Why Top Gun: Maverick Needs a Beach Volleyball Scene

When Top Gun: Maverick releases in December 2020, there should be another beach volleyball scene. After all, Tom Cruise will reprise his role as Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, and Val Kilmer will reportedly make a cameo as Tom “Iceman” Kazansky. To be truly successful, however, Top Gun: Maverick will need a beach volleyball scene that’s more than just tanned bodies and male machismo.

Released in 1986, Tony Scott’s Top Gun confirmed Cruise as a proper movie star and teased his evolution into an action icon. The storyline about aggressively-confident aviators catered to Americana tropes of the time (bravado, ego, winning at all costs), all the while establishing a homoerotic subtext. Top Gun’s male characters enjoy up-close-and-personal confrontations, if only to establish themselves as the Alpha Male in every situation. The beach volleyball sequence in Top Gun remains a fascinating cinematic portrait of ’80s male bravado in mainstream movies, complete with a soundtrack that complements the sweaty bodies and high-fives. Not only does the sequence highlight the homoerotic subtext in the film, but it also lightens the film’s tone – something that Top Gun: Maverick will need. In 2020, moviegoers deserve an equally potent display of camaraderie, athleticism, and pure movie magic, but one with a message about modern times.

A new volleyball sequence in Top Gun: Maverick would serve nostalgic purposes since it’s been a full 34 years since Cruise and company’s topless volleyball match full of spikes, bumps, and carefully-considered attack maneuvers, fueled by Maverick’s self-serious facade. He’s slapping backsides and celebrating each point, and Iceman makes sure that he’s not being upstaged. A similar sequence in the sequel may be possible based on the Top Gun: Maverick trailer, which shows brief shot of Miles Teller’s character shirtless on a beach.

Like the bar full of aviators singing “You’ve Lost that Loving Feeling,” Top Gun‘s volleyball sequence is a change of pace. It deviates from the serious tone of preparing for dogfighting and death-defying flight sequences and gives the film a carefree, uniquely 80s flair. In 2020, with Cruise cemented as an action star and the Mission: Impossible franchise already under his belt as a self-serious, high-stakes action spectacle, Top Gun: Maverick will have to differentiate itself and capture the light-hearted tone that characterized the first film. Top Gun: Maverick is already in danger of being too indistinguishable from Cruise’s other action films because Cruise’s well-publicized insistence on doing his own stunts has become his calling card across multiple action flicks.

A new volleyball sequence in Top Gun: Maverick would also allow for a social commentary about sexuality. In the original film, the homoerotic behavior is pure subtext, blatant as it may be. Now, in 2020, the long gazes and physical intimacy wouldn’t have to be a punchline. Instead, a volleyball sequence could be used to developed a same-sex romantic subplot through genuine dialogue and narrative conflict. If executed properly, a volleyball sequence in Top Gun: Maverick could become an important aspect of the film and may even prove to be as iconic as the original.

About The Author

Q.V. Hough
(1892 Articles Published)

Q.V. Hough is a senior writer at Screen Rant. He’s also the founding editor at Vague Visages, and has contributed to RogerEbert.com and Fandor.

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