Movie Review: The Naked Gun (2025)
Synopsis: After using excessive force while thwarting a bank robbery, Police Squad detective Frank Drebin, Jr. is taken off the robbery investigation and instead assigned to a fatal car accident. At first, Drebin believes the driver, Simon Davenport, committed suicide. However, after meeting Simon's sister, Beth, Drebin continues the investigation and discovers a link to the robbery. As he starts making progress in the case, he is framed for murder by tech billionaire Richard Cane, who plans to "reboot" the world by using a device to revert the human race (except for a select few) back to a primitive state.
Who's in it? The movie stars Liam Neeson, Pamela Anderson, Paul Walter Hauser, Danny Huston and CCH Pounder.
Review: When I first learned they were going to reboot The Naked Gun, I was honestly skeptical. This was mostly because the original movie (or at least the television show that inspired it) was literally made for actor Leslie Nielsen and Liam Neeson, despite his acting credentials, just seemed like an expensive imitation.
However, I decided to give the reboot a try and even took my wife to see it at the theater this evening. As I expected, it wasn't quite as good as the original, but I'll give credit where credit is due and say it was better than I thought it would be.
Neeson (much like Nielsen prior to Airplane!) isn't known for comedy films. In fact, I think this might be the first comedy movie I've ever seen him in. A lot of times, that is a bad thing, but it fit the Drebin Jr. role just fine, playing things seriously even in the most bizarre circumstances.
I also thought the movie found a nice balance of paying tribute both to The Naked Gun Franchise and Police Squad with various easter eggs throughout while, at the same time, making a serious effort to be its own film. A lot of times movies like this get a bit too caught up in the nostalgia and forget to have a plot that is worth watching and that was not the case this time.
That said, I did think the Cane's (Huston) plan needed a whole lot of work. I loved how the tool he was using was called a PLOT Device but there were some serious flaws, including the decision to activate it before he was safely hidden away in a bunker, that seemed to be there solely for the purpose of making it possible to stop him.
I was also a bit undecided about Anderson as the love interest, Beth. This wasn't so much Anderson herself as much as it felt as though her role wasn't very well defined. At first, it seemed as though she'd be much more involved in Drebin's investigation but as the movie progressed, she was just there without a whole lot to do until the very end.
Even the whole romantic subplot was a bit weak, which is why I think the writers kept trying to hide that with some very bizarre (and sometimes a bit gross) jokes. This included a weird love triangle involving a snowman (and that's not a sentence I'd thought I'd ever write).
Final Opinion: It's hard to follow in the footsteps of a movie classic (cult or otherwise). This film does about as good a job as can be expected, and I enjoyed it. However, I also hope they don't try to have another sequel.
My Grade: B
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Here are some reviews of other movies from 2025:
Movie Review: The Monkey (2025)
Movie Review: Heads of State (2025)
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