The Naked Gun (2025)

It's always a tricky prospect trying to reboot any franchise, but a comedic one arguably is the hardest. And when you attempt it with something like The Naked Gun- itself a spin off from a TV series- in the current climate, you need to make sure you nail everything and don't come off as offensive, because, the world's changed and people love being offended, especially on behalf of others.

Which you might think doesn't leave much room to play with- and you'd be right. However, Akiva Schaffer's The Naked Gun finds that room, and does a huge amount with it. Unless of course you are offended by it- and in that case you probably need to take a look at yourself. Liam Neeson is perfect casting as Frank Drebin, the son of Leslie Neilson's character in the original, working his comedic chops rather superbly alongside Pamela Anderson, who is also hilarious.

I rarely laugh out loud at films anymore which is a real shame- arguably that's more down to me than the films I'm watching, but I was loudly chortling repeatedly during The Naked Gun. This is stupidity at its highest level in terms of comedy, but it's also slapstick of a sort you simply don't find anymore. Just like the originals, the jokes come so thick and fast that you'll miss plenty of them; but often the reason for that is that you're still laughing or processing the previous one.

Not everything hits- when you throw this much at the wall there's going to be things that don't stick, but the next joke is seconds away so those that don't land you forget about very quickly. The plot, pointless as it might be, sees Drebin investigating a murder that almost certainly leads back to Danny Huston's billionaire Richard Crane. Well, it does, and that's not giving anything anyway; the man is planning on turning every human's original primal urges on themselves so they can destroy each other whilst himself and his chosen few can hide in a bunker with real life TikTok entertainers.

The film successfully captures the 80's feel of the originals, and while that in itself perhaps wouldn't be enough to justify its existence, Schaffer's film somehow not only escapes unscathed - but revelling in its existence. This isn't up there with something like Starsky & Hutch (2004) which is genuinely brilliant. However, considering the fact that when this was announced I simply rolled my eyes, I can't believe how much I enjoyed it. And openly laughed a few times, which as I say, takes something for such a miserable git. The Naked Gun is no masterpiece, but it's easily one of the funniest films of the year so far, and the fact that it's a reboot makes it all the more impressive.

I would happily watch more of these if Neeson feels the need to continue making them. 7.0/10