Seriously!?: Lethal Weapon Remake

by on July 25, 2012  •  In Seriously!?

Yep, that’s right. Lethal Weapon Remake.
Apparently, nothing is sacred anymore. They’ve drained the horror genre almost dry with remakes of Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street, to name but three. But now, it seems that the ’80s/’90s era of totally awesome action/thrillers aren’t even safe. Total Recall is out imminently, Judge Dredd looms, but now it seems that a Lethal Weapon remake is in the works.

Very little has actually been announced for it, but this writer is already sceptical about it. One simple reason, really..
Lethal Weapon set the standard for the buddy-cop movie.
The cliches that were to follow were put in place by the Danny Glover/Mel Gibson movie, and it still holds up brilliantly today. Remaking this film is remaking every buddy-cop movie that followed, repeating a formula that was perfected and tapped until the keg ran dry. Now Hollywood seems intent on feeding us the regurgitated remains of said keg.

Again, this sounds totally sceptical, but would you drink the backwashed remains of last night’s party? No, didn’t think so. So instead of going to see this remake when it comes out, revisit the original. As I write this, I’m watching the blu-ray transfer of the original movie, and it’s fantastic. Glover and Gibson’s performances are as good as they were on set (obviously, as the film is comprised of said performances, but I digress..), the tone is bang-on, and the film overall looks as if it was shot for the first time just last week.

Worst thing about remakes, in my eyes? The amount of aspiring screenwriters who are struggling to get their break in Hollywood, with fresh, new ideas, who can’t get work because studios want to retread ground and fix what was never broken in the first place.

If they touch Die Hard, I’m taking heads. I’m getting too old for this shit.

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Craig Appleby

Craig has been watching bad films from an early age and hasn't done much since. He also spends his time being angered by the presence of cyclists, old people and children. He is also English and therefore knows the Queen personally and calls everyone "squire".