Lethal Weapon 5

I wonder what the chances are of Mel Gibson agreeing to come back?

'Lethal Weapon 5' still in the works | Movie Biz | Hollywood Insider | EW.com

Well I certainly don't like the idea of Richard Donner not coming back. :frowning:

I'd take Black over Donner in a heartbeat.

Actually a fifth Lethal Weapon movie written and directed by Black and starring Gibson and Glover (and only them, except for maybe Rene Russo since her character married Riggs at the end of 4) would be pretty exciting!

Looks like this is being fast tracked. I don't know... I can't really see Mel Gibson signing up for it. He seems to be in a completely different place in his career and has moved far away from this franchise. Then again, it's what made him a superstar in the first place so maybe he hopes to get people who are uncomfortable about him.. comfortable again.

LETHAL WEAPON 5 Is Being Fast Tracked?? -- Ain't It Cool News: The best in movie, TV, DVD, and comic book news.

I think thid's be a great idea. Kinda funny too. The first rumblings a few months ago about the project came a day or two after I rented all the Lethal Weapon flicks and thought to myself that they should make a Lethal Weapon 5.

So it's your fault!

I remember I was visiting a friend who was a student at Full Sail recording studios in Orlando around '91. We watched them blow up a building for Lethal Weapon 3. Seems like yesterday!

Guilty.

It wouldnt be the same without Donner or the rest of the cast; families and all.

Agreed. If Donner said, "OK, I'll produce and let Shane have the director's chair" then OK. But Donner has been the daddy on this thing from day 1 and even at his age should still be in charge. He made 3 and 4 fun, despite scripts that were not ideal (not his fault, as the studio and producers were in charge of that).

I have very mixed feelings about this, as a long time fan of this series i'm extremely excited to learn that a fifth film could happen but at the same time I don't know about a LW film without Donner.

As one of the rare individuals who loved LW4 I thought they wrapped it up really well, they even had that cool end credits sequence with pics of the cast and crew in a photo album with 'Why Can't We Be Friends' playing...it just FELT finished to me and I felt good about it.

As for Gibson signing on, the man could use a hit right about now so I think he should do it, another LW film is a sure money maker I think.

Lastly, please, for the love of all that is holy, don't take the Lethal out of Lethal Weapon, make this R rated for fucks sake!!

Just read this over at IMDB:

Mel Gibson has turned down the chance to star in another Lethal Weapon movie - destroying hopes for a fifth film in the franchise.

Bosses at movie giant Warners Bros were confident of convincing Gibson and co-star Danny Glover to reprise their roles in the popular action series, ten years after the last Lethal Weapon movie.

But Richard Donner, who directed the first four films in the franchise, insists the Braveheart actor snubbed the offer to reprise his role as unhinged cop Martin Riggs.

He says, "Mel turned it down. I would like to think that Mel turned it down because I wasn't involved. Knowing Mel, I would like to think that. Would that be the kind of thing he does? It sure would be.

"It's too bad, actually, because Channing Gibson, who wrote the fourth one, and Mike Riva, a designer on three of them, had an incredibly strong story for the fifth movie. But we weren't given the opportunity and I think maybe I could have convinced Mel to do it. But Warners chose to go with (producer) Joel Silver... the project is pretty much dead in the water unless someone had the sense to come to me."

Link: News from WENN

That's a shame. Donner's talent died out years ago. Shane Black was the only reason this had any chance of being good in the first place.

Maybe Shane can use the lethal 5 treatment and turn it into a second KISS KISS BANG BANG, that movie blew the last couple Lethal Weapons out of the water.

Well, since the sequel is out of question they'll probably just wait a couple years and go with a remake.

I've written about "Lethal Weapon" in many of my RetroJunk articles, and I don't know if I would be on board for a 5th one. The 1st 2 were great, and the 3rd and 4th ones were just okay. I don't know if Riggs and Murtaugh would work in this period of time...They're very 20th century. This is the 21st century, and much to my chagrin, there's really no place for an R-rated action movie in today's society.

Sincerely,

John Kilduff...

The R-rating is one of the reasons that I wish I had seen the 80s first-hand. I read that more than 60 percent of the movies released in that decade were rated R.

Rambo would beg to differ.

Have to wholeheartedly disagree with you there.

People want R rated action (as demonstrated by all of our collective bitching and moaning here and all over the net) but the studios repeatedly keep giving them PG-13 ratings to get more asses in the seats.

Look at Rambo, prime example of a modern action film getting a hard R and the fans turning out in droves to see it.

Shame this isn't happening now, I was just starting to warm up to the idea, too. :frowning: Oh well, there's always Beverly Hills Cop IV.

EDIT: You beat me to the Rambo example, David.

I want to see more R-rated action movies, too, but when I said what I did, it was more of a lament directed at the studios, as well as society at large. I recently purchased a book called "The Midnight Show", written by a man named Ken Knight. In the book, he writes about many 80s action titles. As I went over the descriptions, it seemed like action movies in the vein of those made by Cannon or Carolco or Vestron or Orion or other studios along those lines just wouldn't be made today, due to fear of offending various groups or, as previously mentioned, losing box-office potential.

Could a movie where a white guy dusts off a gang filled with minorities be made today? How about an action movie where the women are all half-naked? Or a movie where no sympathy is shown towards Communists or Middle Eastern people?

That's why I feel there's no place in the 21st Century for these types of movies...This is an age of political correctness (which, admittedly, was starting to rear its' head in the last few decades of the 20th century). All of these 80s action movies were products of their time, just like the action movies of this century will be products of their time many years down the line.

Sincerely,

John Kilduff...

I miss R-rated action movies being regularly in theaters, as opposed to only showing up once every few months.