Liam Neesonhas been an icon of the action genre since showing off his skills inTaken, but this weekend he showed off his more-than-adequate comedy chops inThe Naked Gun. The reboot of the Leslie Nielsen comedy franchise received some strong reviews ahead of its opening on August 1, and now it looks set to give Neeson his best movie opening in over a decade.
The Naked Gunwas an iconic part of ‘80s comedy, delivering a serious story wrapped up in an endless array of sight-gags, one-liners, slapstick, and ludicrous scenarios. However, in the last couple of decades, few have attempted to revive that same kind of comedy, and those that have generally failed to fully embrace the silliness required to make it a success.The return ofThe Naked Gunhas put that right, as everything from the opening title to the closing credits is out to make audiences laugh.
“We’re All F*cked”: Liam Neeson Says It All With Reason Why We Need His New Action Comedy
The ‘Taken’ star gives it both barrels.
It did not take long for many to realize that Neeson was the perfect person to take over the franchise from Nielsen, who plays the character of Frank Drebin Jr. with all the gravitas and growl of his many action roles, while coming out with the most ridiculous lines and performing some bonkers stunts and fight scenes. All of this, combined with a worthy supporting performance from Pamela Anderson, a hilarious cameo from a fan-favorite Marvel star, and many callbacks to the original trilogy, helped to pushThe Naked Gun’s opening weekend to a $7 million domestic haul, the highest of any Neeson-led movie sinceTaken 3,and the highest opening of any comedy movie this decade.
Liam Neeson Could Find a Whole New Career in Comedy…Again
When an actor hits their 70s, there are some stars that would have one eye on retirement and taking it easy after decades in the industry. However, after 20 years of making action movies look good, Neeson could now be coming full circle and returning to comedy in a big way.
Of course, the actor made some of his earliest appearances in less serious roles,with the ‘80s comedyHigh Spiritsbeing one of his earliest roles. He then combined dramas such asRob Roywith the gentle comedy ofLove, Actually, beforeTakenturned him into the action hero no one believed he could be. Now, as he admittedly is getting too old to play credible action stars, perhaps action comedies that actually require him to seem ridiculous could help him continue to kick-ass on screen for several more years to come.
The Naked Gunlanded a perfect score from critics from its first wave of reviews, and it currently sits on 90% out of 206 critic reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, giving it the highest score of the movie franchise. This has been backed up by a 77% score from audiences, with many citing it as the silly and hilarious comedy we all need in the world right now. For those who stay through the credits, there are obviously plenty of fun gags to try and spot as the names roll before you leave the cinema.
Source: Box Office Mojo
The Naked Gun
