A great film should have three pillars to hold up to:

A solid plot
Great acting
Amazing production


Sure, there is no doubt in anyone's mind that the production was there on such an expensive movie. But whatever amount of money was spent on special effects, real life fighter jet footage and scenery.....the ball was completely dropped on 90% of the supporting cast the Director forgot to connect the audience to.

The other Top Gun pilots, bless their hearts, they tried. But they should have been kept in the Hallmark movie realm and not brought into a summer blockbuster alongside Tom Cruise. Will you care where this crew of Top Gun cadets are in 10 years? Nope, and neither will I. Nobody is knocking Cruise, Ed Harris and Jon Hamm....all of them do end up saving the movie somewhat from ending up in the dust bins of the $2.99 DVD's at your local gas station in a few years.

The groupthink on this has been pretty annoying too. Post a take like this on social media and you get ripped apart. I'm just glad I was able to see other 3-star reviews here on IMDB that felt exactly the way I did. The campy plot, the Star Wars ripoff scene where they show how exactly the target will be hit, and every other cringe-worthy bits of bad acting, glaring plot holes and all around disappointment.

I have no interest in ever seeing this movie again. Sad because I loved Top Gun growing up and have easily watched it 100 times. I wanted so badly to see that blockbusters were back post-pandemic, they could be well rounded, have some superior acting and even few plot holes. Sadly, there are few redeeming qualities to bring me back to this. I'm thankful I didn't drop $30 on this with my SO in the theatres.... I think I would have been rightfully pissed off. $2 Redbox on a Saturday night was enough for me to say "never again".