Neeson Wields Arms as Weapons in New Naked Gun Clip

One of the best-known spoof comedies of all time, The Naked Gun franchise, will return with a new installment. The long-awaited revival of the beloved series of crime comedies and slapstick adventures of the hapless Los Angeles Police Detective Frank Drebin is scheduled to hit the screens on August 1, 2025. The late Leslie Nielsen is out as the actor who will take up Drebin9s Detective badge, and in his place is Liam Neeson as the dead man9s son in what is being called a 9clegacy sequel.9d

The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!, first released in 1988, was a box-office success. The comedy movie, which launched a franchise, starred Nielsen as Detective Frank Drebin. Drebin9s latest case is to prevent the assassination of Queen Elizabeth II during her visit to the United States. The film, which had an R rating and numerous sexual and bathroom gags, became a cult movie and was praised by both audiences and critics alike for its relentless deadpan delivery and absurd humor. Two sequels were released in 1991 and 1994. The Naked Gun 2
2: The Smell of Fear had Drebin trying to foil a plot to kidnap a top nuclear scientist, while Naked Gun 339: The Final Insult, Drebin come out of retirement to prevent a plan to blow up the Academy Awards with a nuclear bomb.

Beyond 1994, there were no more Naked Gun films. Interest in a reboot came in 2013 when Paramount greenlit the first attempt, with Ed Helms, the Office star, set to play the part of 9cFrank Drebin, no relation.9d Nothing materialized with the film. This was not helped by the reported ambivalence of David Zucker, producer and director of the first two Naked Gun films. Zucker was adamant that a reboot would be 9cinferior9d to the originals and chose not to be involved with the project. Zucker rekindled a version in 2017, however, this time as a consultant, to rework a story by Kevin Cary James, which saw Drebin9s son as a secret agent. The script, Drebin9s Super Secret Service, also failed to take off.

Finally, the project was announced in 2021 with Seth MacFarlane at the helm and without Zucker. Liam Neeson has since been cast in the film as Drebin Jr., who will be playing the part of a police lieutenant like his father, but just as bumbling and crime-fighting. In addition to Neeson, the new cast will also see Paul Walter Hauser as Captain Ed Hocken, Jr., Drebin Sr.9s partner, in the film. Hauser, who is best known for playing Brit in I, Tonya, and is set to star as Mole Man in Fantastic Four: First Steps, will be playing Hocken9s son. Rounding up the new-look cast is Pamela Anderson as a femme fatale known as Beth, with the key hook being that her brother has been murdered, a fact which will be revealed early on in the film and will be the catalyst for the subsequent action. Kevin Durand, Danny Huston, Liza Koshy, Cody Rhodes, CCH Pounder, Busta Rhymes, and Eddy Yu are among the other cast members.

While a full trailer for the film is yet to be released, a teaser trailer that premiered in April gave mixed responses from fans. David Zucker, who has always been protective of the series, tweeted via TMZ that after watching the teaser trailer for the film, 9cI can99t unsee it. I9m so regretful.9d Fans might still have some hope in certain areas, however. Neeson appears to be entirely game for the franchise99s outrageous, screwball sensibility, with several parodying his more serious 9cparticular set of skills9d as seen in the Taken franchise. In one scene from the trailer, he seems to be aping the iconic One Last Job monologue as he says: 9cOnce you kill a man for revenge, there99s no going back,9d before he tears off an assailant99s arms and beats him with them. 9cA voice in your head saying over and over, 97That was awesome,9d9d he adds.

In another touching moment in the trailer, Frank and Ed Jr. break down in tears in front of plaques memorializing their fathers. A few other jokes in the trailer tie in neatly with Frank99s past and bring some much-needed nostalgia to the overall product.

The cast, too, play up some classic Naked Gun visual gags, if the trailer is anything to go by. When Frank is in a coffee shop, he is seen taking over the men99s bathroom for 9cpolice business,9d a set-up typical of Nielsen-era Naked Gun films. Other gags in the trailer include Frank muttering the opening salvo from the 9cGettysburg Address9d as he trots into a room and fires at an enemy agent. When Frank99s partner, the stout actor J.B. Smoove, tries to stop him, Frank says: 9cListen, I9m in one of those moods. You don99t know what it99s like being me. This is my life!9d

The plot of the film, which Drebin Jr. will solve in usual comic fashion, involves Beth, the femme fatale, asking him for his help to avenge the death of her brother. If he can99t figure it out, then the Police Squad will be shut down. Typical Naked Gun fast-talking takes place with one suspect claiming he99s served 20 years in prison for 9cman99s laughter.9d When Frank Drebin corrects him, it turns out he served his time for 9cmanslaughter.9d Drebin responds dourly, 9cMust have been quite the joke.9d

A look at Liam Neeson in the film, it seems, is that he will more than capably take on his role as the new Drebin, at least physically, if he has to rip someone99s arms off or crawl around on the floor like a fool. Whether the humor will be as universally loved is questionable. As in the original trilogy, it is broad, pun-based, and nonsense-laden. However, in its defense, that99s what its audience would be expecting and is perhaps all a nostalgia-soaked blockbuster needs for the summer of 2025.