New on Netflix: Lethal Weapon (1987)

I am well aware of the fact that this film is not new, but it was just recently added to the Netflix library and I am ashamed to say that despite being a relatively massive 80's action-movie fan I had never seen this film before this afternoon.

Not quite as Christmasy as Die-Hard (although having just as much of a Christmas theme) this film did extremely well at the box office. Personally I love Mel Gibson but wasn't truly a fan in '87. You can thank Stallone and Arnold for that as there is only so much room in a little boy's head for heroes.

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_{I do love a non-English movie poster}

I doubt there are many people that don't already know the plot in this film but if you are one of the few basically two cops are pushed into being partners and they don't get along at first only to bond and turn into a wonderful team. This concept has been done "oh so many times" since Lethal Weapon and I really can't imagine this was the first time it was done either.

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Martin Riggs (Gibson) and Roger Murtaugh (Glover) are forced into being partners and they immediately have the "unbalanced, doesn't care about the rules cop" and "by the book, serious and dedicated cop" feel about them. Eventually they find a common ground and it turns out they actually work well together.

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Despite his shortcomings as a detective, "Martin" is, amongst other things, an expert marksman, which is something he got from his "Special Forces" days. Seems he is just a basket of surprises because this ends up being a rather critical part of the story later.

Now for anyone like me who had seen the sequels but not the original (until today) there was one thing that really stood out to me: This film was not a slapstick comedy like the later ones ended up being. Gibson's portrayal of Martin Riggs was one of a deeply disturbed and suicidal cop who was seconds away from ending his own life. There isn't really a whole lot of comedy you can derive from that. His lack of concern for his own life is what makes him a (and subsequently the name of the film) Lethal Weapon.

I think that perhaps the later films weren't even planned on until this movie made more than $100 million on a $15 million budget and they didn't really have much place to go with the suicidal aspect of things since they were already resolved in the first Lethal Weapon.

Now for the bad news: This film hasn't aged well. While it is nice to see a young and handsome Mel Gibson in a film (and Glover to lessor degree) the movie just isn't very entertaining. There is also a lot of physical impossibilities of both weaponry and humans that would be quickly pointed out today in reviews and youtube clips that would make the film unpopular pretty quickly.

So why did the movie do so well in the late 80's? I can only guess it was because action films were taking the world by storm at the time and maybe the audiences were looking for a break from Schwarzenegger, Stallone, and Vann Damme for a bit.

Basically, I found the film to be a bit boring as I likely would most of the other 80's action films these days. If you haven't seen this one already, I would say you should keep it that way. If you have seen it and have fond memories of it... stick with your memories, there is no need to spoil them by "remembering" the visual limitations that existed 30 years ago.

I'm sure it was great before, but today.... it's just "meh!"