Bruckheimer Feels the Need…the Need for a ‘Top Gun’ Sequel

By  · Published on June 28th, 2010

Why anyone hasn’t looked to the Oscar-winning Top Gun as a possibility for either a reboot, a retread, a remake or a make-again (the new phrase Hollywood is using) is beyond me. Everything else from the 1980s is already being mined for its cheesy goodness, and I see no reason that the oiled-up, volleyball-playing masterpiece can’t be next on the list.

According to MTV and Jerry Bruckheimer, it might be. Might be. But it’s just an idea rattling around right now (just like it has been for the smaller part of a decade).

Some quick thoughts:

  1. Tom Cruise might need this more than anyone else. He’s struggling, and it might be that tossing on some aviators could be the trick to career resurrection. It’s likely that he could still play a pilot or be an instructor or put on blackface to be the new Louis Gossett, Jr.
  2. A look at the modern Air Force would mostly be people behind computers, which might not be as electric as fighter pilots flying all over the place.
  3. It would be interesting to see a sequel like this made during a hot war. When the original was released in 1986, there was a sort of safety in reveling in Pro-American muscle because of the Cold War (and the imminent end). However, if the film is set in the present, would that mean Ice Man Jr would be chomping his teeth at insurgents in Afghanistan? Would they be dealing with possibility of deploying?
  4. Jerry Bruckheimer sort of looks like Dr. House with a mustache and more hair.
  5. After checking my watch by flexing my bicep toward my head, I realize that it’s high time I watch Top Gun again.

For now, this is just a whisper of a thought that is miles away from being greenlit and given the go ahead for a trip down the highway to the danger zone. However, I’m not convinced that it’s a bad idea.

Not yet at least.

What do you think?

Movie stuff at VanityFair, Thrillist, IndieWire, Film School Rejects, and The Broken Projector Podcast@brokenprojector | Writing short stories at Adventitious.