Top Gun 3D

Top Gun is a fast-paced, highly entertaining ride in the wild blue skies with a group of ace jet pilots taught at the Navy's prestigious Fighter Weapons School. Tom Cruise stars as Maverick Mitchell, a daring pilot whose ambition is to become the best of the best. When Maverick lets the rules slide, he learns that he can't always succeed with split-second decisions when he's flying against the best pilots in the world. With music video sequences to move the story along, featuring the likes of Kenny Loggins' "(Highway To The) Danger Zone" and Berlin's "Take My Breath Away," this movie is a 1980's classic. (Suzanne Hodges)

Special features include commentary by Producer Jerry Bruckheimer, Director Tony Scott, Co-Screenwriter Jack Epps, Jr., Captain Mike Galpin, Technical Advisor Pete Pettigrew, and Vice Admiral Mike McCabe; the six-part documentary Danger Zone: The Making Of Top Gun (HD 147:42); multi-angle storyboards for the "Flat Spin" (HD 04:02) segment as well as "Jester's Dead" (HD 02:53), with optional commentary by Scott; the featurette Best Of The Best: Inside The Real Top Gun (HD 28:46); a production photography gallery; D-BOX® Motion Code™ and an UltraViolet digital copy.

Previously reviewed in Issue 92 on DVD in its original 2.39:1 aspect ratio (both the LaserDisc and previously released, non-anamorphic DVD were framed at 1.95:1), this new 2.39:1 3D Blu-ray Disc™, converted by Legend3D, can be quite stunning and is the best that this classic has ever looked. The overall appearance exhibits a grainy, gritty texture, which will appear to fans of classic cinema. Colors are richly saturated and solid, with accurate fleshtones and deep blacks. Contrast and shadow delineation are well balanced, though, some scenes are a bit wanting in definition in the darker areas. The heavy film grain is inherent in the source element, though, not terribly bothersome. Rarely does the picture appear dated. The 3D treatment translates to an entirely new experience that is satisfying throughout. The added dimensional depth and perspective enhances the realism of the aerial shots and the backdrops, such as the distance to the ground and position of jets relative to other jets in the sky. This enhances the sense of endless sky and the scale relationships in terms of space and the sense of volume of objects and people. Even interior environments are displayed more realistically, with appreciable depth relationships that enhance the sense of realism. There is no indication of crosstalk ghosting artifacts. The 3D version, with its effective spatial realism, is preferred to the previously released 2D-only version. Overall, the picture looks great...fans will definitely be excited. (Gary Reber)

The previous DVD soundtracks featured a remixed Dolby® Digital 5.1-channel and a new DTS-ES® Discrete 6.1-channel version. These mixes are presented on the Blu-ray Disc as a new remastered lossless Dolby TrueHD 5.1-channel and DTS-HD Master Audio™ 6.1-channel version. The sound on both versions is riveting, with incredible side-to-side and front/back pans that blend seamlessly, detailed imaging around the room, beautifully mixed staging for music, and impressive ambience from each of the main channels. Bass extension is solid from start to finish, with deep sub-25 Hz signals from each channel. Music is mixed well around the room, with a very deep and wide front-three-screen-channel soundstage. Foley is presented around the entire holosonic™ soundfield, matching on- and off-screen action well. Comparing this to the original Dolby Digital 5.1-channel release is just unfair. The Dolby TrueHD version is much more engrossing, with noticeable increases in fidelity and dynamic range. ADR-type qualities can be heard in outdoor scenes, occasionally sounding forward and unnatural. With all the improvements the Dolby TrueHD 5.1 track brings to the table, the DTS-HD Master Audio 6.1-channel soundtrack is even more impressive, with the addition of another directional perspective, which contributes to better imaging in the rear hemisphere. (Gary Reber/Danny Richelieu)