THE FIRST LOOK at Liam Neeson in the upcoming reboot of the Naked Gun franchise has been released. 

The Irish actor with a very particular set of skills (namely, playing in action thrillers such as Taken and The Commuter in recent decades) is set to show off a new comedy skill in his latest film. 

The movie will see Neeson play Frank Drebin Jr, the son of Leslie Nielsen’s hapless detective from the original police spoof comedies.

The teaser trailer shows the Ballymena actor taking down some bad guys with a sharpened lollipop while in disguise, before addressing a photograph of Drebin Snr. 

Nielsen himself also made a late-career pivot to comedy acting, starting with his role in Airplane! and continuing with the Naked Gun and other 1980s and 90s comedies.

The reboot also stars Pamela Anderson, Kevin Durand, Danny Huston and Paul Walter Hauser, who appears to be playing the son of Captain Ed Hocken, portrayed in the original film by George Kennedy.

Family Guy creator Seth McFarlane produced the film with his Fuzzy Door company, with Akiva Schaffer directing. It has a US release date of 1 August. 

Released in 1988, The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad saw Drebin set out to impede the nefarious Vincent Ludwig’s plans to brainwash people into assassinating Queen Elizabeth II. 

The film features fast-placed slapstick comedy, with many visual and verbal puns and jokes. 

It was based on the character protrayed by Neilsen in the TV series Police Squad. The 1988 movie was a commercial success and led to two sequals.