The Naked Gun review: As perennially quotable as its forebears

In industry parlance, it’s a legacy sequel; a largely 21st century conceit in which a story’s premise is revived significantly further along the timeline and often built around descendants of the original characters.

Consequently, references to what went before are par for the course, and in a franchise that was clearly fond of sight gags and one-line asides from the start it’s no surprise to find the reboot has a generous helping of nods to days of yore.

Yet, while the film is an unashamedly affectionate celebration of the past, it has the clout and cavalcade of laughs to announce itself as its own beast.

Things are shaky in the modern-day precinct, the more fiscally-minded higher-ups of the force threatening to shut it down due to the underwhelming number of crimes being solved.

It falls to the younger Frank, therefore, to reverse the squad’s faltering fortunes by cracking a headline-grabbing murder, while also laying to rest some of the issues he had with his late father.

As far as the plot goes, little more need be said here, as narrative threads aren’t especially important when director Akiva Schaffer and his co-screenwriters busy themselves front-loading the hilarity and giving the parody movie genre a much-needed shot in the arm.

Those parodies are plentiful, although the film noir tropes upon which the elder Drebin’s world was built don’t get as much of a look-in as guffawing shout-outs to distinctly ‘80s police-related franchises such as Beverly Hills Cop of Lethal Weapon.

However, for all the script’s gleeful send-ups of cinematic cliches of times gone by, the most intriguing and surprisingly subtle spoofing is provided by Neeson gamely digging the ribs of his own CV.

There are undeniably elements of Nielsen in what his successor is tasked with carrying off, but Neeson’s performance is just as much about laughing (with a permanently straight face) at the plethora of vacant-eyed heroes he’s played in the Taken trilogy, and others like Non-Stop, The Commuter and Honest Thief.

As he confidently treads a fine line between vigilante and vaudevillian, it begs the question why he hasn’t done more comedy, because although clues to his “serious” thespian work creep in from time to time, he fully understands the ebbs and flows and timing required to fashion a satisfying chuckle fest.

And he’s not alone; Pamela Anderson by and large re-purposes Priscilla Presley’s femme fatale love interest role from the earlier films, and shows she’s admirably skilled at knowing when to serve as the perfect foil and when to land a gag herself.

Likewise, the yarn benefits from other supporting players in roles that, on paper, might seem predictable and perfunctory; CCH Pounder makes a very funny fist of Drebin Jr’s hot-headed police chief boss, and Danny Huston has just the right amount of slime as a metaphorically moustache-twirling evil businessman.

An across-the-board capable cast, then, although ultimately the stars of the show are the jokes themselves - some direct lifts from the bygone movies, some given a tidy little 21st century twist, and others so fresh and full of life they could well become as perennially quotable as their forebears.

Make no mistake, this is a near 90-minute hoot that bodes well for more to come, a gun that feels like it still has several bullets to fire.

The Naked Gun is now showing in UK cinemas.

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