Naked Gun Review

    Much to my surprise, this proved to be a worthy legacy sequel that appropriately honors the original trilogy of Naked Gun films while delivering a fresh take on the iconic comedy franchise with an approach that fits modern times. A lot has been riding on this one not just to do justice to the series as a whole, but to rescue the comedy genre from the status of only getting a straight to streaming release. Thankfully, the newest installment of the series retains both the spirit and charm of the original trilogy with Liam Neeson proving to be a brilliant casting choice for the role of Frank Drebin Jr., son of Leslie Nielsen's character. He proves to be worthy successor to the latter while surprising with his impressive comedic timing. Alongside him, Pamela Anderson surprises as Drebin's love interest, Beth Davenport with her being the films main standout and delivering a fun and humorous performance that showcases the right comedic timing while poking fun at her past career. The rest of Naked Gun's supporting cast do a solid job of embracing the films brand of deadpan, slapstick humor including Paul Walter Hauser as Captain. Ed Hocken Jr., Danny Houston as the films main baddie Richard Cane, CCH Pounder as Drebin's Chief Davis, and Kevin Durand as Sig Gustafson. 

      With the reboot, director Akiva Schaffer manages to successfully capture the spirit of the original Naked Gun films while bringing the series up to modern standards. He delivers a fresh version of Los Angeles most notorious Police Squad while staying true to the series roots of slapstick humor. Despite a handful of the jokes not landing, most of the films humor is on-point with some great moments including the opening bank robbery sequence that's featured in all the films 

trailers, a scene involving an accidental prison outbreak, one that including an auto-pilot chaos, or one of Richard Cane's henchmen spying on Drebin and Pamela Anderson's character in the kitchen. There's no denying upon watching the film that a great amount of creativity and thoughtfulness went into making this reboot a faithful addition to the franchise while remaining as equally fearless and unapologetic in its ambition to deliver non-stop laughs. 

      If you're one of those who grew up enjoying the original Leslie Nielsen trilogy and remain on the fence with this one due to the uncertainty of whether it will live up to the gold standard set by the originals, you will be glad to know that this one actually delivers while living up to the series name.