The legacy of the legendary Naked Gun series continues with the release of the first full trailer for The Naked Gun (2025). This is a reboot and continuation of the original movie series, which starred Leslie Nielsen as Detective Frank Drebin of the Police Squad. This movie is set to follow his son, Frank Jr, played by Liam Neeson. Also joining Neeson in the cast are Pamela Anderson, Kevin Durand, Danny Huston, Liza Koshy, Cody Rhodes, CCH Pounder, Busta Rhymes, and Eddy Yu.
An Epic Comedic Return
In the first full trailer for the movie, we get a glimpse of the tone. It’s set up to be an action-packed comedy with some classic slapstick and visual comedy, which, in my opinion, has been missing since the last movie. There are gags, like Drebin pulling a guy’s arm off his body to beat him in a fight, or Drebin being handed a coffee while driving, that remind us how that world’s gags work.
From what we can tell from the trailer, everyone’s kid somehow became part of the Police Squad, which itself is a play on action movies that do the same thing. We get glimpses of those who have passed being honored by their sons, except for one actor whose son chooses not to honor him. One particular moment has Drebin needing to use the restroom so badly that he fires his gun in the air, which sets the tone of this film.
The Naked Gun of Love
From what can be seen, the Police Squad is in danger of being shut down unless Drebin solves a big case. Just like with Nielsen and Priscilla Presley, who played Jane Spencer in the previous movies, Anderson and Neeson seem to capture the romantic tension and comedy between their characters.
Lines like Neeson telling Anderson to take a chair, and her taking the chair with her out of his office, bring back nostalgic feelings for the comedy. Personally, my favorite part of the trailer is Anderson cleaning his oven and saying how filthy it is. The trailer doesn’t just feature them, though, as we see how Neeson’s Frank interacts with different characters, the only way a Drebin would.
What This Means for Parody Movies
With the movie set to release soon, I expect it to bring back the “parody” to movies. The Naked Gun film series started as the ‘Police Squad!’, which was itself a satire on police dramas in the 1980s. This and movies like ‘Airplane’ set the tone for parody movies, but somewhere along the line, something got lost. I hope this film helps us rediscover the type of comedic movies we love.
Even with the announcement of movies like ‘Scary Movie’ or ‘Spaceballs’, there is some hope that we will get what we’ve been missing at the cinemas. The Naked Gun (2025) is set to hit theaters on August 1st, 2025. It’s directed by Akiva Schaffer of The Lonely Island and The Lonely Island and Seth Myers Podcast.
