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Top Gun
[HD DVD] R0 - America - Paramount Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Noor Razzak (26th November 2007). |
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The Film
 Oh yes..."Top Gun" a classic example of 1980's overindulgence, this film certainly has it all, a hot cast including a young Tom Cruise for the ladies and Kelly McGillis and also Meg Ryan (in an early movie appearance) for the guys to swoon over, action that rivals the best that 80's action movies had to offer, fast fighter jets and sweet dog fight scenes, cheesy love interest sub-plots and a lead character that had everything to prove and nothing to lose. "Top Gun" is the total 'excess' package filled to the brim with nothing but corny lines and money shot after money shot. And it's these reasons that make this film so much fun to watch and holds up as one of those guilty pleasures. Released in 1986 at the forefront of Cruise's rise to stardom "Top Gun" was the first among many successful collaborations with director Tony Scott and producers Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer. Much like their other collaborations the film was a box office smash and for all intents and purposes the film was among the most popular of the 1980's. With almost always cringe-worthy moments spattered all over this film from the hair styles to the music featuring such classics of pop rock as Kenny Loggins' "Danger Zone" and "Take my Breath Away" by Berlin, the film certainly left its mark. "Top Gun" tells the story of Maverick (Tom Cruise) and his wing man Goose (Anthony Edwards) as they are sent to train at Miramar Naval Academy in the Top Gun program, where the top pilots go to train. Maverick is reckless and considered a loose cannon and soon develops a rivalry with Ice Man (Val Kilmer) his complete opposite, Ice Man is cool and flies with precision. While at Top Gun, Maverick falls for instructor Charlie (Kelly McGillis) and goes through a journey that will see him challenged in ways he's never been to become the best fighter pilot in the Navy. For those that haven't seen the film before it's a hard one to actually convince people to see, because it's so over-the-top and ridiculous. But that's not going to stop me, the film has so many classic moments throughout including the exciting opening sequence with the MIG fighters, Maverick doing fly-by's of the tower, the scene where Maverick and Goose serenade Charlie at the bar the first time they meet, the homo-erotic beach volleyball scene and of course the numerous dog fight scenes which push the planes to their limit. This is pure adrenaline stuff as the filmmakers pull off some impressive shots sometimes mounted on the planes themselves placing you right in the action. If anything it's visually slick and is far from boring. The acting isn't going to win any awards, it's the classic blockbuster approach, story and performance is only secondary to the action but it's just enough to hold the film together without falling into farce. You will roll your eyes occasionally but those moments are forgotten when the next dog fight sequence comes around. "Top Gun" is not the best movie the 1980's produced, but it's one of the most fun and easily watch able. Its check-your-brain-at-the-door-popcorn-flick wrapped in cheesy goodness.
Video
Presented in the film's original theatrical ratio of 2.35:1 this transfer is presented in 1080p 24/fps high-definition and has been created using AVC MPEG-4 compression. The result is very good, although the previous 2-disc release included a very good transfer; I've never seen this film look so good. The image is sharp and detail is brilliantly displayed from the tiny beads of sweat on the air craft carrier crew to the ripples in the ocean and the skies. Colors are well rendered and appear vibrant and lush, with black levels that are appropriately deep. Skin tones appear natural for the most part although sometimes it does veer towards the orange hues (especially in the volleyball scene). The aerial shots look the best and capture the scope and detail very well, I did notice some minor specks and dirt at times but that's really it. Overall the transfer is very good for a film over 20-years-old now.
Audio
Five audio tracks are included in English Dolby Digital TrueHD 5.1 presented at 48kHz/24-bit/3.5Mbps as well as half bit-rate English DTS-ES 6.1 matrix surround and Dolby Digital-Plus 5.1 tracks in English, French and Spanish. For the purposes of this review I chose to view the film with its Dolby Digital TrueHD track, the track kicks from start to finish and presents the film with an aggressive mix that handles both ambient moments and action moments really well. The dialogue is clear and distortion free but the surround mix is populated by effects that place you inside a cockpit or on an aircraft carrier. The music pumps out loudly and effectively and overall we're dealing with a track that had both range and depth and features a finely mixed and well rendered sound mix that's immersive and impressive. Optional subtitles are included in English, English for the hearing impaired, French, Portuguese and Spanish.
Extras
Paramount has released this film on Hig-Definition without a single extra nothing from the previous 2-disc DVD has been ported over, which is a big disappointment.
Overall
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