Reboot: A Top Gun Sequel With Zac Efron?

80s remakes and sequels are generally bad ideas. Once in a great while, however, there’s a need to revisit an 80s movie. In this case, it’s a need for speed. Yes, I’m talking Top Gun for those of you who need a little more speed upstairs. Producer Jerry Bruckheimer recently sat down with MTV to discuss how they couldn’t figure out how to do it.

Really? You can’t figure it out? Seriously? Not that hard, Jerry. You ever watch a movie called The Color of Money? Hell, Tom Cruise was even in it and it came out the same year as Top Gun. The Top Gun sequel would be a lot like that sequel. I first pitched the idea back in this post of 80s movies that need 3D updates. Anyway, things couldn’t be lined up any more perfectly for this sequel to happen.

Both Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer would do this movie in an effing heartbeat, as neither of their careers have ever been in worse shape. OK, maybe McGruber and Tropic Thunder helped a little bit, but I doubt these guys want to co-star as fat assclowns for the rest of their careers. Have Cruise reprise his Pete “Maverick” Mitchell character, a legendary washed-up Navy instructor who has fallen on hard times. Val Kilmer’s “Iceman” could slide into the buddy role vacated by Anthony Edwards. Tom Skerritt is still alive and kicking and would be thrilled to bring back Viper. Michael Ironside would reprise Jester for probably the cost of an extra value meal. Cruise would likely want to produce as well, so rounding up all of these guys would be relatively inexpensive.

As far as conflict and timing, the International and homeland security threats that face the United States today blow away what we were facing back in 1986. I’m thinking this time around it would be more like another Jerry Bruckheimer and Tony Scott movie — Crimson Tide. Hell, bring Quentin Tarantino on to write again, even if it’s just to clean the thing up. Can you imagine Q.T. scripting dialogue between Maverick and the Iceman? Insanity. Top Gun worked despite a true enemy threat never really being established. With what’s going on in the World today that wouldn’t have to be the case the second time around.

Now, back to The Color of Money. In that movie, Paul Newman plays Fast Eddie Felson, a pool hustler who hasn’t played in over 20 years (after The Hustler, the first film). Now a liquor salesman itching to get back in the action, he takes on a protege, Cruise’s Vincent. They have a falling out and Felson ends up picking up his stick again. I think a similar storyline could be done in the sky.

Picture this: Maverick’s lost everything in his life except his job, and that’s only because he’s the best instructor at Top Gun. He’s a drunk. He’s an asshole. He no longer flies. He’s more than lost that loving feeling. He’s gone from dangerous to cantankerous. But a talented young fighter pilot who reminds him very much of himself comes along during a crisis and gives Maverick a sense of purpose for the first time in a long time. Of course, the flick would end with Maverick having to get back into the cockpit one last time.

You know the studios would want a hunk like Taylor Lautner or Channing Tatum, but I’d prefer Zac Efron. Efron received high praise for his work in Me and Orson Welles and would be about the exact same age as Cruise was in the original. For all of you fellas who want to quickly dismiss Efron, I bet anything you were saying the same thing about Leo back when Romeo + Juliet and The Titanic dropped. Haters. Chris Pine and FlickSided favorite Joseph Gordon-Levitt would also be great choices, but both are older. The other two (Lautner and Tatum) belong in an Abercrombie catalog. You’d also need a love interest somewhere in there. Even Martin Scorsese’s The Color of Moneyy had that, and, after all, this would certainly be a summer tentpole movie. You’d also have to have a homoerotic volleyball scene. That’s an absolute must just for nostalgia’s sake.

This kind of movie would also be perfect for 3D, and I say that as someone who’s normally not a huge fan of the format. Consider how much the average 3D ticket goes for, that the original made about $350 million back in 1986, throw in an up-and-coming heartthrob like Efron who can actually act, and you’ll rake in over $100 million opening weekend. Guaranteed. As my old film school professor used to say, “you’re not making f***ing Chinatown” — but it would be a lot of fun, wouldn’t it? They’re going to make this movie no matter what as nothing is forsaken nowadays, so here’s hoping they do it the right way. Now, anybody got Bruck’s digits?