I guess after seeing Rocky re-enter the ring and John McClane kill a helicopter with a car this summer we should have seen this coming. It looks like all the old action heroes are coming out of retirement to give everyone one last shot. We already knew Rambo was hitting the jungle one more time, but now whispering is starting up for a fifth Lethal Weapon movie.
According to Moviehole, Warner Brothers are starting to toss around the idea of rekindling Riggs and Murtaugh for one more adventure. Of course, this isn’t the first time the idea has come up, and Mel Gibson is typically the killer for the concept. Apparently his career has gotten too big to slap himself in the face and make three stooges noises (refraining from any comments about who he’s busy slapping instead). Of course, with Mel really needing to win back the public eye again, could he be interested this time around?
The less discriminating of the two, Danny Glover, is reportedly not coming back until he’s seen a script, which director Richard Donner claims to have, or at least some semblance of something like a script. Donner doesn’t appear concerned about Glover wanting to see a script and states the whole thing hinges on Mel. If he’s in, there’s a Lethal Weapon 5. If not, no movie. I have to respect that. At least he’s not thinking he can get some young Aussie to partner up with Chris Rock’s character and do Lethal Weapon: The Next Generation. Donner has more respect for his franchise. The studio… well, I’ll expect a cut if they steal my idea.
Personally, I have no interest in a fifth Lethal Weapon picture. I think the last movie closed things up solidly and it felt like the Riggs/Murtaugh story had reached a conclusion. Also, do we really want to see what life is like for Riggs with a baby? Either the story will have to take Rene Russo and the child out of the picture (Boo!) or the movie will be part cop action and part Mel’s got a baby. No, let things stay the way they ended with Lethal Weapon 4: a complete family without having reduced the franchise to bad baby jokes.
