TOP GUN - DVD review

Remember that one girl (or boy) that you might have dated years ago? You know, there was always one that was kind of weird and you dated for a while but it never went anywhere? That person might not have been perfect but at least he or she paid you some attention. Now, many years later, you find out that he or she has been arrested for a felony or something similar. As you sit down and thank your lucky stars you broke off the relationship back then, I'm sure there are times when you must have thought, what the heck was I thinking? For me, "Top Gun" epitomizes that exact feeling and that is, what the heck what I thinking when I worshipped this movie back in 1986?

It's amazing what years of wisdom (and being continually blasted with umpteen amounts of mediocre films coming out of Hollywood) can do to one's taste in movies. Forgive me, but hey, I didn't know better then! I was a starry-eyed teen dreaming about "the need for speed" and about being as cool as Tom Cruise. That, however, lasted until the first time I boarded a commercial airplane and barfed my lungs out. Okay....my own system's imbalance precluded me from trying out for the Air Force but I had a dream once. And in that dream, I could imagine blue skies and wispy clouds zooming past my cockpit window as I zip along the blue yonder at Mach 1. I'm sure "Top Gun" inspired many a teenage boy back in the 80s. Who in their hormone-induced minds would not want to aspire to be a fighter pilot--a sexy jock with a control stick between their legs that carries with it enough firepower to level half a major city? Judging by "Top Gun"'s half a billion-dollar box office business worldwide, there were very few.

"I feel the need....the need for speed" – Maverick and Goose

It never ceases to astound me that films with more glamour than substance can do so well, given the right conditions and "Top Gun" is the perfect example. Taking the cue from a magazine article about the U.S. Navy's Top Gun advanced fighter pilot school in Miramar, California, producer Jerry Bruckheimer hit upon the idea of making a movie about this unique breed of fighter pilots. First thing that they had to do to get this project off the ground was to obtain permission from the Navy for them to shoot on location at an aircraft carrier (in this case, the U.S.S. Enterprise) and also to use actual F-14s and real Top Gun pilots to carry out some of the show's amazing aerial stunts. Jack Epps, Jr. and Jim Cash, whose other writing credits include "Turner and Hootch" and "Anaconda", were commissioned to write the screenplay and their completed work was first unceremoniously dropped by Paramount, which was at that time helmed by Jeffrey Katzenberg and Michael Eisner. Fortunately for Bruckheimer, after both men left Paramount for Disney, the new management team at Paramount picked up the script again and gave the green light for "Top Gun" to start production. That decision helped produce a money-making machine that sort of heralded the era of films with little substance but plenty of what many would like to call, the wow factor.

After suffering low-kill ratios during the Vietnam War, the U.S. Navy established the Fighter Weapons School or better known as Top Gun at the Miramar Naval Air Station to train a nucleus of fighter crews on the skilled art of Air Combat Maneuvering (ACM) or dogfights. The crews who attend Top Gun are expected to go back to their squads and impart their knowledge to their fellow pilots. Many of them even come back to Top Gun as instructors. This elite school for fighter pilots becomes the setting for this movie. Initially, after being approached by producers Bruckheimer and Don Simpson about directing "Top Gun", director Tony Scott (brother of the better known Ridley Scott) first envisioned a dark movie in the same vein as "Apocalypse Now"! Of course, the producers quickly squelched that idea and impressed upon Scott that they wanted a summer popcorn flick. And for better or worse, a popcorn flick was what the masses got. Bruckheimer has shown over the years that he is a master when it comes to producing summer blockbusters with a safe formula that almost guarantees success. "Top Gun" came at the early part of Bruckheimer's career and together with "Beverly Hills Cop" only two years earlier in 1984, established a successful formula that he has followed religiously ever since.

"That SOB cut me off!" - Maverick

Lt. Pete Mitchell (Tom Cruise) is a skilled but brash and sometimes even reckless Navy fighter pilot. Even Mitchell's call sign "Maverick" alludes to his rebellious attitude. Together with his more sensible radio intercept officer (RIO), Lt. Nick "Goose" Bradshaw (an unlikely Anthony Edwards) by his side (in this case, behind him), Maverick flies the Navy's potent strike fighter, the F-14 Tomcat. After an incident involving another flight crew on the aircraft carrier that they are serving on, Maverick and Goose are elevated to the top slot and are ordered to go to Miramar to attend Top Gun. Once there, Maverick finds that his reputation precedes him and he predictably goes head-to-head with another calculated pilot called Iceman (Val Kilmer), who becomes sort of Maverick's nemesis in competing for the title of Top Gun, that is given to the best pilot of each class. It is here that the movie took some liberties with what is the actual reality at Top Gun. First of all, there is no real competition or any trophy to win. The movie only created this fictional scenario to inject conflict between the main characters. The guys at the Navy were, shall we say, bemused by this but in no way tried to block it.

