The producers of the new ‘The Naked Gun‘ insist on calling their film as a ‘reboot’ rather than a ‘remake’ of the original series. I’m not sure that I understood all the subtle differences between the new cinematic category and the one I already knew. If I had to choose an alternative title, it would have been ‘The Naked Gun – New Generation’, because in one of the most successful scenes of the film, the police officers of the famous Los Angeles police department pay homage and seek encouragement from the portraits of their fathers, in fact the heroes of the episodes of the old series. The goal of making the new film is the same as the previous ones: to bring in as many viewers as possible who will have fun enough to tell further and bring in more viewers. The script is written by writers with experience in the satirical programs Saturday Night Live and the direction belongs to one of them – Akiva Schaffer. It is rumored that at least one of the authors of the previous series is not too happy with the new direction the series is taking, but it no longer belongs to him. After all, ‘Naked Gun’, in its time, also quoted, parodied and distorted its predecessors. For me, the goal (85 minutes of entertainment) was achieved.
The detective story is irrelevant, as in most films of this genre. We are dealing with a bank robbery, a possible murder and a suspicious traffic accident. A vamp also appears (in the style of the detective Marlowe movies) who turns out to be the sister of the fresh corpse. Between her and the main hero detective, an idyll of those that destroy everything around will develop. We are in the third decade of the third millennium, so absolute evil can only be embodied by a large corporation and its boss. What matters are the jokes, and they must follow each other at a pace fast enough to not allow the silence between the bursts of laughter to linger in the cinema for more than a minute at most.
Why did I like it? ‘The Naked Gun‘ does not seek to revolutionize the genre, it is consistent with the films in the previous series and therefore about what I expected. Several jokes are anthological and I am convinced that they will even appear in future anthologies of comedies of the 2020s. The mixture of clownish physical humor with verbal humor is well dosed, in such a way that, I think, fans of all genres will be satisfied. Of course, some jokes risk getting lost in translation, whether it is puns in English, or cultural or cinematic references that may go unappreciated by those who ignore the sources. The next joke, however, will not be long in appearing. I appreciated the fact that the screenwriters avoided loading the film with too much humor related to technology or with political allusions to our complicated contemporary reality, leaving the chance for today’s viewers and those over a decade or more to enjoy it. The main performers are excellently chosen. Liam Neeson gives consistency to the role precisely because he doesn’t try to do anything else than he has done in many action films in which he has starred in the last two decades. I feel like watching one or two of them again and looking there for the sources of his parody and well-camouflaged humor so far. So much has been written about the chemistry of his relationship with Pamela Anderson that I would have nothing more to add here. I am really curious if the actress manages to relaunch (some will write to launch) her film career. To all those looking for cinematic entertainment in this hot summer, I recommend watching ‘The Naked Gun‘. For younger people who haven’t seen the original, I recommend that they look for that one too.