OK, so this coming week we have a new movie release in the form of a reboot of The Naked Gun (that is the right term here I think, Neeson seems to be playing the son of Frank Drebin). The original Naked Gun movie(s) are considered by many to be something of a holy and untouchable comedy classic and to even dare to start this up again is sacrilege to many (without the involvement of Leslie Neilson of course). The idea of something being so venerated and important can go back a long ways when it comes to movies and a variety of factors may influence your opinion on what movie should get such a status. After all art is inherently subjective is it not? But even taking subjectiveness into account, art is also meant to illicit a response, to draw out our emotions and leave them there for further or future examination. At this point I have realized that I maybe have attributed too much thought to a Naked Gun reboot but eventually I should be getting somewhere with this.

First and foremost as Frank Drebin we have Leslie Neilson. It would be near impossible to imagine a Naked Gun movie without the one actor whose name is synonymous with the franchise. Whenever I think about Naked Gun I immediately picture Neilson and literally no one else as I imagine a lot of others do. No matter how deadpan an actor can achieve it will always be measured with regards to Neilson, so it is fairly brave to attempt to make another one of these at this or any time. Another argument can be made that these movies are a product of their time, Police Squad! was in 1982 and only had 6 episodes, the Naked Gun was 1988 and by the time The Naked Gun: The Final Insult came out it was starting to wane in popularity and box office. There were apparently plans for a 4th one and Neilson was game but the studios never followed through. The argument can also be made that later attempts at deadpan satire never managed to measure up to the heights of the Naked Gun movies and some of their predecessors (Note: I am not personally making that argument here, just setting the scene for the eventual prompt). But on the flip side. Liam Neeson has done solid comedy work lately, particularly with regards to a deadpan style. His Cameo in Ted 2 is one of the funniest things I have seen and has managed a deadpan level worthy of the Naked Gun in my opinion. In addition to this similar to Neilson, Neeson worked more so in dramatic and action roles before trying comedy, which is a big part of why this works for him, and finally we cannot deny how similar their names are, particularly last ones. The team behind this new movie have put out solid work before most notably Akiva Shaeffer of Lonely Island directing has previously done Hot Rod and Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping which are two comedy movies I really enjoyed. There are some solid jokes in the trailers that seem right out of the original Naked Gun movies and most importantly: Weird Al is in this. So while I might personally have considered the idea of a remake sacrilege, I could get behind this and will give it a fair and mostly unbiased shot.

Which leads me to today’s prompt, which is really this week’s prompt that just happens to be put forth on this day. Which leads me to this week’s prompt: What is a movie you would consider sacrilege for the purposes of remakes/reboots (or any similar re events for movies)? And coming in with a rare bonus prompt: Do you believe anything could get you behind one of those re events should it come to that? My answer is pretty simple as one of the top movies I would have picked has been remade this year: Lilo and Stitch, and the remake was… ok. So instead I will go with one of my other top 3 all time favourite movies: Robocop… no wait… dammit. Okay Black Dynamite it is. Iconic lead role with an actor I cannot see replaced, check. Hard to replicate what made this come to fruition, check. Near impossible to successfully pull off what this movie pulled off, check. Someone may try to remake Black Dynamite one day, but it would have to be extra super special for me to get behind it. Bonus prompt: No.