Naked Gun Sequel Packs Punchlines and Physical Gags

The Naked Gun is coming back. No, not the one with Leslie Nielsen’s trademark deadpan delivery and notorious police badge. In the latest installment, which has been dubbed a “legacy sequel,” Frank Drebin, Jr. is portrayed by Liam Neeson.

The Naked Gun: From the Files of the Police Squad! was released in 1988, after which a two-film franchise was born and cemented its place among other classic crime comedies. The original film follows Drebin (Leslie Nielsen) as he struggles to stop an assassination attempt on Queen Elizabeth II during her visit to the United States, only to witness a series of outlandish and madcap misadventures that become more and more laugh-out-loud funny with every wrong turn. The sequel, Naked Gun 2 ½: The Smell of Fear, was released in 1991 and features Frank Drebin (again played by Leslie Nielsen) desperately trying to stop a nuclear holocaust and save the world by foiling a plot to kidnap the number one nuclear scientist. Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult was released in 1994 and finds Drebin coming out of retirement after a police commissioner is killed and a nuclear bomb is planted at the Academy Awards. By then, the Naked Gun series had seen its last hurrah.

After decades of poor attempts at revivals and reboots, the Netflix team and Seth MacFarlane (Family Guy) are dusting off their blueprints and are serious about reviving The Naked Gun series with a new film currently set to release August 1, 2025.

The Trailer

In the now-defunct third film, Frank Drebin’s love interest, played by Priscilla Presley, got her film. While Drebin has yet to receive his solo project, his son Drebin Jr. is making his first appearance, and Liam Neeson is in on the action. He stars in the new installment opposite Paul Walter Hauser, a.k.a. Captain Ed Hocken, Jr., Pamela Anderson, Kevin Durand, Danny Huston, Liza Koshy, Cody Rhodes, CCH Pounder, Busta Rhymes, and Eddy Yu.

The Naked Gun: Dirty Dozen 2025 is described as a “legacy sequel,” and it will focus on Drebin Jr. The character is part of the newest generation of officers from the NYPD’s elite detective division. He’s a police lieutenant with a badge that, after decades of a good run, needs a heavy buff.

According to one of Drebin Jr.’s early announcements in the film, he and his department are under pressure to solve a major crime or be closed down. When femme fatale Beth (Pamela Anderson) comes to Drebin Jr. for help in solving the murder of her brother, the detective is more than happy to assist. She’s sassy, dangerously flirty, and desperate to get justice for her brother. Of course, as you may have guessed, there’s something much more complicated behind the murder that unravels into an explosive mystery.

In the recently released trailer, Frank Drebin Jr. is asked to use his father’s “cop skills” to follow up on the case. “Don’t worry, Frank Jr., I’ll still be here holding up my end of the desk,” Drebin Jr.’s partner says as the law enforcement partners start the case with a sense of self-confidence and utter obliviousness.

Neeson is beyond funny in the trailer, parodying his less-than-cheerful “I have a particular set of skills” Taken franchise. In one scene in the trailer, Neeson’s character walks toward the camera with one hand stretched out as if it is pointed toward an enemy. “Once you kill a man for revenge, there’s no going back,” Frank Jr. says. He proceeds to tear his attacker’s arms off his body and proceeds to beat his opponent with his arms while saying, “I told you a voice in your head saying over and over ‘That was awesome.’”

The film will likely include some subtle nods to the two films that came before it, such as when Drebin and his partner Ed Jr. stare at a plaque that memorializes their fathers’ contributions to the police force and weep for all to see.

If the trailer is any indication of the comedy to follow, we’re going to have a lot of laughs at Neeson and company’s antics. It has all the chaos we expect from a The Naked Gun film, including character bits, one-liners, puns, and deadpan deliveries.

The trailer also provides hints at the plot Drebin Jr. will tackle, but let’s be real, it’s a thin subplot with the primary goal of giving the characters enough reason to work together and tell the jokes to which the audience will pay a ticket. The jokes in the trailer are big, the action over-the-top, and Neeson appears in character.

Drebin Jr. gets right into the spirit of the action and commands a coffee shop bathroom stall with the authority of a pirate’s ship while saying to another character, “You know the problem with regular coffee? It’s not decaf.” In another scene, Drebin pulls out his gun and shouts with certainty, “The record is clear. I shot him in self-defense.” And when he’s corrected that a suspect served 20 years for “manslaughter,” Drebin quips that he must “have been quite the joke.”

While the franchise will be without the legendary Leslie Nielsen and Zucker, among others, the new installment’s trailer proves that the new Police Squad could just be as big of a hit in 2025.