If you’re looking for something to get you more excited to celebrate America’s 250th birthday than you already are, drop everything you’re doing and go see the Top Gun movies in theaters right now.
To commemorate the iconic 1986 film’s 40-year anniversary, Paramount Pictures re-released Top Gun and its riveting sequel, Top Gun: Maverick, in theaters for one week starting last Wednesday. Which means time is running out to re-live the magic of watching these incredible movies on the big screen for the foreseeable future.
Having done so already for both films, it’s a decision I cannot recommend enough.
While streaming a movie at home has its advantages (e.g., pausing for bathroom breaks), there’s a certain magic that comes with watching a film at the theaters. Aside from the occasional rude aisle-mate, it gives us an opportunity to experience a fun story together with friends and family in a larger-than-life format while ensconced in a comfy chair and the aroma of freshly made popcorn.
But more specific to Top Gun and its sequel, these films were made for viewers to watch in theaters.
For there is nothing quite like watching the sequences of F-14 and F-18 fighter jets taking off from aircraft carriers to Kenny Loggins’ “Danger Zone” on the big screen. Coupled with the incredible roar of the planes’ engines and aerial movements all around you, it’s a spectacle like no other.
What’s more is that the moviegoing experience provides a better appreciation for the films’ overall cinematography.
That’s especially true for Top Gun: Maverick, in which Tom Cruise and his co-stars underwent a Navy-approved boot camp that spanned three months so that they could film their plane scenes while flying in the actual F-18s. By bringing cameras inside and outside the cockpit, viewers are immersed in the flying experience along with the actors as they’re pulling steep climbs and enduring the full force of gravity weighing down on them.
But above all, the Top Gun movies evoke the patriotic fervor that comes with America’s 250 celebration.
They give us an appreciation for the U.S. service members who put on the uniform and take on risky jobs like these to continue defending the God-given freedoms the founding generation bled and died for. They also teach young men about overcoming adversity and what it means to sacrifice yourself for a purpose greater than your own — a quintessential quality of American greatness.
And, as an added bonus, these films give viewers the very American pleasure of getting to watch a bunch of U.S. military dudes hop in fighter jets and blow stuff up.
So, if you haven’t already, make plans to go see the Top Gun films before they leave theaters. I promise it’s a decision you won’t regret.
