Its the prototypical 80's action flick. I saw it lots of times in the theatre when I was 10 in 1986. I love this movie.

This edition is far richer in features than the original DVD release, which had none. The video, however, is still not cleaned up, its the same grainy stuff in the first release. The sound is excellent, however. And the special features are interesting, with all of the cast interviews and the survival training featurette. All to the good.

The problems start with the commentary track. Military advisors, writers, and Tony Scott. Far too crowded. They should have had separate commentary tracks for the advisors, director, and writers. Audio tracks don't take up much disc space. The special edition of Platoon does this perfectly.

But the most annoying part of this edition, is that during the commentary, Tony Scott talks about deleted scenes and the other filmed endings constantly. Where the heck are they on the DVD?

I think they're going to release another special edition for the 20th anniversary in 2006 when it (allegedly) gets re-released to theatres. If you have the original Top Gun DVD, don't bother with this one. It tries, but they held a lot potenailly interesting extras back for a twenty year old movie.

I am going to skip the review of the movie, which I will asume you already like and enjoy and go straight to what I feel might interest you the most, this specific DVD edition.

From the cover to the serigraphy on the disc (silver plated letters and full color scenes from the movie) this DVD shows the great quality elements and care that conforms it.

This is a double disc edition which in the first disc includes the movie in its new video transfer and sound mix, 4 video clips of that great soundtrack (Kenny Loggins "Danger Zone", Loverboy "Heaven in your eyes", Berlin "Take my breath away" and Harold Faltermeyer "Main Theme" instrumental, all this in a fullscreen Dolby Pro-logic transfer) a commentary with the producer, the director and with the navy assessors of the film which is very interesting if you like to know how they shoot that specific scene or why the aircraft made that specific move. The second disc include a gallery, a multi-angle storyboard, a 6-part documentary on the making of the film an a small interview with Tom Cruise among other tidbits.

Video: The movie looks amazing with a sepia and bluish palette that just stands out the sky, the sea and the rocky landscape that appear so often in the training-dogfight sequences. You can notice very few artifacts and you can tell they made a great job at cleaning and restoring this transfer, it might be a little dark at times but must of the time the shadows and light are well balanced. If you have a DVD player with progressive scan you will tell the difference right away against earlier DVD editions.

Sound: Now we get to the core and creme of this edition. This got to be one of the greatest 6.1 mixes (2 frontal speakers, 2 rear surround speakers, 1 back surround speaker and the subwoofer) I have ever heard in a while, everything from the music to the roar of the engines it precisely located in each speaker of your home theater, not to much rear not to much front, just the perfect balance, you can hear the dialogue crisp and clear and when the F-14's flyby prepare to make your speakers work at its fullest, specially your subwoofer (watch out your dishware because your house its going to rumble).

If you have a DTS capable receiver this should be your ONLY choice to watch this movie and if you do have that back surround speaker this mix it's going to use it a LOT. From the beginning when you see the aircraft moving slowly on the carrier deck you can hear the controller talking on the radio and that sound comes from the surround back speaker exclusively while Kenny Loggins voice comes from the center and the engines from the fronts, surround and sub.

This is highly recommended acquisition for any serious fan of Top Gun and for any fan of dogfights and war theme films.

A plus, this DVD makes for a superb demo for showcasing your home theater to your friends.

So just push play and let Maverick and Goose take you for a high-octane ride!.

Kelly McGillis was boring, which actually shouldn't be a complaint for she blended in with all the other boring elements in this film.
Most of the shots centered around jets, which yes could have been cool if the stunts wheren't impressive, and the dialogue weak at best.

The romance between Cruise and McGillis felt more like a boy having a crush on his 9th grade teacher. Yes, that's right, it was the dryest romance scenes I've ever witnessed. Example: Kelly gets mad at Cruise and he races off on his bike. She races after him in her car, defying (Or not) death by car crash and eventually Cruise pulls over. Don't ask why he felt the sudden need to pull over for absolutely no reason, for he was suprised to see his 'lover' there yelling at him. He tells her that he doesn't want her being so foolish, and she yells back at him. Thats probally the exent of romance in this flick. Boring.

Plus, by the end of the movie we've had so much testotrine intergrated throughout the movie that its a wonder the men managed to keep the jets safe with all the needless stunts they tried to impress us with.

In ending, this movie was a waste of time and film. Too bad Cruise couldn't have broken into the industry in a more interesting movie.

Wow.
How can so many people really think this is a good movie?
The majority of the film consists of Cruise and Val just flexing whenever they move. Cruise even flexes, shamelessly, when he checks his watch!
The rest of the movie is homoerotica gone beserk.
People, don't be ashmed of what you are. There is nothing wrong with being homosexual. Stand up and say it: you're gay and proud! Now go buy some real gay porn and leave this fluff behind.
Cause that's all this is, deep down. Come on: Val and Cruise snapping gum at each other in the shower room? The constant rivalry and the sweaty volleyball game?
Why can't Cruise and "The Ice Man" Val just kiss already? Why do they keep trying to one-up each other? If anything this movie is about two men who cannot face their homosexuality head-on so they flirt in the poorly masked guise of testing one another.
The female lead is good looking, but Cruise is more interested in his male buddies, including "The Goose", whatever that's supposed to mean. Wink Wink.
The movie is also a disgrace for being little more than a montage of music videos, much like ROCKY IV. One video montage after another makes up the bulk of the movie. In the 80's, music videos were fresh and hot so movies somehow got away with this format.
The air force is pimped left and right in this as being a frat house for boys who just wanna have fun, when in reality it's just a place where young men go to learn to drop bombs on people.
The jets fly about to the Mr. Big and Scorpions type music, creating more inane montages for the mindless masses to drool to.
Overall, this movie is drivel.
Two stars because you can laugh at it, ... for a while.
The Nintendo video game was much better. All shooting down jets, no man-on-man oil wrestling, no "Take My Breath Away", no Val gnashing his jaws at me for no reason. Seriously, what was he doing? What the heck is that? It's ridiculous!

There's a cliche that anyone who likes this film must either be an anti-intellectual conservative/military type, or a homosexual. Unless I'm a rare exception or something, that cliched stereotype just isn't true, as I fit into neither of those categories. In actuality I'm a 40 year old guy with very liberal political views, and very definitely straight as an arrow.

Saying I like this movie is easy. Defining exactly why I like this movie isn't quite as easy, however. Part of it is admittedly some 80's nostalgia, although that doesn't explain why I enjoyed the film back in the 80's when it first came out. I *was* actually in the Navy Reserves in the 1980's, although I joined well before the film came out (1983).

Another aspect of this film I enjoy is the gorgeous cinematography and camera work -- truly candy for the eyes, those gorgeous San Diego sunsets and such. I also liked the relationships in the film and honestly, until it was pointed out by others, I never even suspected there was anything homoerotic about it. The thought never crossed my mind. I'm still not quite sure I believe this accusation.

Anyway, ultimately it doesn't matter that much why a person likes a movie. If you like a film, watch it... if not, don't. This one is definitely in my top 25 alltime favorites. It has become a permanent part of pop culture, and actually helped to define the 1980's as a decade. For that reason alone, it should be seen at least once. If you end up not liking it, just pop in a different flick next time... no big deal.