Top Gun

Annotation for KRRR! 2024 by Filip Šula

The film that definitively confirmed Tom Cruise's star status is often referred to as a recruitment film. The environment in which it is set, that of a fighter pilot school, is portrayed as a highly attractive world unto itself, which its inhabitants enjoy. As a place that shapes them and to which they themselves try to adapt, which is presented as ideal and which produces responsible men with a sense of teamwork out of selfish flunkies. Simply put, Top Gun is more than anything else a film about a group of people who love their way of life. And this is represented by the powerful machines, the fast flying fighters, the necessary quick observation, and above all the teamwork that must be submitted to and personal ambition sacrificed.

As attractive as the world is, however, it provides a playground for a classic tale of personal responsibility, which Tom Cruise's top pilot Pete "Maverick" Mitchell learns throughout the film. Flying fighter jets in Top Gun represents the only possible lifestyle for heroes like Maverick, and the film makes us feel its appeal. Moreover, their shots are shot in such a way that the landscape behind them is more static, even as the camera follows the planes. The whole picture is thus in motion, as the telephoto lenses are used to make the plane move seemingly faster than the overall shot across the landscape, not to mention the revolutionary shots taken directly from the fighter in flight. The impression of intoxicating speed is created for both pilots and viewers, which is supported by the dynamic editing in the cockpits, where the camera constantly changes angles in short shots while the actors move in and out of dialogue. The viewer is thus left in a kind of physical tension, experiencing the high speed along with the characters.

The heroes and the audience leave these dizzying situations during the film, but they continue to remain in their lives and are recalled. This is also ensured by the film's soundtrack, which reinforces the impression of constant action. Almost every scene not accompanied by a soundtrack is also accompanied by the work or social bustle of the surroundings. In the office buildings it is the ringing of telephones, in the admiral's office the air conditioning, the sounds of nature on Charlie's porch, and on the base the incessant sounds of planes taking off and landing. This pattern is only broken in Maverick's intimate moments that reveal the hero's past. The accompanying roar of engines constantly reminds the characters that they remain part of a given world, framed by the ecstatic speed of fighter jets. This is also why shots of planes taking off and sculpted pilots seem almost fetishizing, demonstrating the perfection of (the world of) flight training.