THE NAKED GUN : Tuesday 26th August 2025.

I saw the M Rated 'THE NAKED GUN' this week at my local independent movie theatre and this American action comedy film is Co-Written and Directed by Akiva Schaffer whose previous feature film Directorial credits include his debut in 2007 with 'Hot Rod', then 'The Watch' in 2012, 'Popstar : Never Stop Never Stopping' in 2016 and 'Chip 'n Dale : Rescue Rangers' in 2022. This film serves as a legacy sequel to 1994's 'Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult' and is the fourth instalment in 'The Naked Gun' franchise, with those first three films in the series grossing a combined US$477M at the global Box Office. This film was released Stateside on 1st August, here in Australia last week, has so far grossed US$89M off the back of a US$42M production budget and has generated positive critical acclaim. 

Lieutenant Frank Drebin Jnr. (Liam Neeson) of the LAPD Police Squad singlehandedly thwarts a bank robbery disguised as a young schoolgirl. Unknown to him at the time, this was a distraction to steal a gadget from a safe deposit box held in the banks vault called the 'P.L.O.T. Device' (Primordial Law Of Toughness).  Police Chief Davis (CCH Pounder) reassigns Drebin to traffic patrol when his over-the-top law enforcement becomes a legal liability. While paying tribute to his father Frank Drebin Sr., he prays to him to send him an owl as a sign of his approval.

Drebin, and his Captain Ed Hocken Jnr. (Paul Walter Hauser) investigate software engineer Simon Davenport's (Jason MacDonald) fatal car crash, deeming it suicide, but Drebin notices a matchbook at the scene. Simon's sister Beth (Pamela Anderson), a crime writer, argues against his claim, but Drebin dissuades her from investigating further. 

Drebin finds Richard Cane (Danny Huston), Simon's wealthy employer at Edentech, at the company's tech expo. After they both heap seemingly never ending praise on the Black Eyed Peas, Cane donates a self-driving electric car to Police Squad, which causes havoc with Drebin behind the wheel, and also recommends his personal nightclub. Drebin notices the matchbook found at Simon's crash site has the same logo as the nightclub.

Cane privately demonstrates how he will use the stolen P.L.O.T. Device to turn human against human and return them to their barbarian nature, culling the population save for his fellow billionaires, who will be insulated from harm inside his personal bunker which will be equipped with all the comforts of home, and then some. Drebin, interrogates one of the bank robbers, and learns about the deposit box, which was Simon's, connecting the two cases. At Cane's club, Beth distracts Cane with improvised, atrocious scat singing while Drebin fights many of Cane's henchmen in order to gain access to security footage, which reveals that Simon met discreetly with a journalist. Davis suspends Drebin for insubordination. Beth stays with the demoralised Drebin, and he considers finally moving on from memories of his late wife. Drebin and Beth spend a romantic weekend at an alpine lodge where they spend time frolicking in the snow, and building a life size snowman. They find a book of magical and mysterious incantations on a bookshelf and recite one, bringing their snowman to life, which at first is friendly enough but then turns murderous after they neglect it. They manage to decapitate the snowman, tossing its head into the hot tub, where is quickly melts away. 

Drebin visits the home of the journalist to find him murdered, and is easily tricked into incriminating himself. He flees in the electric car, but Cane overrides the controls and attempts to kill Drebin just as he did Simon. Drebin shoots out the windshield, but is trapped again by the car driving head-on into balloons, a swarm of bees, and a replacement windshield. Purely by accident, he activates Clippy, who helpfully unlocks the doors, allowing Drebin to jump free of the car before it drives headlong into the harbour. Meanwhile, Police Squad has been decommissioned. Beth reveals that Simon feared the misuse of the P.L.O.T. Device, but Drebin suspects that Beth is using him and angrily leaves her home.

Drebin captures Cane's henchman Gustafson (Kevin Durand) and frightens him into confessing to Cane's plan to activate the P.L.O.T. Device at the New Year's ball drop at a MMA match. Drebin heads to the match at the 'Ponzi-scheme.com Arena', equipped with an earpiece that blocks the wearer from the P.L.O.T. Device's frequency. Beth plans to kill Cane, but he sees this coming as recorded in her book. Drebin finds the P.L.O.T. Device inside the New Year's balls. As the balls drop, he snags his trouser leg on the winch at which he loses his pants as the balls drop, indecently exposing himself to the entire TV audience, and those watching live inside the arena, leading them to not respect his order to evacuate. The P.L.O.T. Device activates, and mindless violence erupts throughout the city. Drebin fights through innocents by ricocheting ejected handgun magazines, but cannot catch up with Cane and his associates who have all fled the scene on motorcycles. 

His father's spirit arrives as an owl, airlifting Drebin now in hot pursuit. Hanging on to one leg of the owl, he tells it to take a dump on Cane, which blinds Cane across his visor with bird crap, causing him to crash his motorbike. Cane and Drebin face off, with Cane doubling up in agony after just one punch to the gut. Beth nearly shoots Cane in revenge, but Drebin talks her down. Drebin and Beth use the P.L.O.T. Device to calm the crowd and embrace lovingly as Cane is arrested. In the aftermath, Davis announces to a gathered crowd of the media that Police Squad has been reinstated, although Drebin faces 'investigation' by 'Internal Affairs' – which is actually the name of a tropical resort, where he spends his time with Beth.

'The Naked Gun' for me had a small number of laugh out loud moments, and the rest of this legacy sequel just left me feeling, well 'meh'! Liam Neeson does a respectable job of following in the footsteps of Leslie Nielsen, and brings his comedic A-game to the role playing it straight-laced while delivering some humorous verbal touches and sight gags. For those of us (and I include myself here) old enough to remember the first film in the franchise which opened in 1988 this film represents a fair nod to that classic of 37 years ago now in all its slapstick, quick witted, non-sensical tongue planted firmly in cheek humour that made the original movie so appealing. But for audiences not familiar with those first three films, I can see that this style of Police procedural parody might fail to launch, especially in this era of political correctness . . . or perhaps not! This is an old-school, silly screwball spoof crime caper comedy that has its moments, but for the most part left me wondering why I paid the price of cinema entry when I could have waited a few short weeks to see at home on my chosen streaming platform - if I was so inclined.

'The Naked Gun' merits two claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-