Action movies of the 1980s often featured a renegade hero fighting some Soviet enemy to win the hearts and minds of those around him or her. Many times this may just be a straight forward story of how the U.S.A and the U.S.S.R combated in this time period. The movie Top Gun is a story of just that with high flying action against “the evil nation.” The film utilizes some of these key components from this time period. The hot dog pilot Maverick (Tom Cruise) and his flight partner Goose (Anthony Edwards) go on a journey of self-discovery while in the top Navy flight school, Top Gun. This could very well be the best movie of all time.

The movie’s plot is easy to follow with few major twists while keeping you interested. Maverick and Goose manage to snag a spot in the best flight school the Navy has to offer. With their given usual behavior, they predictably get into some trouble while they are there. Maverick even falls in love with one of his instructors. The plot also provokes every emotion in the audience, which is a great feat for a military movie. The only negative comment I would have is that I could not feel the love story between maverick and Charlie very well. This could be because the movie was busy being awesome in all the other ways.

Another great aspect of the movie would be the flight engagement scenes. An aerial fight scene brings a new challenge to the filming process as it is multi-dimensional. The movie perfectly shows how dogfighting is a physical and intense activity. It also makes these scenes watchable and will not make the viewer too dizzy. Other special effect accomplishments would include the massive military vessels seen such as the aircraft carriers.

This movie coincides with what many people in America as well as many people outside of America believe. This film demonstrated that the U.S.A. is the greatest country that the world has ever known. We see this through military triumph in the movie as well as classic and treasured American culture such as beach volleyball and singing “Great Balls of Fire” at the diner with your “family” meaning that your fellow man is your family. Anyone will walk out of the theater after seeing this movie and feel a new sense of pride and patriotism towards their country.

This movie showed a good reflection of what reality was in the 1980s. The United States and the Soviet Union had tension between the two of them. The scenarios and acting perfectly show the anxiety and tension that would have been seen at the time. All of the pilots take training seriously because they are ready for an attack from the Soviets. Reality was the focus of the movie and was shown brilliantly.
While the escape from reality was poor, the consistency was on point. Based on true events, an escape was non-existent. However, the movie was consistent in every way so that the audience is kept in the cockpit with Maverick and Goose. The theme is consistent, which is to win the Top Gun trophy and defend America.

The significance and moral of this movie was average. The main lesson someone should get is to persevere through everything that is thrown at you in life, because you can triumph in the end. The average rating comes from the lack of ground breaking morals or lessons that are learned. Any military movie will display the same kind of courage and determination as Top Gun.

Top Gun shows us that we as America are a great nation and reminds us that any evil that confronts us will be defeated through perseverance and will. It was an amazing film that kept the audience on the edge of their seat with great enthusiasm and excitement.