Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment
The best strategy in order to make a quality sequel and a quality franchise is that it’s always best to change things up in each film, utilizing a different style or approach while the most valuable assets (the returning characters) are still featured prominently. This 1985 follow up to the massive smash hit from the previous year smartly saw that logic as it now was taking the proud graduates of The Police Academy and putting them out in the field as legitimate law enforcement officers which was definitely the way to go. That would necessitate the temporary removal from the series of G.W. Bailey as Harris, the ornery glue of Part 1 who had literally coached (onscreen) every character into being their best, here reduced to a worthless cameo as a glorified extra during a wedding scene. In all, 7 of the main players from Part 1 would reprise their roles, leading to an onset civil war when the returning stars started loudly protesting the amount of screentime and onscreen comedy bits being given to the new cast members here (including legendary stalwarts such as Howard Hesseman and Colleen Camp) that literally led to a sitdown mediation with legendary TV comedy director Jerry Paris (as Steve Guttenberg even rejected his onscreen romantic interest in Julie Brown of Earth Girls Are Easy fame, telling the actress point blank that he didn’t even so much as want to kiss her which resulted in most of her scenes being cut out of the movie), but they needn’t have worried about any new characters taking over the movie except for one: Bobcat Goldthwait as the insanely awesome gang leader villain, Zed, grabbing all of Hollywood by the balls and getting their attention with an intensely hilarious performance, at times menacing, at times laugh out loud funny and almost NEVER doing or saying anything that you expect him to considering that he has an entire precinct under siege with a racketeering operation, first seen shaking down Tim Kazurinsky’s Sweetchuck after the poor little bastard had just spent an hour boarding his place up for security (complete with robotic barking dog and Clint Eastwood as Dirty Harry poster on the front window). Zed is certainly a comedic villain to be reckoned with (supposedly a direct spoof of gang leader villain Fraker from Death Wish 2), having created a mecca of craziness for himself where his gang can invade a street fair (and enable Zed to have a photo op with The Mayor) while also maniacally pelting the Police Chief (George Robertson, the same asshole from Part 1) with eggs and tomatoes if ever he shows his face. But the returning stars not only take hold of the film, they finally grow fully into their personas without Bailey’s Harris there to hold their hands, resulting in some genius comedic setpieces along with outstanding writing and character development as Guttenberg’s Mahoney graduates from being a key member of an ensemble to some serious lead actor shenanigans, eventually going undercover in Zed’s gang in the most over the top depiction of a gang member (or a fake one) ever, but it does work into getting him a face to face with Zed himself. David Graf’s Tackleberry gets perhaps the most plum assignment, falling in love with his female police partner (Camp) upon discovering that she too is also a right wing gun nut who likes to speak in some kind of a military parlance as he does (which is ironic since Part 1 revealed that Tackleberry had never served). Michael Winslow as Jones proves that he could have and should have had a shot at starring in his own comedies (even without his trademark sound effects), using scripts that could have been procured from Eddie Murphy’s personal reject list, but here at least is given an openly racist partner and a fantastic martial arts sequence that cements him as being the coolest of the bunch. Bubba Smith as Hightower continues to walk the tallest as the de facto badass of the bunch, cleaning up bars and gang members with a minimum of effort and all while on foot patrol, prowling the streets in his uniform and daring any bad people to come fuck with him. Bruce Mahler as Fackler is perhaps given even more to do than in Part 1, effortlessly essaying an effeminate klutz who unwittingly brings about the demise of several other characters. Only Marion Ramsey as Hooks and George Gaynes as Commandant Lassard are somewhat shorted here, with Hooks put on dispatch duty which puts her out of the action and Gaynes merely having an extended cameo while deferring to his character’s Police Precinct Captain younger brother (Hesseman, who reportedly hated working on the movie and regretted being a part of it). But the real fascinating thing comes with its most relevant to this day plot element: In lieu of Harris’ absence, the role of the authority figure antagonist falls onto second in command of the precinct Mauser (Art Metrano), a much more hateful figure than Harris not only due to his racist overtones and condescending manner but even worse, is a guy so determined to undermine Hesseman and take his job that he orchestrates a mass release of dangerous criminals and gang members back onto the streets, endangering lives in the hope that Hesseman will take the fall and that he will then take command so that he may restore order from chaos as he sees fit. A pretty heavy depiction of evil especially for a comedy (even the very name Mauser invokes Nazi imagery in one’s mind), but our devil may care recruits led by Mahoney at least subject him to a gruesome proxy glue attack in his shampoo bottle and a body cavity search under the guiding hand of an overweight, unpleasant nurse, so justice is upheld somewhat. While the separate, ongoing subplots results in times as having a more uneven, haphazard flow than in Part 1, the comic setpieces on display here are as rewardingly funny as any in the series, with Tackleberry and Jones competing for who has the best introductory scene (and Jones winning that one for his unforgettably merciless evisceration of an annoying yuppie couple) and other bits including Tackleberry meeting his in laws and witnessing the father vs son boxing match of a lifetime, Zed and his gang going shopping and finding some really nice bargains as they tear the store apart, and the piece de resistance: the assault by the main characters on Sweetchuck’s chandelier store while responding to a robbery attempt (after the robbers have long since left the premises) where (spurred on by Fackler’s clumsiness), they open fire on the entire store and its inventory (with Tackleberry and his new girlfriend batting cleanup when they unload with automatic weapons) as the terrified Sweetchuck tries to escape only to have his arm broken by Hightower. It’s almost akin to watching The 3 Stooges or The Marx Brothers tearing things up only now they’re using firearms. In the end, we get a wild and crazy conclusion with Mahoney’s undercover gang member persona (Jughead) going head to head in a duel of the fates with Bobcat’s Zed, so wild and crazy (and funny) that he would return for the next 2 films with a more neutered persona. Sweetchuck and several others (including Lance Kinsey’s debuting Proctor playing it more straight here than he would do later on and thus coming off as being even weirder as a result) would come aboard to ride the franchise train even as the series itself became more boring and bland, giving all of its regulars 1 or 2 spotlight scenes and then spending the rest of the time having them all crowded together talking amongst themselves while Harris and Proctor would carry the show. Here, we get some fresh thoughts and ideas held together by the very plausible plotline of a beleaguered neighborhood trying to survive the wrath of a crazed criminal gang, giving our heroes from Police Academy 1 the opportunity to put all of their training to some good use…
9/10