Top Gun: Not A Good Rewatch

I'll keep it sort of short since I think everyone has seen this movie. But in any case it centers around some naval aviation lieutenant who gets sent to the TOPGUN program in Miramar, CA where he and others are trained to dogfight. Watching the movie as a kid I thought, "wow, cool airplanes, whoosh!" Now the movie somehow lost its luster to me. Aside from finding it very homoerotic, and with a lot of sort of weird sing-along scenes, and weird scenes in general. Why is Tom Cruise following that lady into the women's room? Was that considered normal behavior in '86? And a lot of the dialogue was really lacking. The scene where the blonde chases after him in her car just to tell him he's a genius and she's fallen for him? I think my eyes did a barrel roll in my head. It didn't actually have very much action in it. The whole thing basically felt like a glorified Navy recruitment ad. Whether or not the Navy was involved, I dunno. Maybe it's just not the movie for me. Also, the instructor (Viper?) getting that buddy-buddy with Maverick just rubbed me the wrong way.

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Any movie where the protagonist has sex with their female psychiatrist/counsellor, and it's portrayed as good or romantic, is a very problematic movie. It's in the same vein as that Gone With the Wind scene. You know, 'that' one.


The only movie I remember it working in was Basic Instinct, and that protagonist was NOT portrayed as a good person.

I just think it's...I dunno. In my head I was thinking, "yeah, okay." I suppose it is THAT type of movie, so some leeway is allowed. But that's if you consider this in a vacuum. When you consider all the factors together, eventually the movie goes beyond the leeway that, I, personally, am willing to give it. It's like suspending your disbelief. There are limits.

The movie is horribly dated

I'm normally not big on the idea of movies aging, but in this case I have to agree.

It's a dumb movie. It always has been. It's for the bros. Whaddya gonna do.

i don't remember much of the movie, i just remember being disappointed the volleyball scene wasn't nearly as gay as everyone always claimed it was.

Gads, what a nightmare. Post-coitus, the therapist insists on analyzing the event. "So, do you always whimper so desperately when you bust?"

If your analyst is a behaviorist, she'll have to ask, "So, how was it for me?"

But it's not even great for the bros. It's...very homoerotic AND doesn't actually have that much action in it.

But it's bros being bros. And, let's be honest, homosexual tension is a big underlying part of Brodom. Plus, it is broness and brodom that wins in the end.

What about the "NOT-THE-SOVIET" pilots? Do you think they don't have brodom? Or rather...БРOДOM? I dunno, I guess I have a different set of bros. Because the one time some gay shit happened in my friend circle was like...10+ years ago, and I still wince thinking about it.

Or maybe...БРACTBO

Yeah, I also rewatched in the later years and was very disappointed.

The sequel is absolutely amazing though.

I thought the locker room scenes were more gay.

"I'm just going out for a smoke. I'll be right back. Pinkie promise."

It is definitely a thing of it's time, a melodrama wrapped up in a music video. The classic "Tom Cruise must overcome daddy issues to finally grow up" story. This one got more kids to enlist in the Navy than the Village People ever did. It's what The Final Countdown wanted to be--the ultimate recruiting video.

Most of the 80s so-called "classics", it seems to me, are celebrated for being Nostalgic to those who saw them back then and keep voting them to this day... no way is Raiders of the Lost Ark the second best movie ever made Empire Magazine!

Anyway, haven't seen this. Will I understand/enjoy the sequel?

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HEI guys.

Well, I rewatched a bunch of 80s films, and for the most part it wasn't just nostalgia. They were actually good. The Shining, Conan, First Blood, Blade Runner, The Thing, Terminator, Commando, Platoon, Hamburger Hill, FMJ, Predator. All very good. All hold up very well.

Not very brotastic or homoerotic at all.

Certainly less on the nose than a bunch of sweaty, topless prettyboys standing around in a locker room...or playing volleyball!

Edit: AND his bros got killed at the start of the movie!

I flat out love some of those you mentioned, and most of them indeed hold up. I was referring to those which I find odd being celebrated to the degree that they are; perhaps I wasn't clear... for every Blade Runner there are ten Ferris Bueller's in other words.