50 Movies Like Top Gun (1986) You Need to Watch Next
Updated August 2026
View Top Gun details →Tony Scott's 1986 action drama follows Lieutenant Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell and his co-pilot Nick 'Goose' Bradshaw as they enter an elite fighter-pilot school, a dream come true that soon collides with tragedy and Maverick's own reckless demons. Scott shoots the flying with glossy, sun-drenched bravado and pairs the aerial thrills with a romance and a rivalry on the ground, all set to a driving soundtrack. It's a slick, star-making showcase built more on attitude, adrenaline, and mood than on plot intricacy. Ideal for viewers who want high-octane 1980s spectacle, cocky charm, and the pure sensation of flight, and who take their action confident and unironically cool.
If you loved Top Gun (1986) by Tony Scott, here are 50 movies that share its content DNA. iRankMovies measures real similarity using cosine similarity across eight weighted dimensions — genre (50%), tone (12%), pace (10%), structure (8%), era (7%), theme (6%), audience (4%) and narrative perspective (3%) — not just the rating. The closest matches according to our analysis are The Bodyguard, A Knight's Tale, Rurouni Kenshin: The Beginning. Every title is ranked by how closely it matches and backed by the iRank Score, a composite of IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic and TMDb across 12,000+ analysed titles.
The Best Movies Similar to Top Gun
Selected for their real similarity in content, these are the movies that share the most with Top Gun in terms of theme, narrative tone, and cinematic style. Every recommendation goes beyond genre — we evaluate the type of conflict, pacing, dramatic context, and the experience they create for viewers.
The Bodyguard
1992 · Mick Jackson
A former Secret Service agent grudgingly takes an assignment to protect a pop idol who's threatened by a crazed fan. At first, the safety-obsessed bodyguard and the self-indulgent diva totally clash.
In common: Action · Drama · Romance
A Knight's Tale
2001 · Brian Helgeland
William Thatcher, a knight's peasant apprentice, gets a chance at glory when the knight dies suddenly mid-tournament. Posing as a knight himself, William won't stop until he's crowned tournament champ
In common: Action · Drama
Rurouni Kenshin: The Beginning
2021 · Keishi Otomo
Before he was a protector, Kenshin was a fearsome assassin known as Battosai. But when he meets gentle Tomoe Yukishiro, a beautiful young woman who carries a huge burden in her heart, his life will ch
In common: Action · Drama
Pompeii
2014 · Paul W. S. Anderson
In 79 A.D., Milo, a slave turned gladiator, finds himself in a race against time to save his true love Cassia, the beautiful daughter of a wealthy merchant who has been unwillingly betrothed to a corr
In common: Action · Drama
Last Tango in Paris
1972 · Bernardo Bertolucci
A recently widowed American begins an anonymous sexual relationship with a young Parisian woman.
In common: Drama · Romance
Me Before You
2016 · Thea Sharrock
Lou Clark, a directionless 26-year-old from the English countryside, takes a job at the local castle as a caregiver and companion to a wealthy young banker, Will Traynor. Wheelchair-bound from an acci
In common: Drama · Romance
After We Collided
2020 · Roger Kumble
Tessa finds herself struggling with her complicated relationship with Hardin; she faces a dilemma that could change their lives forever.
In common: Drama · Romance
Three Steps Above Heaven
2010 · Fernando González Molina
Babi, a sheltered upper-class girl, and Hache, a reckless rebel obsessed with illegal motorcycle races, fall into a forbidden love that pulls them deeper into passion and risk.
In common: Drama · Romance
Below Her Mouth
2017 · April Mullen
An unexpected affair quickly escalates into a heart-stopping reality for two women whose passionate connection changes their lives forever.
In common: Drama · Romance
Dangerous Liaisons
1988 · Stephen Frears
In 18th century France, Marquise de Merteuil asks her ex-lover Vicomte de Valmont to seduce the future wife of another ex-lover of hers in return for one last night with her. Yet things don’t go as pl
In common: Drama · Romance
Cinema Paradiso
1988 · Giuseppe Tornatore
A filmmaker recalls his childhood, when he fell in love with the movies at his village's theater and formed a deep friendship with the theater's projectionist.
In common: Drama · Romance
Fifty Shades Darker
2017 · James Foley
When a wounded Christian Grey tries to entice a cautious Ana Steele back into his life, she demands a new arrangement before she will give him another chance. As the two begin to build trust and find
In common: Drama · Romance
Atonement
2007 · Joe Wright
A young girl irrevocably changes the course of several lives when she accuses her older sister's lover of a crime he did not commit.
