John McClane Is Back !!! (Loaded Weapon 1 (DVD))

Member Name: SRowlands

Product:	Loaded Weapon 1 (DVD)
Date:	03/01/06 (136 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Very funny visual gags.

Disadvantages: Relies heavily on knowledge of 80's culture.

Way back in 1978, a movie called "Animal House" was released, which starred a young John Belushi. The fact that it had a prefix - "National Lampoon's" - made it the first in a whole series of movies from the American comedy institution.
After nearly 30 years of producing movies, there have been a varying degree of hits and misses. With successful titles such as the excellent "Vacation" series, to virtually unheard of films like "Disco Beaver From Outer Space" (I've got to track this one down !!), the National Lampoon tag is a blessing to some, and a curse to many !

In 1993, the latest National Lampoon movie to hit the big screen was "National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1". The movie, starring Emilo Estevez and Samuel L. Jackson promised to spoof virtually every action movie in existence, but could it meet fans expectations ?

The opening scene sees Sgt. Jack Colt (Estevez) entering an L.A. convenience store where, unknowingly, a hold-up is about to occur. Colt takes out the villans, along with most of the stock.

The scene cuts to the home of an off-duty police officer, Sgt Billie York, (played by Whoopi Goldberg), where the plot of the movie is explained - (she even says that "if this were a movie, this would be the bit to listen too" !). She has in her posession a piece of microfilm that has a top-secret recipe to turn cocaine into cookies, from which General Mortars (William Shatner) plans to distribute cocaine throughout the nation via the "Wilderness Girls" annual cookie drive.
Unfortunately for her, Mortars sends his henchman "Mr Puzzle" (Tim Curry) to silence her and to retrieve the microfilm.
Back at the police H.Q., Captain Doyle teams up Jack Colt with Billie York's ex-partner, Wes Luger (played by Samuel L Jackson), to try and solve her murder.

There now follows 79 minutes of jokes, puns and visual gags that, like Marmite, you'll either love or hate.


Cast:

There is actually an amazing cast in Loaded Weapon 1, which is headed up by eighties brat-packer, Emilio Estevez, who plays Jack Colt - a trigger-happy cop who is clearly based upon the Lethal Weapon character Martin Riggs.
Estevez has clearly watched the Lethal Weapon movies closely, as he gets the role spot on. Colt looks and acts like is counterpart.
Colt is partnered by Wes Luger, who is portrayed by Samuel L Jackson. Again, the role is a direct copy of the Danny Glover character in the aforementioned Lethal Weapon - Roger Murtaugh. Luger is a cop who is counting down the days to his retirement, and looking forward to spending it with his wife and children.
Any effort to spoof the Lethal Weapon series would not be complete with a Joe Pesci character, and this comes in the form of Jon Lovitz. Lovitz successfully pulls off the role of Becker, and he is just as annoyingly funny as Pesci.
Any good cop movie would not be very exciting if there were no "baddies", and this movie has two.
General Mortars is played by William "Captain James T. Kirk" Shatner, whilst his main Henchman is Mr Jigsaw, played by Tim Curry.
Both characters come across as evil, yet funny - in their own unique way.

As well as the main cast, the movie is sprinkled with loads of guest cameo appearances. Whilst there are too many to mention, (and it spoils the fun in spotting them), a couple worth mentioning are Erik Estrada and Larry Wilcox, who were the two motorcycle cops in the television series, "C.H.I.P.S.". They appear in a hotel corridor shootout scene, complete with their bikes. Interestingly, despite firing their guns in this scene, they never once drew their weapons in the whole of the six-year run of C.H.I.P.S. !
There is also a big link to the excellent "Die Hard" movies in this film. Bruce Willis plays a cameo role as John McClane - complete with dirty white vest !! As well as this, Paul Gleason plays FBI Agent Dwayne T. Robinson - he also appeared as Deputy Chief Dwayne T. Robinson in Die Hard.

"Loaded Weapon 1" is directed by Gene Quintano. Although he has little directorial experience, he is better known as a writer on some big name movies, such as "King Solomon's Mines", "Sudden Death", "Police Academy 3 - Back In Training" and "Police Academy 4: Citizens On Patrol". Fortunately this movie is better than his previous "police" films, and the humor comes across far better.
It would appear that much of his inspiration comes from other highly successful spoof movies, such as "Airplane" - if there is a successful recipe for humor, why change it ?

Analysis:

As mentioned earlier in this review, some people love this sort of move, whilst others hate it.
The basic plot is fairly weak - trying to find Billie Yorks killer and recover the microfilm. The story is padded out with chunks of storylines from other movies, with a comic twist - but essentially that is what spoof movies are all about.
There is an excellent scene ripped straight out the Lethal Weapon movie, where Colt goes round Luger's house. The house appears empty but, upon investigating, Colt hears a noise coming from the upstairs toilet. He kicks down the door, to find Luger sitting, sweating on the toilet. Colt asks what's wrong, to which Luger replies, "Nothing... taking a sh*t !".

Loaded Weapon 1 has stood the test of time - it's now been twelve years since it's release, and the jokes and style of the movie are still just as effective as when the film was first released.
Of course, it relies heavily on the viewers knowledge of eighties culture, movies and television, so younger viewers will probably not get all of the gags.

The last time I watched this movie was with a mate after (quite a) few drinks, and I can confirm that the addition of alcohol and a friend or two makes this film even funnier !



Overall, I would recommend "National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1" to fans of other spoof movies, such as Airplane! or Hotshots. It sets out on what it tries to achieve, and you'll laugh out loud at some of the gags in the film. The movie is a certificate PG, so it should be suitable for most children - although they may not understand all the jokes !
If you are not a fan of these types of films, then steer well clear - it could be the longest 79 minutes of your life !!!

Summary: The National Lampoon team have all action films in their targets.