Movie Info
Movie Name: Police Academy: Mission to Moscow
Studio: Warner Bros.
Genre(s): Comedy
Release Date(s): June 10, 1994 (Sweden)/August 26, 1994 (US)
MPAA Rating: PG
I’m charming and American…sleep with me
Commandant Lassard (George Gaynes) and his officers are headed to Russia! A crime boss named Konstantine Konali (Ron Perlman) is utilizing an addictive video game to gain access to security systems around the world. Called in by Commandant Alexandrei Nikolaivich Rakov (Christopher Lee), Lassard, Larvell Jones (Michael Winslow), Debbie Callahan (Leslie Easterbrook), Eugene Tackleberry (David Graf), and Thaddeus Harris (G.W. Bailey) are joined by rookie Kyle Connors (Charlie Schlatter) for an international mission of epic proportions…America and Russia might never be safe again!
Directed by Alan Metter, Police Academy: Mission to Moscow (also called Police Academy 7: Mission to Moscow) is the final film entry in the Police Academy film series which began in 1984. Following Police Academy 6: City Under Siege in 1989 and a short lived TV series, the movie was released to negative reviews and a small theatrical release.
Imagine how funny this would be if it was Bubba Smith? Ok…still not very funny
Even as a kid, I was kind of over Police Academy after the last few films. Add a few more years between Police Academy 6 and Police Academy 7 and hemorrhage more of the core cast, and you have a comedy without many laughs.
Despite being granted access to Russia for filming, the movie slaps a typical Police Academy plot in the location. You have Lassard being absent minded, Harris being devious and goofy, and the new replacement Steve Guttenberg (and the even less distinctive Matt McCoy) Kyle Connors romancing a young Russian. This is mixed up with a bad video game plot being run by the ringleader Konstantin…it is dull, not a parody, nor is it very comedic.
The cast has been shattered. Bubba Smith was supposed to return but quit when Marion Ramsey wasn’t asked to return. G.W. Bailey wasn’t supposed to be in the picture and took Bubba Smith’s role (so no Lance Kinsey’s Proctor) and it also explains why Bailey is slightly less weasel-ly in his role. The fun “guest stars of the film include Christopher Lee and Ron Perlman, but the film also introduces Claire Forlani in her first major role.
Poor Red Square…at least these two got a trip out of it
The most impressive thing about Police Academy: Mission to Moscow has got to be the setting. The fall of the Soviet Union and the mystery surrounding Russia has the fact that Police Academy getting to shoot there is both amazing and tragic. It feels like there could have been so many better uses for the good location and a half-assed Police Academy cast hanging out in Red Square is pretty sad.
Police Academy: Mission to Moscow is painful. It isn’t even funny-bad. It is just bad. The humor and jokes fall flat, and the film would have been better served as a parody along the lines of The Naked Gun instead of a film that fails to find any sort of notch. Police Academy has been rumored for a reboot for years…if they do it, it can’t be any worse…can it?
Related Links:
Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment (1985)
Police Academy 3: Back in Training (1986)
Police Academy 4; Citizens on Patrol (1987)
