The Naked Gun - A Worthy Legacy?

The original Naked Gun movie is a classic. Many moments that you may see as cliche if you watch it now, actually would have originated with this movie. With its huge following and a drought of parody movies in recent years, it was only a matter of time they revived some of the classics - think Scary Movie and Spaceballs. The first of the three revivals is The Naked Gun starring Liam Neeson. The biggest question, and the first thing on people's mind, is: does this movie live up to the originals? This is the first comparison anybody would make the moment the credits roll, and I believe the answer is a resounding yes.

I know this will be unpopular, however I actually prefer the remake, and I think that's mostly due to Liam Neeson being the face. While he can be an amazing comedic actor, most of that comes from his notoriety in movies like Taken and the Star Wars franchise. In these movies he plays very stoic, serious characters so seeing him be the butt of the joke is funny in and of itself. However, the same can't be said for Leslie Nielsen who, even at the time, was known as a parody actor.

Another reason for me preferring the newest Naked Gun is the societal context. While there isn't any topical jokes in the original, it simply just feels slightly dated. I can't fully explain why, but I believe it's just that comedy, as an art form, has changed slightly over the years with an audiences perception of the art. That's not to say I didn't find the original funny, a lot does hold up, there's just a feeling around it that didn't quite hit the same as the newest entry.

Anyway, now that the comparison is out of the way, it's time to talk about this movie in somewhat of a vacuum. A big problem with wide appeal movies is that the trailers will be played before every single movie in the cinema, and if you visit a few times a week - like me - you end up almost memorising a lot of trailers. This movie definitely had that problem, however not in the worst way that I expected. I did feel as though a few of the best jokes were given away in the trailers, but they go past what we saw and elevate that joke much more than what we already knew. 

An example of this is the scene of Kevin Durand's character looking through the curtains and only seeing an outline which is funny, however the entire setup was ruined because we knew what was coming. I expected this joke to pretty much end with what we'd already seen, however it keeps going and becomes so much funnier with every repetition. The joke would've been much funnier as a whole if we didn't see the punchline before, however it still managed to hit due to it being elevated and developed further.

A lot of the comedy in this movie, especially in the second act, does come from Liam Neeson's character being the butt of the joke and misunderstanding a situation or phrase. This can become slightly stale at times but they do manage to keep it quite fresh with the ways that he interacts with every other character differently. The most prominent example of this is his interactions with the main villain, who acts as the 'straight man' in this movie. One of the best parts about this movie though, for me, is that this character is not in a comedy movie, which is what makes him so funny. Danny Huston is acting in a completely serious cop movie which just happens to be derailed by every other character doing comedy. It's a much needed addition that I didn't realise felt so necessary until I watched this movie.

The plot for this movie does take a backseat when there's a new bit being set up, which can occasionally feel like it's bringing the movie to a halt at times. However, the plot is just a worse, yet an exact replica of Kingsman: The Secret Service which itself is a parody movie. The thing is, they could have got away with this if it seemed like they were trying to satirise that movie, however it just feels like they plainly ripped it off which just feels lazy. 

The final thing I'm going to say is that you can really see Seth McFarlane's heavy involvement in the making of this movie. He was only a producer, but it seems like he was really trying to put some of his own comedy in there, and it blatantly snuck in at points. So blatant that sometimes, not only is there a few jokes straight from Family Guy, but also there was a few scenes that felt like they almost had a Family Guy style cutaway thrown in the middle, that may have even been cut in post production to streamline the movie more. Some of Seth McFarlane's involvement was useful, however these moments just felt quite strange and left a bad taste in my mouth.