Top Gun

2022 will finally see the release of the long awaited sequel to Tony Scott's iconic Top Gun from 1986 with Top Gun: Maverick. Tom Cruise today is of course a well known action star who has focused his career away from dramas such as Magnolia, Born on the Fourth of July and Rain Man to such high octane flicks as Edge of Tomorrow and the highly enjoyable Mission Impossible franchise that is still going strong today but in 1986 he was busy establishing his name in a variety of different genres. 1983's Risky Business stands out as one of his more recognisable early films but 1986 really was the year that put his name out there with The Color of Money and, you guessed it, Top Gun.

Taking inspiration from an article about the life of American fighter pilots, Top Gun follows Cruise's hot-headed LT Pete "Maverick" Mitchell as he enters an elite fighter pilot school to prove himself to be the best of the best but discovers he has more to learn than he initially thought. From here it's stunning shots of fighter jets performing daring stunts, shirtless volleyball in jeans(?), a cracking soundtrack and Scott's perfectly balanced use of camera filters to create one thrilling film.

As well as being a huge break for the leading man, Top Gun also propelled the career of director Tony Scott who had a very limited filmography by this point but he handles the whole film perfectly despite how expensive things were getting for the studio in the background. The cast with Cruise, Kelly McGillis, Anthony Edwards, Michael Ironside, Tom Skerritt and Val Kilmer are also all perfect, and keep the story progressing seamlessly from one scene to the next before Maverick takes to the skies.

And it's with those fighter jet sequences that neatly combine real flying with miniatures that give the film such a powerful shot of adrenaline which completes Top Gun as a thrilling experience and one of the most iconic films of the decade. The story is simple and antagonists are carefully deployed as faceless villains but Cruise and Scott take an article from a magazine and turn it something that still feels just as fresh and exciting today. 

It's such a shame we will never see Scott's sequel to Top Gun but, even if Joseph Kosinski's sequel disappoints, he has left us with a highly entertaining film that stands the test of time. Top Gun is a successful balance between the human drama and action in the skies with stunning visuals of the fighter jets which makes it so easy to recommend, and watch again a few more times. Thank you, Tony.