In common: Drama · Romance
A Beautiful Mind
2001 · Ron Howard
From the heights of notoriety to the depths of depravity, John Forbes Nash Jr. experiences it all. As a brilliant but socially awkward mathematician, he made a groundbreaking discovery early in his ca
In common: Drama · Romance
Desire
2011 · Laurent Bouhnik
In a social context deteriorated by a countrywide economic crisis, the life of several people will be turned upside down after they meet Cécile, a character who symbolizes desire.
In common: Drama · Romance
Before Sunrise
1995 · Richard Linklater
An unexpected meeting on a train leads two travelers to spend an evening wandering through Vienna. As the night unfolds, they share stories and conversations about life and love, exploring new ideas w
In common: Drama · Romance
I Want You
2012 · Fernando González Molina
After two years away, Hache returns to Barcelona seeking a fresh start. Falling for Gin while facing unresolved feelings for Babi, he must confront love, loss, and who he's becoming.
In common: Drama · Romance
Past Lives
2023 · Celine Song
After decades apart, childhood friends Nora and Hae Sung are reunited in New York for one fateful weekend as they confront notions of destiny, love, and the choices that make a life.
In common: Drama · Romance
The Piano Teacher
2001 · Michael Haneke
Erika Kohut, a sexually repressed piano teacher living with her domineering mother, meets a young man who starts romantically pursuing her.
In common: Drama · Romance
Materialists
2025 · Celine Song
A young, ambitious New York City matchmaker finds herself torn between the perfect match and her imperfect ex.
In common: Drama · Romance
Disobedience
2018 · Sebastián Lelio
New York photographer Ronit flies to London after learning about the death of her estranged father. Ronit is returning to the same Orthodox Jewish community that shunned her decades earlier for her ch
In common: Drama · Romance
Nine 1/2 Weeks
1986 · Adrian Lyne
An erotic story about a woman, the assistant of an art gallery, who gets involved in an impersonal affair with a man. She barely knows about his life, only about the sex games they play, so the relati
In common: Drama · Romance
Emmanuelle
1974 · Just Jaeckin
An employee at the French Embassy in Bangkok invites his wife to join him – and enjoy the benefits of their open marriage.
In common: Drama · Romance
Newness
2017 · Drake Doremus
In contemporary Los Angeles, two millennials navigating a social media–driven hookup culture begin a relationship that pushes both emotional and physical boundaries.
In common: Drama · Romance
The Ultimate Gift
2007 · Michael O. Sajbel
When his wealthy grandfather finally dies, Jason Stevens fully expects to benefit when it comes to the reading of the will. But instead of a sizable inheritance, Jason receives a test, a series of tas
In common: Drama · Romance
Blue Is the Warmest Color
2013 · Abdellatif Kechiche
Adèle's life is changed when she meets Emma, a young woman with blue hair, who will allow her to discover desire, to assert herself as a woman and as an adult. In front of others, Adele grows, seeks h
In common: Drama · Romance
Romeo + Juliet
1996 · Baz Luhrmann
In this contemporary take on William Shakespeare's classic tragedy, the Montagues and Capulets have moved their ongoing feud to the sweltering suburb of Verona Beach, where Romeo and Juliet fall in lo
In common: Drama · Romance
Warrior
2011 · Gavin O'Connor
The youngest son of an alcoholic former boxer returns home, where he's trained by his father for competition in a mixed martial arts tournament – a path that puts the fighter on a collision course wit
In common: Action · Drama
Purple Hearts
2022 · Elizabeth Allen Rosenbaum
An aspiring musician agrees to a marriage of convenience with a soon-to-deploy Marine, but a tragedy soon turns their fake relationship all too real.
In common: Drama · Romance
Five Feet Apart
2019 · Justin Baldoni
Seventeen-year-old Stella spends most of her time in the hospital as a cystic fibrosis patient. Her life is full of routines, boundaries and self-control — all of which get put to the test when she me
In common: Drama · Romance
Indecent Proposal
1993 · Adrian Lyne
John Gage offers a down-on-his-luck yuppie husband $1 million for the opportunity to spend the night with the man's wife.
In common: Drama · Romance
Sex and Lucía
2001 · Julio Medem
Various lives converge on an isolated island, all connected by an author whose novel has become inextricably entwined with his own life.
In common: Drama · Romance
Good Luck to You, Leo Grande
2022 · Sophie Hyde
Nancy Stokes, a retired schoolteacher, is pretty sure she has never had good sex. Now that her husband has died, she is determined to take a tour of sexual vistas that until now she has only imagined.
