10 Awesome Movies To Watch if You’re a ‘Top Gun’ Fan

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Redditor u/TooManyPxls asked for “Movies about piloting aircraft.” They continued, “So I bought Chorus on Steam and like to take related movie breaks between gaming sessions. Does anyone know any good piloting movies? It doesn’t necessarily need to be in space.” Reddit responded with these ten aviation gems in no particular order.

1. Top Gun (1986)

Image from the movie Top Gun Maverick
Image Credit: Paramount Pictures.

Now streaming on Paramount Plus.

Top Gun follows students at the United States Navy’s elite fighter weapons school, competing to be the best in the class. One rebellious young pilot, Maverick (Tom Cruise), discovers a few things from a civilian instructor not taught in the classroom.

2. Top Gun: Maverick (2022)

Top Gun - Maverick
Image Credit: Paramount Pictures

Available to purchase on most major streaming services.

Tom Cruise returns as Maverick and is still a boundary-pushing top naval aviator that hasn’t ranked as highly as he should have because of his rebel ways. Still, he must confront ghosts of his past to properly train Top Gun’s elite graduates for a dangerous mission that has no guarantees about coming home. 

3. Airplane! (1980)

Airplane, the movie
Image Credit: Paramount Pictures

Now streaming on HBO Max.

Airplane! is a parody of the disaster film genre. It borrows the plot and central characters of Zero Hour! (1957). It uses slapstick humor with verbal gags, puns, obscure humor, and running jokes. It stars Leslie Nielsen, Robert Stack, Lloyd Bridges, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

4. Flight (2012)

Image Credit: Paramount Pictures.

Now streaming on Netflix.

Flight is a drama following alcoholic airline pilot William “Whip” Whitaker Sr. (Denzel Washington), who is deemed a hero after miraculously crash-landing his plane after mechanical failure.

However, not long into the investigation, revelations lead to questions that cast Whip in a negative light. The film is inspired loosely by the plane crash of Alaska Airlines Flight 261 but is a fictional telling.

5. 7500 (2019)

Pilot in 7500 movie
Image Credit: MMC Studios Augenschein Filmproduktion

Now streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

7500 is a sci-fi action thriller that follows terrorists attempting to seize control of a Berlin-Paris flight. An American co-pilot struggles to save the passengers’ and crews’ lives while forging a connection with one of the hijackers. Allstarpilot747 suggests, “7500 is criminally underrated.”

6. Con Air (1997)

Image from the movie Con Air
Image Credit: Touchstone Pictures Jerry Bruckheimer Films.

Available to rent or purchase on Amazon Prime Video.

Con Air is an action thriller centering on a prison break aboard a Justice Prisoner and Alien Transportation System aircraft, nicknamed “Con Air.” One inmate is on his way home and is the government’s only hope for bringing down the plane. It stars Nicolas Cage, John Cusack, John Malkovich, Steve Buscemi, Ving Rhames, Dave Chappelle, and Danny Trejo.

7. Flight of the Phoenix (2004)

Flight of the Phoenix
Image Credit: Twentieth Century Fox

Now streaming on Starz.

Flight of the Phoenix is a survival drama that follows a group of people surviving an aircraft crash in the Gobi Desert. They must use the old plane to build a new aircraft to escape. It stars Dennis Quaid, Tyrese Gibson, Giovanni Ribisi, Miranda Otto, and Hugh Laurie. It’s a remake of the 1965 film of the same name, based on the 1964 Elleston Trevor’s novel The Flight of the Phoenix.

8. Air America (1990)

Air America movie
Image Credit: Carolco Pictures

Available to purchase on Amazon Prime Video and YouTube.

Air America is an action comedy following two American pilots (Mel Gibson and Robert Downey Jr.), flying missions during the Vietnam War in Laos. After discovering their aircraft is used by government agents to smuggle heroin, they must avoid being framed as the drug-smugglers.

9. Iron Eagle (1986)

Image from the movie Iron Eagle
Image Credit: TriStar Pictures.

Now streaming on HBO Max.

Iron Eagle is an action movie whose story relates to real-life attacks by the United States against Libya over the Gulf of Sidra, particularly the 1981 Gulf of Sidra incident. The film was a hit, followed by three sequels: Iron Eagle IIAces: Iron Eagle III, and Iron Eagle on the Attack.

10. The Aviator (2004)

The Aviator - Leonardo DiCaprio
Image Credit: Miramax Films

Now streaming on HBO Max.

The Aviator is an epic biographical drama that follows billionaire and aviation tycoon Howard Hughes (Leonardo DiCaprio). He’s a successful big-budget Hollywood director of films such as Hell’s Angels. Cate Blanchett stars as Katharine Hepburn, and Kate Beckinsale as Ava Gardner. 

What do you think? Did Reddit remember your favorite aviation film?

This article was produced by Wealth of Geeks and syndicated by Our Woven Journey.

Featured Image Credit: Paramount Pictures

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