Top Gun

I'll be the third guy here to post this movie and admit that I've never seen it before! Trev gave it an overview and honed in on the homoeroticism angles the movie has left behind as a legacy. Keith just skewered it up and down. Fear not! I've got a fresh take of my own on this film, even if I doubt it's a fresh take at all, given how clearly and vividly it jumped out at me, and given that this movie is already thirty(!) years old.

Ready? Maverick is a total dick. And Iceman is the real hero here. Consider the obvious. Iceman is a top-ranked student revered by his peers and his teachers alike. His biggest offense is just that he's leery and wary of Maverick, the showboating newcomer with no respect for rules or the chain of command. Maverick meanwhile demands all kinds of respect and attention from the people around him despite going out of his way to be immature, dangerous, and generally not a team player. This is a military movie, after all, and who would you rather fly with - Maverick or Iceman? And it's not even like Iceman is boring or shitty or not fun to be around. That's Maverick! Compare the way the two of them act throughout the movie if you don't believe it. When the movie ends and Iceman - the winner of the Top Gun contest and clearly the class's best pilot - finally acknowledges Maverick as a great pilot in his own right, Maverick one ups him like an asshole. "You can be my wingman anytime." Hey, good for him! "Bullshit! You can be mine!" What a petulant little shit bag...