Police Academy 7 - Mission To Moscow (DVD)

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Disliked it
Story	Very weak
Characters / Performances	Satisfactory
Special Effects	Standard
How does it compare to similar films?	Weak

Advantages:	Lighthearted, better than the previous one .
Disadvantages:	Don't like slapstick, feels like a kids cartoon .

Recommend to potential buyers:

no

Full review

86. Police Academy 7: Mission to Moscow (1994)

I was really expecting to loathe this film. The sort of film that relies on kicking a grown man in the knackers for it best laughs. It's actually just a fairly average, lightweight comedy, trying to cater for the remaining fans of the series, but failing to grab the wider audience. I've seen all the Police Academy films, and they do get worse with every installment, with this one being the exception. Part 6 (City Under Siege) was utter garbage, and so Mission to Moscow is a minor improvement on it.

The plot kicks off as some of our Police Academy regulars are invited to Russia to help investigate the Russian Mafia. Soon things centre around a computer game, funded by the Russian Mafia, simply called 'The Game'. It's highly addictive, and why are the Mafia behind it? It's a pretty tenuous storyline, but that's hardly anything new. Much stranger is how any of these guys are still employed. Captain Harris (GW Bailey) has become a more and more bizarre character over the years. Turning from an arrogant and strict character into one that likes to undermine his own officers with little motive other than shenanigans.

Of the regular cast we also have my favourite, Commandant Lassard (George Gaynes) who was 77 years old when this was filmed. Sgt. Jones (Michael Winslow) best known as the guy who does the funny noises. He's underused this time, and no where near as funny compared to earlier films. Sgt. Tackleberry (David Graf) who isn't just gun crazy but somewhat unhinged as he rants on about excessive force restrictions. And Capt. Callahan (Leslie Easterbrook), who is contractually obliged to end up in some very supportive lingerie before the credits roll. In addition to them we have another youngun trying to take on the Guttenberg mantle in the shape of Cadet Connors (Charlie Schlatter).

Surprisingly this appears to be quite a big production compared to previous films in the series, what with filming in Russia, including Gorky Park and Red Square. They also have some bigger named actors at various stages of their careers. Claire Forlani (Meet Joe Black) plays the obligatory beautiful Russian cop love interest. Christopher Lee (Lord of the Rings) is the Russian Commandant Rakov, and gets to shout at the useless Americans and kiss Lassard (surely the biggest draw the film has). Then there's Ron Perlman in full on caricature Mafia Boss mode as Konstantine Konali. He's a very naughty boy.

It's an eclectic cast that don't sit together that well. The regulars appear to be mostly sleepwalking through their lines. While the new characters are putting in much more energetic, over the top, performances as the largely slapstick and goofy material suggests. And slapstick is certainly high on the agenda; with a strangely large amount of acrobatics. A character doesn't just fall over, they fall over backwards, flip round a couple of times, ricochet off an amusingly shaped object, get hit in the nuts to the sound of animal noises, then fall in the mud, which they slowly spit out. It's not all like that, in fact it's not even that creative. The series now exists in an exaggerated environment more like a cartoon, where high pitched singing can break glasses. Safe to say if that's not your cup of tea, then look away.

It's aiming for the big kid market, but lacks the charm, surrealism, or imagination of things like the Police Squad/Naked Gun series. Ending up feeling better to suited to children's entertainment, a change that has been evolving throughout the series. You'll not see any bare breasts like there were in the original Police Academy. A real shame with Claire Forlani now on board.

On the whole it's a valiant effort to revive the series; wanting to parody the cop genre in the same way that Happy Gilmore sends up the generic underdog film formula. Unfortunately, Mission to Moscow's humour is so tame it can never pull it off. Leaving it a very cliched and formulaic film with weak jokes. The script felt like it came from an automatic scene generator. Many scenes having no relevance to the main story, and would be more at home in a sketch show. Although one of the funniest parts was completely unrelated. A truly surreal subplot (or running gag) where Lassard crashes a Russian families funeral and seems to get adopted by them. I question whether Lassard has slipped into full on dementia at last.

This should be an easy target, but I don't think it deserves the mandatory beating it regularly gets. As of 17th July 2007 it stood at No.86 on the IMDB bottom 100 films list, scoring an average of 2.6 out of 10 from 8,569 votes. By the halfway point it did feel a little like an anaesthetic. My mind was numbed. Not bothered or entertained. Simply watching, endlessly, into the nothing. I smirked in one or two places, so I'm sure some will enjoy it. Most likely anyone who really liked the previous two or three films. Some of the humour is directed squarely at fans of the series. So long as you aren't looking for a riveting realistic police story (Top Cat is grittier), and enjoy watching the continued humiliation of Captain Harris, then Mission to Moscow is watchable, if not actually any good.

Rated: PG
Running Time: 83 mins

Bonus Features:
'Underneath the Mission' - A 10 minute making of documentary. It's a fairly standard extra. Although the cast give quite frank interviews, which is refreshing compared to the many propaganda-like shorts on other DVDs. It's informative enough, and should please fans.

'Theatrical trailer'

The Films:
Police Academy (1984)
Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment (1985)
Police Academy 3: Back in Training (1986)
Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol (1987)
Police Academy 5: Assignment Miami Beach (1988)
Police Academy 6: City Under Seige (1989)
Police Academy 7: Mission to Moscow (1994)

On TV:
Police Academy: The Animated Series (1988)
Police Academy: The Series (1997)