【AI前沿】Stunning aerial footage still best thing about Top Gun at 40

“I feel the need… for speed!”Stunning aerial footage still best thing aboutTop Gunat 40Tony Scott’s 1986 blockbuster and the 2022 sequel are the best recruitment tools the US Navy could hope for.Jennifer Ouellette–May 21, 2026 12:42 pm|97Credit:

      Paramount PicturesCredit:

      Paramount PicturesText
    settingsStory textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth*StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers onlyLearn moreMinimize to navWhen the action filmTop Gunhit the big screen in 1986, critical reviews were mixed, but audiences were thrilled. The film racked up $358 million globally, making it the highest-grossing film of that year. Its success spawned a few video games and a critically acclaimed blockbuster 2022 sequel,Top Gun: Maverick, and the eye-popping flight sequences definitely boosted enlistment numbers for the US Navy. Those scenes are still the best thing aboutTop Gun,40 years later.(Spoilers below because it’s been 40 years.)The film was inspired by a 1983 article in California magazine detailing the lives of fighter pilots at Naval Air Station Miramar in San Diego (aka “Fightertown USA”) and featuring plenty of aerial photography alongside the text. Producers Jerry Bruckheimer and Don Simpson tapped Jim Cash and Jack Epps Jr. to write the screenplay, with Epps sitting in on declassified classes at the academy and even taking a flight aboard an F-14.Tony Scott, then a relative newcomer with just one feature film (1983’sThe Hunger) to his name, was hired to direct. However, he had shot a commercial for Saab featuring one of the company’s cars racing against a Saab 37 Viggen fighter jet, so the producers figured he had the chops forTop Gun.The film wastes no time getting us in the air. Our hero, Maverick (Cruise) and his radar intercept officer, Goose (Anthony Andrews) are flying maneuvers in an F-14A Tomcat in the Indian Ocean, along with Maverick’s wingman, Cougar (John Stockwell) and his RIO. They encounter two hostile MiG-28s (a fictitious craft represented in the film by the Northrup F-5). Maverick scares one away with a well-timed missile lock, but the other MiG locks onto Cougar before getting chased away by Maverick. Just to make sure we understand how Maverick got his nickname, the pilot inverts his plane and flies directly above the hostile MiG, giving his adversary the finger as Goose snaps a commemorative Polaroid.Cougar, however, is badly shaken by the encounter—so much so that he freezes up and can’t land his plane. So Maverick defies orders to land immediately (they are low on fuel) and flies back to Cougar to lead him safely back to the carrier. That earns Maverick a reprimand and establishes him as a cocky, arrogant rule-breaker with a fierce loyalty to his fellow pilots. Despite this, because Cougar has “lost the edge” and quits his commission, Maverick and Goose get to take his place at the titular Top Gun.Highway to the danger zoneLt. Pete “Maverick” Mitchell (Tom Cruise) gets his shot at the Top Gun academy.Lt. Pete “Maverick” Mitchell (Tom Cruise) gets his shot at the Top Gun academy.Maverick’s BFF and radar intercept officer is LTJG Nick “Goose” Bradshaw (Anthony Edwards).Maverick’s BFF and radar intercept officer is LTJG Nick “Goose” Bradshaw (Anthony Edwards).“You’ve lost that lovin’ feeling”: Maverick leads a group serenade to Charlie (Kelly McGillis) in a bar, hoping to score.“You’ve lost that lovin’ feeling”: Maverick leads a group serenade to Charlie (Kelly McGillis) in a bar, hoping to score.Maverick’s BFF and radar intercept officer is LTJG Nick “Goose” Bradshaw (Anthony Edwards).“You’ve lost that lovin’ feeling”: Maverick leads a group serenade to Charlie (Kelly McGillis) in a bar, hoping to score.Charlie turns out to be a Top Gun instructor.The flight sequences are the best part of the film.Maverick’s got the flying chops, the abrasive confidence, and nerves of steel, but can he learn to set his ego aside and be a team player? His archrival, Tom “Iceman”Kazansky(Val Kilmer), doesn’t think so, especially when Maverick abandons his wingman in a training run to make a showy, aggressive pass at an instructor’s plane. Everyone ends up failing the exercise because of it. Iceman thinks Maverick is dangerous—which the latter naturally tries to turn into an asset: “I am dangerous.”Lt. Commander Rick “Jester” Heatherly (Michael Ironside) shares Iceman’s concerns, admitting that while Maverick’s flying is impressive, he might not trust him in actual combat. And training for combat is why they’re all there.This is an ’80s blockbuster, so of course Maverick ultimately redeems himself and saves the day in an actual air skirmish—and also gets the girl, a civilian Top Gun instructor named Charlie (Kelly McGillis). But first, he suffers a major personal loss. Maverick and Goose accidentally fly through the jet wash of another plane, both engines flame out, and they go into a flat spin that not even Maverick can recover from.The pair eject, but Goose h