The upholstered fabric of a cinema seat has long missed the guffaws of a riotous comedy like THE NAKED GUN, with audiences following trends fabricated by the distributors. Straight comedy is no longer expected in theatrical settings; the options put forth by distributors are minimal, and any theatrical window is usually too brief to ensure broad attendance or word of mouth. THE NAKED GUN is by no means the saviour of theatrical comedy. Still, with many films of its ilk relegated to streaming services, Akiva Schaffer’s legacy sequel is an unexpectedly welcome theatrical experience.
It feels impossible to just rock up at a cinema screen and see something ‘original’ these days. Of course, that isn’t reality: there are hundreds of films that don’t require pre-existing knowledge of a property released every year. However, there are an abundance of sequels currently taking up space at multiplexes, including JURASSIC WORLD: REBIRTH, a rebooted SUPERMAN movie, and MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: THE FINAL RECKONING (the eighth film, and only allegedly the ‘final’ one). That is not to start on legacy sequels that theatres in 2025 have seen so far in the form of BRIDGET JONES: MAD ABOUT THE BOY, KARATE KID: LEGENDS or FINAL DESTINATION: BLOODLINES. It seems you could Mad-Lib just about any movie from the ’80s or ’90s with a subtitle and successfully pitch it these days (anyone for FREE WILLY: UNSHEATHED?).
So while some legacy sequels make complete sense to exist (KARATE KID: LEGENDS exists because Netflix show Cobra Kai reinvigorated the franchise for a brand new, youthful audience), the same cannot be said for THE NAKED GUN, a tongue-in-cheek legacy sequel to an action spoof movie trilogy which began nearly forty years ago with THE NAKED GUN: FROM THE FILES OF POLICE SQUAD!, which itself was a spin off from a 1982 TV series called Police Squad!.
“THE NAKED GUN is by no means the saviour of theatrical comedy. Still, with many films of its ilk relegated to streaming services, Akiva Schaffer’s legacy sequel is an unexpectedly welcome theatrical experience.”
But finding a purpose for the film’s existence appears to be second fiddle for director Akiva Schaffer, whose goal with THE NAKED GUN seems to be less about searching for acceptance in a landscape of nostalgia bait but creating something that can stand on its own two feet while continuing the franchise ethos of being stupid, silly fun. The director, who is co-director of the funniest film of the 2010s in POPSTAR: NEVER STOP NEVER STOPPING, is now responsible for crafting one of the daftest, one of the silliest and ultimately one of the funniest comedies of this decade with THE NAKED GUN.
The comedy within the original movie was rooted in subversion tactics. Each gag was presented as the opposite of the trope or response you would expect. This approach was the style of directors Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker, the iconic trio of directors known as ZAZ. They are probably best known for AIRPLANE!, the film that piloted the line “don’t call me Shirley”, which has been used countless times across generations of media. THE NAKED GUN itself was a straight-laced action film that just so happened to feature an inept police officer, Frank Drebin (Leslie Nielsen), unaware of his ineptitude. The refusal to acknowledge how terrible Frank is as a cop was the satire of it all, as it lampooned the conventions of police procedurals, various elements of Film Noir and made reference to then-relevant pop culture such as PLATOON and James Bond.
Schaffer’s film takes a much more contemporary approach – the sticky fingers of producer Seth Macfarlane imbue a certain Family Guy-esque flair to proceedings – while attempting to maintain the spirited values of Zucker’s beloved dad-joke comedy. This blend means that Schaffer gets the best of both worlds: he gets to satirise everything that the 1988 comedy once did while spoofing media from the last twenty-five plus years, when the franchise hasn’t been on screen.
“Neeson might not quite be Nielsen in terms of charming buffoonish affability, but he achieves humour via his stiff deadpan delivery of wildly puerile lines.”
Such satire can be seen immediately in THE NAKED GUN as the film “rips off” Christopher Nolan’s THE DARK KNIGHT in its opening sequence. Across a sprightly 85-minute runtime, the film proceeds to lampoon various action franchises such as KINGSMAN: THE SECRET SERVICE, AUSTIN POWERS and MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE. There’s a hearty dose of BASIC INSTINCT as well, while it continues the hilarious ZAZ-isms of parodying crime-noir. But nothing is quite as satirically satisfying as the casting of Liam Neeson, who takes up the mantle of Leslie Nielsen’s Frank Drebin. Or, as this is a legacy sequel, Frank’s son, Frank Jr.
Across the last 15 years – in particular since 2008’s cultural phenomenon TAKEN – Liam Neeson has been Hollywood’s go-to choice for gruff, vengeance-filled, hard-boiled action heroes. As Frank Drebin Jr., the Irish actor is perfectly attuned to these ham-fisted caricatures again, but in a comedy format, taking self-aware stabs at both Neeson’s age and his existence within pop culture as an action hero. Neeson might not quite be Nielsen in terms of charming buffoonish affability, but he achieves humour via his stiff deadpan delivery of wildly puerile lines.
The narrative of THE NAKED GUN itself is relentlessly generic: a dead body found under mysterious circumstances, a murder investigation into a bad guy who wants to destroy the world and a femme fatale love interest who has one eye on solving the crime and the other on the magnanimous action hero. The above could be ascribed to countless films and television plots across the last century. The plot of the film is merely a vehicle for shameless shenanigans, such as a fight scene degenerating into the participants playing Patti Cakes, a recurring coffee gag that never stops paying humorous dividends, or a burrito gag that lasts just long enough to turn your stomach.
“THE NAKED GUN is not a sharp comedy by any fashion. Neeson’s Drebin is but a blunt tool in a narrative of blunt tools, but his supporting cast has this rhythmic sense of comedic spark that plays off Neeson’s foolery extremely well.”
THE NAKED GUN is not a sharp comedy by any fashion. Neeson’s Drebin is but a blunt tool in a narrative of blunt tools, but his supporting cast has this rhythmic sense of comedic spark that plays off Neeson’s foolery extremely well. The ever-welcome Paul Walter Hauser appears as colleague and fellow oaf Ed Hocken Jr. (the offspring of Nielsen’s original partner), and Pamela Anderson plays a love interest who writes crime novels, gloriously lighting up the screen like a smouldering Barbara Stanwyck.
But while the entire film is laced with these comic beats – some land hard, some don’t at all – Schaffer finds time to embody the original mantra behind the 1988 satire: that the police are inept and corrupt. This angle is quite evident in the nepotism; Frank Jr. has done nothing in his career but fail upwards due to his late high-ranking father. An early joke also details that the entire police force is the result of nepotism. There is a smattering of gags made around police failure, including one where Frank turns off his bodycam and winks to the audience, the action an indictment of corrupt practices occurring in the real world.
A big screen isn’t necessary for the visuals of THE NAKED GUN, but if the cinema experience is meant to be a communal one, comedies like THE NAKED GUN are perfect to experience with a crowd chortling in unison.