesome to exist.
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Top Gun is a competent action movie with a lot of scenes filmed from a point of view where you don’t exactly know what the hell is going on, but it doesn’t matter. Philosophically and emotionally, it’s a unique, timeless masterpiece. Although I don’t really believe in the concept of guilty pleasure, I think Top Gun is the closest thing there is to it: almost two hours where you ran revel in a character’s selfish, but basically harmless battle for supremacy against another seflish dude, to Danger Zone by Kenny Loggins.
