Lethal Weapon Movies In Retrospective

If you are looking back over the best action films of all time

, the Lethal Weapon movies should always be near the top of any list. The first Lethal Weapon took the buddy cop film and added drama, violence, dark themes, and also unexpected comedy to take the world by storm. The film eventually became a highly successful franchise throughout the 80s and 90s.

Lethal Weapon

The first film went on to make $124 million worldwide. The film was considered the new standard bearer for buddy cop films that went on to inspire movies like Bad Boys and Rush Hour. The person who garnered the most acclaim was Mel Gibson for his portrayal of the disturbed, suicidal, renegade cop Martin Riggs. Audiences were not used to seeing such a flawed or disturbing character as the protagonist of an action film.

Part of what made Lethal Weapon stand out was the dichotomy of Gibsons character with his new unwanted partner Murtaugh played by Danny Glover. Murtaugh was about to turn 50 and was planning to retire from the police department. He was the polar opposite of the careless and wild young Riggs. The emotional core of the film revolved around the two cops learning from one another and forming a deep trusted bond together. The emotional weight the film carried made the spectacular action scenes and fights even more powerful because of how much the audience cared about the characters plight.

Lethal Sequels

After the success of the original Lethal Weapon, it was only a matter of time before the sequels became a reality. In two years time, Lethal Weapon 2 opened in theaters once again teaming Gibson and Glover on the big screen. While originally intended as a one-off sequel by writer Shane Black, the success was too much to destroy and the films original ending of Riggs dying was changed to make sure the series could continue. Black left the project over the changes. The comedy, which took a back seat to the drama in the first film, was amped up considerably for part 2.

Three and Four

After Lethal Weapon 2 earned $230 million worldwide in 1989, the studio knew they wanted to continue the story with more films. Part 3 and 4 both took the main characters and added many supporting characters and increased the level of comedy even more than it had been in part 2. Joe Pesci became much more prominent in parts 3 and 4 as well as Renne Russo as Riggs love interest.

The sequels both did well at the box office although not at the same level domestically as the 2nd. Critics did not share as high an opinion with the remaining films as they did the first two. Part 3 had a score of 59% and part 4 only had 52%. Despite the decline in quality spread across the films, the Lethal Weapon series is still the benchmark in action franchises along with franchises such as the Die Hard movies and the matrix trilogy.

by: Sagbee

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