In common: Drama · Romance
The Reader
2008 · Stephen Daldry
The story of Michael Berg, a German lawyer who, as a teenager in the late 1950s, had an affair with an older woman, Hanna, who then disappeared only to resurface years later as one of the defendants i
In common: Drama · Romance
The Tearsmith
2024 · Alessandro Genovesi
Adopted together after a tough childhood in an orphanage, Nica and Rigel realize that unexpected but irresistible feelings pull them together.
In common: Drama · Romance
The Fault in Our Stars
2014 · Josh Boone
Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a patient named Augustus W
In common: Drama · Romance
The Bridges of Madison County
1995 · Clint Eastwood
Photographer Robert Kincaid wanders into the life of housewife Francesca Johnson for four days in the 1960s.
In common: Drama · Romance
Sound of Freedom
2023 · Alejandro Monteverde
The story of Tim Ballard, a former US government agent, who quits his job in order to devote his life to rescuing children from global sex traffickers.
In common: Action · Drama
Slumdog Millionaire
2008 · Danny Boyle
A teenager reflects on his life after being accused of cheating on the Indian version of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?".
In common: Drama · Romance
Deepwater Horizon
2016 · Peter Berg
A story set on the offshore drilling rig Deepwater Horizon, which exploded during April 2010 and created the worst oil spill in U.S. history.
In common: Action · Drama
Before Sunset
2004 · Richard Linklater
Nine years later, Jesse travels across Europe giving readings from a book he wrote about the night he spent in Vienna with Celine. After his reading in Paris, Celine finds him, and they spend part of
In common: Drama · Romance
Leaving Las Vegas
1995 · Mike Figgis
Ben Sanderson, an alcoholic Hollywood screenwriter who lost everything because of his drinking, arrives in Las Vegas to drink himself to death. There, he meets and forms an uneasy friendship and non-i
In common: Drama · Romance
Bāhubali: The Beginning
2015 · S. S. Rajamouli
The young Shivudu is left as a foundling in a small village by his mother. By the time he’s grown up, it has become apparent that he possesses exceptional gifts. He meets the beautiful warrior princes
In common: Action · Drama
What's Eating Gilbert Grape
1993 · Lasse Hallström
Gilbert Grape is a small-town young man with a lot of responsibility. Chief among his concerns are his mother, who is so overweight that she can't leave the house, and his mentally impaired younger br
In common: Drama · Romance
One Wild Moment
2015 · Jean-François Richet
Antoine and Laurent, old friends, spend their vacation in Corsica with their respective daughters: seventeen-year-old Louna and eighteen-year-old Marie. One evening at the beach, Louna seduces Laurent
In common: Drama · Romance
Waves
2019 · Trey Edward Shults
A controlling father’s attempts to ensure that his two children succeed in high school backfire after his son experiences a career-ending sports injury. Their familial bonds are eventually placed unde
In common: Drama · Romance
Little Women
1994 · Gillian Armstrong
Four sisters come of age in America in the aftermath of the Civil War.
In common: Drama · Romance
The Theory of Everything
2014 · James Marsh
The Theory of Everything is the extraordinary story of one of the world’s greatest living minds, the renowned astrophysicist Stephen Hawking, who falls deeply in love with fellow Cambridge student Jan
In common: Drama · Romance
P.S. I Love You
2007 · Richard LaGravenese
A young widow discovers that her late husband has left her 10 messages intended to help ease her pain and start a new life.
In common: Drama · Romance
Up in the Air
2009 · Jason Reitman
Corporate downsizing expert Ryan Bingham spends his life in planes, airports, and hotels, but just as he’s about to reach a milestone of ten million frequent flyer miles, he meets a woman who causes h
In common: Drama · Romance
Popular series
Breaking Bad
2008 · Michelle MacLaren
Walter White, a New Mexico chemistry teacher, is diagnosed with Stage III cancer and given a prognosis of only two years left to live. He becomes filled with a sense of fearlessness and an unrelenting
Frieren: Beyond Journey's End
2023 · Kazutaka Yamanaka
After the party of heroes defeated the Demon King, they restored peace to the land and returned to lives of solitude. Generations pass, and the elven mage Frieren comes face to face with humanity’s m
Avatar: The Last Airbender
2005 · Michael Dante DiMartino
In a war-torn world of elemental magic, a young boy reawakens to undertake a dangerous mystic quest to fulfill his destiny as the Avatar, and bring peace to the world.
