PartTimeCritic Review of Loaded Weapon 1

Loaded Weapon 1 (1993)

A Quality Entry into the Parody Genre that Loses Steam Towards the End

[6/10 · 12 April 2023]

LOADED WEAPON 1 (B-): A parody spoof on the popular Lethal Weapon franchise (and macho action films in general) done in the vein of Naked Gun and Hot Shots! From the opening shootout in a convenience store, the inciting murder, and the initial investigation, you can see there was a lot of energy and creativity behind this spoof. Even the musical score is a hilarious ode to jazzy cop film soundtracks. There's a gag every second (often multiple in the backgrounds of each scene) and many of them are pretty spot on and some are really inspired. In place of Mel Gibson we have Emilio Estevez and in place of Danny Glover we have Samuel L. Jackson. Emilio Estevez may not be Charlie Sheen levels of dry, but he's close enough. His deadpan works great as a comedic stand-in for Mel Gibson's unhinged Lethal Weapon cop. The two set out to investigate the murder of Samuel L. Jackson's old partner (Whoopi Goldberg) and find themselves caught up in busting a drug smuggling ring through a girl scout like corporation. William Shatner gets to ham it up as the film's main villain behind the drug ring and Tim Curry plays his right-hand man. Like all good parodies, this film finely balances telling a coherent and engaging story while still providing consistent comedic set pieces and gas. In the worst parodies the plot is just an afterthought or bare skeleton for a couple of jokes featured in the trailer. Unfortunately, the movie does lose its steam a bit toward the end with sequences still being funny, but lacking the hit rate or density of the first half. This isn't in the Airplane! Tier of classic spoofs, but this is a quality genre entry. If you like parodies, give it a watch.