I have not read the BBC article…yet, but before I get dragged into the day’s business, I would like to say I appreciate a lot the personal dedication Tom Cruise put in getting real aviation across to people by producing this movie:
-The obsessive push for minimal CGI
-The drive to make all acting pilots actually fly…and to fly with them
-The numerous additional real F-18 flights at his cost to ensure the right scene
-Taking the financial hit of the delayed debut to ensure the right reach (which resulted in financial return too)
Yes the story is mediocre but in exchange you get a lot of real flying scenery together with a communication of a passion for aviation transpiring all through the movie, both in a way you rarely see nowadays …
IN general, we could use a lot more of that in (general- pun intended) -aviation nowadays.
If Cruise just wanted to make some more business he did not need to get so involved…
Agree 100%.
But I still wanna know what he puts on his hair 
Antonio wrote:
If Cruise just wanted to make some more business he did not need to get so involved…
That he is a dedicated aviation person is well known, so are his exploits using his private planes like the Mustang, which he used to get the actors used to high G maneuvers.
Appears like whatever he does he knows no half measure. And I guess the military pilots who flew for the movie got to do some interesting stuff too.
Dan wrote:
Top Gun #1
Good story, good music, Kelly
4.9/5 thru my beamer with the surround full blast, popcorn and a cool oneTop Gun #2
Bad story, average music, Kelly gone 😢
1/5
Certainly appreciation of movies is a matter of taste. I would give the original movie 2/5 and the second one a 3.8/5. But I also did miss Kelly — or rather her character, Charlie.
I sense in the forum a certain preference for Kelly McGillis vs Jennifer Connelly…should we open a new thread on the matter ? 
Antonio wrote:
should we open a new thread on the matter ?
Sure, brilliant idea!
… on the other hand I’d have to watch both of them Top Guns again, and life’s really too short to loose more time on those, Kelly present or Kelly gone