After establishing whom the hero and whom the bad guy (sort of) is, the formula then calls for a love interest for our rebellious hero. This damsel comes in the form of a civilian contractor working at the base evaluating the pilots and her name is Charlotte "Charlie" Blackwood (Kelly McGillis). An interesting fact to note is that the Navy nixed the initial script idea of the female lead being an enlisted officer, as it does not encourage fraternizing between officers. My first reaction to McGillis was, wow, an older woman! Even though only five years separate their ages, you have to admit that next to Cruise's boyish good looks, McGillis comes across as someone who is more suited for a role as, let's say, the Admiral's wife than Tom Cruise's love interest. I guess they needed an "older" woman to make her role of an experienced military evaluator and enemy MiG fighter plane expert more realistic. Which is too bad because I could think of many other more attractive actresses that could have easily filled this role.

"Sorry Goose, but it's time to buzz the tower" - Maverick

The story in "Top Gun" is as straightforward and as uncomplicated as a Sidewinder missile coming right at you. There are no twists and turns and the writers and director go out of their way to make sure that the audience gets it. This is the kind of filmmaking that tries to cater to the lowest common denominator or as Bruckheimer likes to put it, to mom and pop in Oklahoma. Maverick is the troubled but talented hot shot whose reckless nature not only puts himself at risk but also unnecessarily endangers others around him as well. As he goes through various trials and tribulations at Top Gun, he meets the girl of his dreams and the self-confessed playboy falls in love for the first time (a collective awwwwwwww fills the room). By the time the final act of the movie rolls along, he is presented with the one chance to vindicate himself and to set things straight. Oh and have no fear, in the end, our hero, naturally, gets the girl too.

The storyline may be cheesy and predictable but the aerial footages of the F-14s dogfighting are genuinely breathtaking and exciting. With skillful editing and tight stunt coordination between the Navy pilots who actually flew the planes and director Tony Scott, I amazingly, never once got confused over the fast-paced on-screen action. You always knew who was who by the distinctive markings on the pilots' helmets. It really helps that the actors were wearing breathing masks over their mouths, which enabled the editors to insert any dialogue they want over the shots in post-production. What this really means is that all the accumulated rolls of aerial footages may not have a decent story structure in the first place but with clever editing and voice dubbing, anything is possible, as clearly shown by the resulting film.

"You can be my wingman anytime!" - Iceman

Sometimes, I tend to think of "Top Gun" as a rock and roll musical with fast jets rather than an action movie with great music. The movie was clearly written and constructed with rock music in mind. Scenes like the shameless pseudo hard body showoff event on the beach volleyball court are only meant for one thing and one thing only, and that is to bring legions of women into the theaters to watch the movie. With Kenny Loggins' "Playing With The Boys" thumping in the background, it is funny to note that Goose, who is played by a rather scrawny Anthony Edwards, is the only person on the court with a shirt on. Everyone else, Cruise, Kilmer and Rick Rossovich (Slider, Iceman's RIO) have their shirts off and their buff bodies oiled to perfection. As with many movies from that time period, the movie's soundtrack became a whole new entity that sort of defined the movie itself. With famed producer and songwriter Giorgio Moroder penning two of the film's biggest hits, "Danger Zone" sung by Kenny Loggins and "Take My Breath Away", performed by Berlin and which won an Oscar for Best Original Song, it was not a big surprise for me to find that many of the songs on the soundtrack album became singularly synonymous with the movie.

Tom Cruise was far from giving one of his better performances in "Top Gun". Not that we can blame him because the script doesn't call for anything remotely passable as effective dialogue. We do, however, come to find out in the film that Cruise can't sing even to save his own life! "Top Gun" may not be his best effort but it did put Cruise on the Hollywood map as a bankable and dependable star. The same thing can be said for Val Kilmer. Also, look out for a very young Meg Ryan before her breakthrough performance in "When Harry Met Sally". Luckily, by then, Ryan had lost the awful hairdo she sported in this movie.

Video:
As I do not own the previous non-anamorphic DVD release of "Top Gun", I am not able to do a one-to-one comparison for you. But to allay any fears that the fans of this film might have, this new release comes with a great video transfer that is anamorphically enhanced and measures 2.35:1. The video images are not 100% clean as I spotted some minor scratches to the print. However, the colors are natural, vibrant and vivid, without any noticeable bleeding and the images are sharp and detailed. Kudos to Paramount for doing a great job with this video transfer. Unlike the first release, this one doesn't come with a Pan & Scan version of the film. Subtitles options include English and Spanish.

Audio:
Listening to the movie through the English language Dolby Digital 5.1 track, I was literally blown away by the very dynamic and very directional audio sequences during the action scenes. Listen carefully as the jets to scream past your right surround channel towards the front and then to the left. Also included is an English DTS 6.1 Surround audio track that performs on par, if not slightly better than the 5.1 track. As my sound system is not configured for 6.1 audio, I am not able to report on the effectiveness of the rear channel but the rest of the channels are as dynamic as the Dolby Digital track. Other audio options include Dolby Surround 2.0 in English and French.

