Top Gun (1986)

"Your ego's making checks your body can't cash."  

So you take a movie about bad ass fighter pilots, get two of the most prominent sex symbols of the day, a killer eighties soundtrack, throw in a sexy lady who also happens to have a P.H.D in astrophysics, and you get...one of the most homo erotic films that I have seen in a long time. Huh...

Ok, well that doesn't make it bad necessarily. At least it had a great script right? Some really poignant and deep dialog. "Don't screw around with me Maverick. You're a hell of an instinctive pilot. Maybe too good. I'd like to bust your butt but I can't." Ok, so maybe that wasn't a great example.

But the acting was spot on I'm sure. There were so many big names in there. They must have given some really Oscar worthy performances right? I'm pretty sure that Top Gun won some Oscars...ah yes, best music, best effects, best film editing, and best sound. Well I'm sure that they just got snubbed.

Well, the story then. The story must have been killer. I'm sure that it was a really accurate portrayal of life as a fighter pilot in training. Let's see here, it starts out with the heroes dogfighting with North Korean planes...in 1986. Ok, whatever, and then they go to the Top Gun Academy where they are considered the rebels but they always get the job done even if it is in a non-traditional way. Hey, that's a good concept! The main character is a total maverick, what was his call sign again?...Oh. So story is not the most important element of a film. 

But there were totally awesome F14 dog fighting scenes! Hells yeah! ::high five::

So top gun isn't the most thought provoking or artistic film ever made, but I think that you would be hard pressed to find someone who didn't think that it was at least a little enjoyable, especially if you have a sense of humor. Does it deserve to be on the list? Eh, it was a big deal in it's time so maybe. I think that the argument can be made that it is an important film to see at some point if for no other reason then the fact that it managed to really capture the nation's attention when it was released.

5/10