Director: Akiva Schaffer
Actors: Liam Neeson, Pamela Anderson, Danny Huston, Paul Walter Hauser
Genre: Comedy
Rating: M
‘The Naked Gun’ is a reboot/sequel to the 1988/91/94 ‘Naked
Gun’ films, with Frank Drebin (Liam Neeson) playing the son of Leslie Nielsen’s
Frank Drebin. Frank Junior’s partner at the LA Police Squad is Ed (Walter Hauser),
with Beth (Anderson) as the love interest, and Cane (Huston) as the bad guy.
The plot’s not too dissimilar to ‘Kingsman: The Secret Service’. It’s from the director
of ‘Hot Rod’, ‘The Watch’ and ‘Popstar’, if that’s any guidance.
The film does a pretty good job of doing the same type of
silly comedy as the originals, with lots of sight gags, absurd set pieces (the
giant claw), mispronunciation and inner-monologue jokes. I did quite like the recurring
takeaway coffee cup gag. Neeson plays it all very straight and is quite good,
playing off his action-hero persona from the past 2 decades – also impressive
since he’s now 73.
At only 75min, the film doesn’t overstay it’s welcome. It’s definitely
has some laugh-out-loud moments, but maybe not as many as hoped for. Lots of
smirks and little nods. It won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but is still good to
have comedy on the big screen. The overall tone is not quite as good as the originals,
but it’s definitely not going to have Neilsen rolling in his grave. The credits
scene is quite innovative and fun.
Overall: Solid attempt at old-school humour
Gav’s Rating: 3 stars
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