Tony Scott delivered an idiosyncratic vision for blockbusters that will never be forgotten.
With Top Gun: Maverick now in theaters, we're looking back at the career of Tony Scott, the director behind the first Top Gun. Lots of people make movies where big things explode and mismatched duos find common ground in the face of adversity.
But few did it with as much panache as Tony Scott, the filmmaker behind movies like Top Gun, Unstoppable, and Crimson Tide. Though not all these projects were critically acclaimed in their day, they manage to reflect how Scott went above and beyond the call of duty when it came to delivering blockbuster spectacle. The recurring motifs of this man’s filmography show that, just because you can phone in big-budget VFX-heavy movies, doesn’t mean you should. COLLIDER VIDEO OF THE DAY A key ingredient for why Scott was so remarkable in his field was even something as simple as the kinds of characters his films chronicled. The works of Tony Scott were largely done in an era where CGI was still not refined to the point that it could accomplish anything your mind could dream. Therefore, rather than depicting invulnerable men from other worlds that could only be rendered through state-of-the-art digital wizardry, Scott’s films focus on everyday blue-collar protagonists. They aren’t granted superpowers nor are they destined to save the world. They’re just ordinary souls who end up getting trapped in larger-than-life adventures. RELATED: Jason Reed on What a Disney Studio Production Executive Actually Does and What Almost Got Made The emphasis on such protagonists makes Scott’s films a throwback to classic Hollywood genre titles like North by Northwest, where the thrills came from seeing outmatched heroes beat the odds and save the day. Similarly, the likes of Enemy of the State and Crimson Tide made heroes out of people that you could run into on the street. Even better, Scott subverted the norms for who Hollywood usually cast as everyman blockbuster protagonists. The square-jawed blonde Caucasian hero of vintage entries in this genre was often replaced by leading men of color, especially go-to Tony Scott leading man Denzel Washington. Going this route differentiated the works of Scott from the films he was paying homage to, but it also exacerbated the underlying poignancy of his emphasis on everyday working-class heroes. In this man’s films, heroes could come from anywhere rather than the limited bench of classic Hollywood heroes. Even better, his productions opened up the door for Black characters to inhabit more morally complicated roles and even different genres than usual for mainstream Hollywood cinema. Through recognizing that people of color are just as capable as anyone of headlining thrillers, Tony Scott’s emphasis on working-class protagonists takes on new layers of importance. But even more impressive than Tony Scott’s quintessential protagonists is the visual details that remind you that you’re watching a Tony Scott movie. This was a filmmaker who was unafraid to lend his film bombast in their photography. Just look at the beach volleyball scene from Top Gun, captured with bright sunlight, buoyant energy, and lingering shots on the male form lunging for balls. In this era of big-budget cinema, other filmmakers might’ve translated this scene in the script to emphasize wonder or goofy comedy. But Scott brought it to life with energy to spare and unabashed, if oblivious, homoerotic overtones. The unreserved visual style of Scott’s work would continue from then on. This was a man who would make his works look splashy on-screen in whatever ways best fit the story. Drained of natural sunlight and expansive environments for most of the submarine thriller Crimson Tide, Scott and cinematographer Dariusz Wolski leaned into the inherent claustrophobia of the films primary setting. The choice to set nearly an entire movie within the confined spaces of a submarine, with no cutaways to the surface to break the tension, feels especially audacious on a visual level. Even working with a limited amount of sets and places to push the camera, Scott still makes the bubbling tension in the story feel palpable. If he could do that while being trapped inside an underwater seacraft, then it’s no wonder Scott’s subsequent works would ramp up the energy and franticness to eleven. Later works like The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 and Unstoppable were told through rapid-fire editing that ensured shots could last for as little as a second. The camera was constantly moving around, even if someone was just speaking into a headset. These were thrillers, not chamber dramas, and Scott made every shot transition feel as propulsive as the train from Unstoppable barreling down the tracks. Rather than inspire visual incoherence, Scott’s later approaches to editing and camerawork show purpose with every immediate cut, every swivel of the camera. Plus, they do a great job in immersing one in the time-sensitive stories of Pelham and Unstoppable, you can practically hear a clock ticking as Scott’s camera rushes to the next scene. These traits also feel like the natural evolution of how he framed that beach volleyball scene in Top Gun decades earlier. It’s always about excessive style in a Tony Scott blockbuster and this director kept finding new and exciting ways to convey that quality. The maximalist tendencies of Scott’s filmmaking were paired up with astonishingly talented casts that you might not expect to find in movies involving explosions and car chases. But that was another great element of this man’s work. Scott always recognized that it’s a lot more fun watching unexpected performers inhabit preposterous blockbuster movie plots just for the unavoidable dissonance. We’d all expect Arnold Schwarzenegger to show up in something like Top Gun, but would Gene Hackman have been your first thought as to who should be the co-lead of Crimson Tide? Ditto Denzel Washington, a two-time Oscar winner who threw himself with aplomb into the time travel nonsense of Déjà Vu. Having performers of this stature on hand provides amusing juxtaposition for film devotees, but it also ensures that real gravitas can be lent to the stories in Tony Scott’s films. Actors like Hackman and Washington never acted like they were above these projects. They committed to them with the same level of dedication that they would apply to darker heavier dramas. This even applied to supporting performers, like the reliably excellent James Gandolfini as the Mayor of New York City in The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3. With casts of actors like these, the works of Tony Scott were able to lend gravity to their often-ridiculous plots. This quality of the actors in Tony Scott’s work goes hand-in-hand with an especially wonderful trait in his films: self-seriousness. Titles like Enemy of the State weren’t dreary affairs, but they also didn’t pause to have characters make wisecracks about the situations they were in. Crimson Tide created comedy through general character interactions, not through having characters name-drop The Hunt for Red October. Eschewing the opportunity to satirize their plots lent an air of confidence to these projects and suggested that the viewer should be as invested in these movies as the people making them. Breaking down the finer points of why Tony Scott’s movies were a cut above other blockbusters, both past, and present, reveals how much was going on underneath the surface of titles that could’ve easily been dismissed as action schlock. Tragically, Scott is no longer with us due to this filmmaking taking his own life in August 2012. This tragic development left behind a body of work that continues to resonate to this day, as seen by Top Gun inspiring a sequel nearly 30 years after its initial release. Considering all the elements that made his exciting blockbusters unique, it’s doubtful Tony Scott’s work will stop influencing the world of cinema anytime soon. Why 'Days of Thunder' Is Secretly 'Top Gun 2' Read Next Share Share Tweet Share Email Related Topics About The Author Douglas Laman Douglas Laman is a life-long movie fan, writer and Rotten Tomatoes approved critic whose writing has been published in outlets like The Mary Sue, Fangoria, The Spool, and ScarleTeen. Residing both on the Autism spectrum and in Texas, Doug adores pugs, showtunes, the Wes Anderson movie Fantastic Mr. Fox, and any music by Carly Rae Jepsen. More From Douglas Laman Subscribe to our newsletter Sign up for Collider's newsletter for exclusive news, features, streaming recommendations and more
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