Top Gun celebrates its 40th anniversary this weekend, and if you’re looking for more aerial action after rewatching the 80s classic (and its sequel), here are five other movies to check out. Be sure to check out this week’s Everything Actioncast episode as we dive into all things Top Gun.
Iron Eagle: The most obvious choice, Iron Eagle also came out in 1986 and also featured tons of fighter jet action. Jason Gedrick stars as Doug Masters, a hotshot young pilot who is the son of a veteran fighter pilot. When his father is shot down and captured by the hostile Middle Eastern country of Bilya, Doug recruits wily veteran pilot Col. Charles “Chappy” Sinclair (Louis Gossett Jr) to help him launch a rescue mission when it seems like the US government won’t be able to do anything before his father is executed. Much like Top Gun, Iron Eagle also features a rocking soundtrack, but in Iron Eagle, it’s essential to the plot as Doug can only really excel as a pilot if he has some sweet tunes to listen to. Three sequels followed the original, with Gossett Jr. returning in all of them as Chappy.
Hot Shots!: If you’re looking for some laughs along with your dog fighting, 1991’s Hot Shots! is a send-up of Top Gun from Jim Abrahams, the co-writer and co-director of Airplane and Top Secret! Charlie Sheen stars as Topper Harley, a fighter pilot recruited back into active duty for Operation Sleepy Weasel. Haunted by the death of his father, Topper has to try and overcome his demons, with help from therapist Ramada Thompson (Valerie Golino), deal with a rivalry with fellow pilot Kent “Pirate” Gregory (Cary Elwes), and a shady scheme by airplane tycoon Mr. Wilson (Efrem Zimbalist, Jr.) to have his “Super Fighter” replace the Navy’s current fighter jet. Along with Top Gun, the movie also takes shots at 9½ Weeks, The Fabulous Baker Boys, Dances with Wolves, Marathon Man, Rocky, Superman, First Blood, and Gone with the Wind. It was followed by Hot Shots! Part Deux in 1993, which leaned more into being a Rambo parody.
Fire Birds: Replace fighter jets with Apache helicopters, and you have 1990’s Fire Birds. Nicolas Cage is in the Maverick role as Jake Preston, who is the only survivor of a mission to take out a South American cartel fortress. Recruited to join the Apache program, he undergoes training under the command of Brad Little (Tommy Lee Jones) and alongside his ex-girlfriend, Billie Lee Guthrie (Sean Young). It’s extremely similar to Top Gun in its plot mechanics and characters, which is probably why it failed to connect with critics or audiences. Opening the same day as Back to the Future Part III probably didn’t help its box office either.
Fighter: Hollywood isn’t the only place to get absurdly over-the-top, patriotic fighter jet movies, as evidenced by 2024’s Fighter from India. Directed by Siddharth Anand, who directed Indian hits Pathaan and War, Fighter follows a fighter squadron known as the “Air Dragons”, who are assembled to take on a terrorist organization led by Azhar Akhtar (Rishabh Sawhney). The squadron attacks the air base that Akhtar’s forces are operating out of, but the operation causes tensions to rise between India and Pakistan. Along with some ridiculous fighter jet action, there’s also massive dance sequences and everything else you would expect from a big Bollywood blockbuster. The movie was one of the highest-grossing films in India in 2024, and it’s the first of a potential series of aerial action films.
R2B: Return to Base: South Korea also got in on the aerial action with R2B: Return to Base in 2012. “Loosely inspired” by Top Gun but also inspired by the 1964 Korean film Red Scarf, Rain stars as Captain Jung Tae-yoon, an extremely Maverickesque fighter pilot who pulls off a dangerous and cocky aerial maneuver during an air show. He’s transferred to the 21st Fighter Wing, where he becomes rivals with Cheol-hee (Yoo Jun-sang), an Iceman-esque, by-the-book fighter pilot. The squadron comes into conflict with North Korea when a North Korean pilot tries to defect but is attacked by an enemy MiG, which then attacks Seoul. The squadron then learns that a North Korean battalion has gone rogue and seized control of a nuclear silo, and they have to launch a mission to destroy the base and also rescue one of their pilots trapped behind enemy lines. Much like Top Gun, R2B had the full backing of the Republic of Korea Air Force, which was heavily involved in the production. Right after filming, Rain had to report for his mandatory military service, which he completed in July 2013.
