I know what you’re thinking – not another STINKING TV reboot! I’ve already ranted about the trailer for the upcoming MacGyver reboot (you can read that here) and I watched an episode of that Rush Hour TV series on CBS but they were really trying too hard to be funny and cool.
I must say I was more than a little apprehensive when I heard they were doing a television series based on buddy cop action franchise Lethal Weapon. But, to my great surprise, I really liked it.
In the films the roles of loose cannon, borderline suicidal and extremely lethal Martin Riggs and straight laced family man Roger Murtaugh were played by Mel Gibson and Danny Glover respectively. In the new FOX series Riggs is being played by Clayne Crawford (TV series Rectify) and Murtaugh by Damon Wayans Sr (The Last Boy Scout).
Riggs: Hmm. They look alright.
The trailer begins with dramatic voice over and heavy breathing. We see Riggs in a bank I believe telling a skull masked gunman to shoot him – a very Riggs thing to do. Outside we see Murtaugh with Jordanna Brewster (Fast & Furious franchise) as a psychologist, possibly Dr Stephanie Woods from the films, and another officer who looked a bit like The Wonder Years Danica McKellar (I love you Winnie Cooper!).
Back inside Riggs grabs the gun and kills four dudes. Interest level – piqued. Then Riggs sees a bomb in the bank. Does he panic? No. He casually picks up a slice of pizza, starts eating it and walks out. The bomb explodes while Murtaugh is berating him for being a nutcase.
Crawford brings that Riggs’ intensity and Wayans has the Murtaugh fretting thing down. From the trailer they do capture the odd couple humor that made the movies stand out among other cop action flicks.
We also get some emotion in the trailer during a scene where Riggs has dinner with Murtaugh and his wife at their home. Riggs tells them about his late wife and we see her die tragically in a vehicular accident.
My favorite scene is when Brewster’s character asks Murtaugh if he thinks Riggs is dangerous. Murtaugh responds “very” and laughs a bit maniacally. And that made me laugh, though not maniacally.
Then we go back into action with crazy car jumping by Riggs; again such a Riggs thing to do. We see the duo chasing a guy and then he gets knocked down by a bus. Murtaugh looks at Riggs disapprovingly to which Riggs responds “I didn’t kill him”. Some nice dark humour there.
We then get more action and a Bad Boys type scene with Murtaugh shooting from a slowly moving car. Looking good folks. Looking good. I will be checking it out when it premieres.
So what did you think of the trailer? How do you feel about the Lethal Weapon getting new life on the small screen? Feel free comment to comment below.
For my post ranking the top four Lethal Weapon movies you can click here and for my MacGyver reboot post you can click here. And for more devil may care posts you can follow me @suprememango012.
Got your back like a chiropractor. l8rs
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