FILM REVIEW: THE NAKED GUN (15) ESP RATING: 3.5/5

This reimaging of the iconic franchise is better than it had any right to be.

Nearly forty years after the legendary original Leslie Nielsen-led action-crime comedy caper – this could have been disastrous.

Would such ridiculously silly humour still be relevant in 2025? The answer is seemingly a resounding ‘Yes’.

Liam Neeson stars as Lieutenant Frank Drebin Jr – the son of Nielsen’s illustrious character – who continues the idiotic tomfoolery seen in the three 1988-1994 movies.

This soft reboot doesn’t stray too far from formula, with Pamela Anderson – on a mini career resurgence after her Golden Globe-nominated performance in The Last Showgirl – Paul Walter Hauser (from TV series Cobra Kai) and Danny Huston (Wonder Woman) emulating the Priscilla Presley (love interest), George Kennedy (sidekick partner) and Ricardo Montalban (villain) roles respectively from the original.

And through over-the-top sequences – some you will have already seen in the trailer – the slapstick silliness hits more than its misses. Sometimes side-splittingly so.

This time Drebin Jr – recently being reassigned by his boss Chief Davis (CCH Pounder) after becoming a legal liability – is on the trail of Richard Cane (Huston) after he steals a device called PLOT that turns humans into barbarians. He’s aided by Anderson’s vivacious Beth Davenport after her brother is seemingly killed by Cane.

Bar that there’s not a lot more to it, as Neeson and co merge from one set piece to the next in its very short and slightly ‘less than ninety minutes’ runtime.

The film definitely runs out of steam a tad come the final third – the best gags are arguably set in the first half of the the movie – but by then, it will have garnered enough ‘good will’ to gloss over a few comedic mis-steps.

And as for Neeson, he shows he’s more than just a high-octane ‘action man’ by re-teaming with The Family Guy alum Seth MacFarlance to eradicate the memories of their misfiring 2014 comedy A Million Ways to Die in the West.

The new ‘LN’ admirably replaces the old ‘LN’ as this legacy sequel mainly hits the target – and undresses into the biggest movie surprise of the year.

ESP Rating: 3.5/5

Gavin Miller

Showcase Cinema De Lux Peterborough & Odeon Luxe Peterborough, Out Now

Cast: Liam Neeson, Pamela Anderson, Danny Huston, Paul Walter Hauser, Kevin Durand, Cch Pounder, Busta Rhymes, Dave Bautista & Cody Rhodes

Running Time: 1 Hr 29 Mins

Director: Akiva Schaffer

Film Review Venue: Showcase Cinema De Lux Peterborough

For all the latest film information & showtimes at Peterborough’s Showcase Cinema De Lux & Odeon Luxe cinemas go to www.showcasecinemas.co.uk and www.odeon.co.uk