While Top Gun’s sex scenes were terribly misjudged, fortunately, Top Gun: Maverick was able to learn from this misstep. There is a lot that the late, great Tony Scott’s Top Gun nailed. The cult classic blockbuster has a bombastic tone, a glossy, high-contrast look that has aged incredibly well, and action sequences that remain impressive even decades later. However, much like Top Gun: Maverick’s action scenes were more dynamic and easier to follow thanks to improvements in camera technology, some of the original Top Gun’s script elements could have been better with some more work, as proven by the sequel.
For example, Top Gun’s romance between Charlie and Maverick is an afterthought in the original movie, whereas Top Gun: Maverick’s pairing between Penny and an older, wiser Maverick is much better incorporated into the plot. Even more so, the sex scenes between Maverick and Charlie are laughably misguided, whereas the one brief love scene that Penny and Maverick share actually works. Not only is Top Gun: Maverick’s lone sex scene pivotal to the plot, but the moment is also mercifully brief and nowhere near as embarrassing as Top Gun’s unintentionally comical sex scenes for two reasons.
Why Top Gun’s Sex Scenes Were So Terrible
The main reason that Top Gun’s sex scenes are so terrible isn’t really the fault of the filmmakers. The scenes were done in re-shoots to amp up the romance subplot after test audiences complained the story wasn’t central enough, which is why the sequences are sloppily shot and hastily edited into Top Gun. In contrast, as evidenced by Iceman’s perfect Top Gun: Maverick return, Top Gun’s sequel was a lot less slapdash when it came to plotting. While the movie’s production was certainly troubled (which is no surprise, considering it lasted decades), Top Gun: Maverick’s central plot wasn’t rewritten after the movie was finished, thus saving viewers from goofy, thrown-together sex scenes.
Why Top Gun 2’s Sex Scene Works
While Top Gun: Maverick does technically have one modest sex scene, it is barely even a sex scene. This makes sense for the sequel, since Top Gun: Maverick is mostly a high-speed action movie and its biggest emotional beats come not from Penny and Maverick’s story but rather from Maverick’s relationship with Rooster. While Penny listing off all the real-life wars that Maverick fought in between movies proves the pair has history, Top Gun: Maverick isn’t all that focused on re-litigating their relationship. Instead, the pair have sex (almost entirely offscreen, thus avoiding the goofiness of the original Top Gun), and spend the rest of the scene catching up.
Most of the scene is Penny and Maverick reminiscing in bed, which fits the older version of the character. When Maverick is caught leaving the house by Penny’s teenage daughter, she warns him not to break her mother’s heart again, and the moment gives viewers more insight into Maverick’s love life than any of the overly long, laughably over-the-top sex scenes in the original movie. While a lot of movies feature stellar sex scenes that work as part of the story and as an aesthetic achievement, Top Gun’s sex scenes are embarrassingly ill-judged, making Top Gun: Maverick’s decision to avoid recreating them a clever choice.