When it comes to remastering and letterboxing recent blockbuster films, one of the most requested titles in Paramount Home Video’s roster has always been 'Top Gun'.
'Top Gun' has finally been remastered and letterboxed, under the guidelines of the THX laserdisc program, and encoded for Dolby AC-3 Digital Surround.
Let’s not kid each other, 'Top Gun' is by no means a work of art, but as pop culture and popcorn cinema, it’s a high-velocity joyride that’s as briskly entertaining as it is brazenly superficial.
Mastered using a new interpositive struck from the original negative, this THX edition was supervised by director Tony Scott. The image is nearly flawless, marred only by occasional speckles of dirt on the film (after all, this movie is nearly ten years old). The letterboxing represents the original 2.0 Super 35 aspect ratio (not the wider 2.35:1 ratio as seen in theatrical presentations, which was achieved simply by "masking-out" visual information at the top and bottom of the image). Again, I much prefer the wider 2.35:1 ratio, even at the expense of vertical picture information, simply because the "scope" ratio is much more pleasing to the eye. Regardless, this is a stellar picture transfer. Even the volleyball sequence (chapter 14), which was sporadically grainy in theaters and on the previous pan-and-scan transfer, looks considerably more solid here.
The audio was remixed using the original 6-track masters and the movie sounds as good in Dolby Pro Logic as it did in 70mm 6-track stereo in theaters. You’ll duck for cover as F-14s and MIG-28s zoom overhead and encircle your living room (skip to side 2, chapter 20, when Maverick is caught in a flat spin, and experience the full fury of a terrific surround mix). I can only imagine how great this disc sounds on a new AC-3 system.
As with Image’s THX 'Pulp Fiction', there were three moments when I detected a horizontal "rolling" distortion on 'Top Gun' (according to several complaints, Paramount’s new letterboxed 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off' also demonstrates this same problem, but my disc was letter-perfect, so I cannot verify this). On 'Top Gun', I noticed this distortion during chapters 5 and 15 on side 1, and during chapter 21 on side 2.
The single disc is packaged in a very handsome gatefold jacket, with silver and red foil lettering. And far be it from me to have expected Paramount to include the theatrical trailer here, but it really would have been nice.
So, let’s see here. 'Chinatown'—check. 'Untouchables'—check. 'Apocalypse Now'—check. 'Indiana Jones'—check. And now with 'Top Gun', we can chalk up another one for Paramount. Now how’s about working on 'Grease'?
Vital statistics: Paramount Home Video; 2 sides; CLV; Widescreen (Super 35; 2.0:1); Dolby Stereo Surround; THX; AC-3; Chapter Stops; $39.95.
S. Damien Segal.
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