Lethal Weapon Fans - Appreciation Thread

→ in
Tools    




BearSkinBathRobe's Avatar
"That may be, but I've got the Falcon."
02-29-20


In my early teens, I saw this movie come on one of the premium channels and I had heard of the title before as being a famous movie and I'll never forget that chilling opening scene with the charming Jingle Bell Rock intro.


What happened next was years of appreciation for the Lethal Weapon movies. I won't get into Gibson's controversies or film-making or the TV series here, but I am truly hoping to find some fellow fans of these movies. My cousin and I's bond owes a considerable part to these movies. I still remember the description for the first sequel being "this struck moviegoers as being arguably better than the original", praise that is rare for a sequel to achieve, as in Terminator 2 or A L I E N S.



Richard Donner, ladies and gents, and Shane Black--*applauds*--the perfect buddy cop characters. Arguably Gibson's best character, the tragic widower Riggs with suicidal tendencies and bad-ass moves.


My favorite memory is 1) watching all four movies with my cousin and the emergence of several inside jokes because of it that still make us crack up to this day (he's 25, I'm 29 now). He's Riggs (he has long hair) and I'm Murtaugh (more composed) apparently, plus me being older. Second favorite memory would be finding all four VHS copies at the local flea market in my hometown once upon a time, and not only all four, but the director's cuts for all four, which include lots of fun scenes and more graphic martial arts/violence.


Least favorite memory would be my disappointment in Lethal Weapon 3, despite it having what is probably my favorite scene (the boat scene where Riggs tells Rog what their bond means to him), as I was very intrigued by a good cop gone bad (Jack Travis). I did like the more mature themes and less heavy elements of LW2, even though humor began to bleed too much into these movies. Without a doubt, #1 & #2 are darker and more serious films.


I'd rank them LW > LW2 > LW4 > LW3, as I really do love the settling-down themes of 4 and it's more of a fun movie despite some nice sequences in 3. 2 has one of the best reveals ever, IMO. Please submit your own rankings, too. Perfect end to a franchise, IMO. The final fight in LW4 is great and brutal, though I wish Riggs had done a bit more (but given his age makes sense) martial arts as that was a big part of his character in 1 & 2. Even 3 lost sight of that, somewhat in the fight scenes.


In closing as I open this up for discussion, here's a tribute music video I made for the franchise, which is one of my favorites. Who saw these movies when they first came out? I'd also say that 3 gets too gushy romance-y, dampening the film more. I love Clapton's score, also. Great pathos and overall just good stuff.
__________________
"They knew and they let it happen! To kids!"-Spotlight
https://tinyurl.com/ruffalospotlight



rambond's Avatar
Profile
Posts
Message
Registered User
02-29-20
One of the best buddy cop movies if not the best



tgm1024's Avatar
Profile
Posts
Message
Account terminated on request
03-02-20
Originally Posted by Mesmerized
Loved the movie, and I loved the sequels. It got better with each addition.

Other way around for me. I loved the movie. The follow-ons didn't really rank as highly.
WARNING: "Lethal Weapon 2" spoilers below
Personally, I found the death of Rika AND his wife to be excessive in the plot. It didn't make sense to me.
__________________
Rules:
When women have a poet, they want a cowboy.
When they have a cowboy, they want a poet.
They'll say "I don't care if he's a poet or cowboy, so long as he's a nice guy. But oh, I'm so attracted to that bad guy over there."
Understand this last part, and you'll get them all.



ironpony's Avatar
Profile
Posts
Msg
Movie Forums Squirrel Jumper
03-03-20
I actually put the last two Lethal Weapons above the first two, but is it rare to rank them that way? I guess I just like the more humorous ones better. However, it is rare series where every entry is good. Every series I can think that that goes over 3 movies, there is always one bad one. But this may be the one I can think of where every entry I thought was good. Anyone else think so?



ironpony's Avatar
Profile
Posts
Msg
Movie Forums Squirrel Jumper
03-03-20
Originally Posted by tgm1024
Other way around for me. I loved the movie. The follow-ons didn't really rank as highly.
WARNING: "Lethal Weapon 2" spoilers below
Personally, I found the death of Rika AND his wife to be excessive in the plot. It didn't make sense to me.
WARNING: "spoiler" spoilers below
Well Rika's death did motivate the main characters to literally destroy a whole consulate of another country and kill everyone on foreign soil. How ofiten do you see the hero cops do that in a movie. So I guess her death was worth it for that unusual ending?

The only thing I didn't understand is why did Riggs take Rika home to her house, after they were both shot at with a helicopter gunship? Didn't he think she would be in danger after that, and would have hid her somewhere, rather than her address where she knows that her boss knows she lives there?