So, I recently sat down and started watching some of my beloved movies of the past, to see how they have held up over time; now let me point out that this is not to confused with my previous post of movies from my childhood that disillusioned me. The first movie that I will be discussing, it 1990’s classic Navy Seals. I had fond memories of this film as one of the great action films of the 90’s. I was mistaken. First of all, it’s not so much of an original film as it is a blatant rip-off of Top Gun. Let me explain. The movie revolves around a squad of Navy Seals led by Michael Biehn (I’m not even going to bother with his character name), who is a no-nonsense All-American blond haired leader type (much like Iceman from Top Gun). He constantly has to deal with Charlie Sheen’s character, a member of his squad, who is a fun-loving, daredevil, fly by the seat of his pants type of soldier (much like Maverick).

The squad has the obligatory black guy (Dennis Haysbert, AKA the Allstate Insurance guy)- and spoiler alert… he dies first. Keep in mind Top Gun also only had one black guy, as did most movies of the era. Another member the squad is played by Rick Rossovitch who coincidentally played Iceman’s co-pilot in Top Gun. And the love interest in the film was played by Joanne Whalley-Kilmer- That’s right, the wife at the time of Val Kilmer, who played Iceman in Top Gun. The film goes on to emulate the basic plot of Top Gun by having the renegade solider (Sheen) do something risky resulting in the death of one of the team, and then learning that he has to be a team player. Of course the villain is played by the American enemy of the month, in this case a Middle Eastern bearded chap who basically screams “Death to America”. The SEALS come in save the day, and all is made right echoing the ending of Top Gun. To top things off, even the movie score blatantly tries to rip-off Top Gun. All in all, this film is an ultimately formulaic attempt at filmmaking that was apparently made to ride on the coattails of Top Gun‘s success. Below is the trailer for your amusement.

Rating when I was young: 8.5

Rating now: 3.5