Extras:
In terms of creating new bonus material for this 2-DVD set, Paramount has come through big time for fans of "Top Gun". This is one of the few releases that lives up to its "Special Collector's Edition" moniker.

Disc 1:
Disc 1 contains the movie and also an audio commentary by director Tony Scott, producer Jerry Bruckheimer, co-screenwriter Jack Epps, Jr., Captain Mike Galpin, technical advisor Pete Pettigrew and Vice-Admiral Mike McCabe. All the participants--some more than other--offer a great deal of information about the movie and what went on behind the scenes. Tony Scott's droning voice is a little monotonous but Bruckheimer and the others are able to liven things up a bit. If you have the time, this is quite an interesting listen.

Still on Disc 1 is a "Vintage Gallery". This collection contains four music videos and seven television spots. The music videos are Kenny Loggins' "Danger Zone", Berlin's "Take My Breath Away", Loverboy's "Heaven in Your Eyes" and the "Top Gun Anthem" by German composer Harold Faltermeyer and Steve Stevens. The TV spots are short trailers with the following titles: Patriotism, Story, Male Action, Romance, Cruise/Action, Cruise/Moody and Music.

Disc 2:
The second DVD contains more comprehensive features. Leading off is a slightly longer than 150-minute documentary (longer than the movie itself) detailing every aspect in the making of the film. Titled "Danger Zone: The Making of Top Gun", it is divided into six of the following categories:
From the Ground Up – Pre-Production
Playing With the Boys – Production: Land and Sea
The Need For Speed – Production: Air
Back to Basics – Visual Effects
Combat Rock – The Music of Top Gun
Afterburn – Release and Impact

Presented in anamorphic video, this documentary is very clear (with almost HD quality) and very detailed. It contains every little thing that you would ever want to know about "Top Gun". The most interesting section is "From the Ground Up – Pre-Production" where principal crew members like Bruckheimer, director Tony Scott and writer Jack Epps, Jr. are interviewed about how the film got made. Among the stories you will hear include Bruckheimer's tangle with Michael Eisner and Jeffrey Katzenberg and how they didn't like the script that was handed to them. Also discussed are the casting decisions. Epps admitted that he wrote the screenplay with Cruise in mind for the role of Maverick. The section on aerial stunt sequences is also interesting as interviews with actual Navy officers who were part of the filming reveal how little the Hollywood guys know about flying jet fighters. Scott and his crew would come up with impossible flying sequences that had to be dialed down by the pilots. In "Combat Rock – The Music of Top Gun", you will see interviews with Giorgio Moroder, Harold Faltermeyer, Kenny Loggins and Terri Nunn (the lead singer of Berlin). Then the film editors, Chris Lebenzon and Billy Weber get to say their piece as they talk about the harrowing experience they had with this film. Overall, this is one of the most comprehensive behind-the-scenes documentaries I have ever come across.

Next up is "Multi-Angle Storyboards", which presents two sequences called "Flat Spin" and "Jester's Dead". You can watch this in two ways: storyboard only or storyboard/final shot comparison. You can use the ‘Angle' button on your DVD remote to switch between them and also turn on or off the audio commentary by Tony Scott. All in all, a very interactive feature.

Finally, we have another feature called "Vintage Gallery". This time, it features documentaries that were recorded way back in the 80s when the film was made. There are "Behind-the-Scenes Featurette", "Survival Training Featurette", "Tom Cruise Interviews" and "Production Photography". After watching the other documentary on this disc, the ones here seem inconsequential. Still, they are interesting, in a time capsule kind of way.

Packaging:
This "Top Gun: Special Collector's Edition" DVD set is packaged in a regular 2-disc keepcase.

Film Value:
Recently, in celebration of their new cheese-flavored crumpets, British bakery company Warburtons posed the question, "What is your top cheesiest moments in film?" to U.K. moviegoers and Val Kilmer's awful "You can be my wingman anytime" line to Tom Cruise at the end of "Top Gun" came in at number six. Interestingly, number one was the infamous "I'm the king of the world!" line from "Titanic".

This tiny nugget of useless information serve to illustrate the impact of "Top Gun" on the psyche of many moviegoers almost twenty years later. Many of us still remember the film, not for its dramatic contribution to the art of moviemaking but for the glamorous images that somehow still sticks to our minds like a leech. Never one to shy away from freely admitting the fact that he makes popcorn flicks that wows rather than intrigues its audience, Bruckheimer discovered the perfect money-making formula with "Top Gun". It may not be a good movie to begin with but "Top Gun"'s great impact on popular culture is still felt almost two decades later. And it lives on in many of Jerry Bruckheimer's other movies.

As for this latest 2-disc release of "Top Gun", it hits a homerun in terms of audio/video quality and the amount of bonus material available. Fans of this movie should definitely put in for an upgrade.