Lethal Weapon 5 Is Happening, But Do We Really Need It?

It was revealed the other day by Lethal Weapon producer, Dan Lin during a Roundtable discussion with The Hollywood Reporter that Lethal Weapon 5 is happening.

I wrote this up on the site yesterday, and the article’s done incredibly well.

This was pretty surprising to me. I thought the article would do OK, but not as well as it did.

I never knew there was such a huge demand for a Lethal Weapon 5.

I’ve been a huge fan of the Lethal Weapon franchise. I used to watch them over and over again as a kid.

So, this incredible reaction to the Lethal Weapon 5 news got me thinking, do we really need a fifth movie?

Is Lethal Weapon still relevant in today’s world?

Riggs and Murtaugh in Lethal Weapon 3 – Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures

Read more:Does Scott Derrickson Leaving Doctor Strange 2 Spell Doom For The MCU’s Future?

Is the franchise still relevant in today’s society?

It’s an especially poignant question given what’s been said by certain individuals involved in the Lethal Weapon movies in the past.

Now, I’m not going to go into all of that about the actor who’ll remain nameless because I don’t want to end up with any legal complications.

What I will say that is that the Lethal Weapon movies are very much products of their times, and that’s fine.

I still love watching the first three movies, and I even think there are good bits in Lethal Weapon 4.

However, the series began with Danny Glover’s Murtaugh claiming that he’s too old for this shit.

The first Lethal Weapon movie came out in 1987 which is 33 years ago.

Riggs and Murtaugh have been contemplating retiring since then, so what would Lethal Weapon 5 be about?

Would it be about two old men coming out of retirement to stop some bad guys’ evil plot?

There are a lot of old men fighting bad guys movies today

Danny Glover as Murtaugh in Lethal Weapon – Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures

Read more: Here Are The 10 Best Horror Films From The Past Decade

There have been a lot of movies like that recently, and they haven’t been great.

The likes of Rambo: Last Blood, The Foreigner, The Equalizer movies and The Expendable movies.

That said, there have been some good movies starring older gentlemen killing a bunch of people.

I actually really liked The Commuter and Cold Pursuit. I also quite enjoyed The Equalizer films.

However, there are a lot of them, and as a rule, they don’t have too much to say or offer.

There’s also the fact that Danny Glover is now 73 years old, and Mel Gibson is 64.

Speaking of Gibson, he did recently star in an action movie alongside Vince Vaughn in 2019’s Dragged Across Concrete.

I didn’t care too much for that film, but it got really good reviews, and it did seem to be a bit more thoughtful than your usual cop movie.

Dan Lin opened up about Lethal Weapon 5

Read more: It Chapter 2 Was The Worst Horror Film Of 2019

One thing that producer Dan Lin did specify during The Hollywood Reporter’s Roundtable discussion that they were trying to get Lethal Weapon 5’s script right.

Here’s what he actually said about the upcoming Lethal Weapon 5 movie:

We’re trying to make the last Lethal Weapon movie. And Dick Donner’s coming back. The original cast is coming back. And it’s just amazing. The story itself is very personal to him. Mel and Danny are ready to go, so it’s about the script.

So, it sounds like everybody’s on-board and ready to go on the movie, and hopefully, they’ll all realise that the script has to be spot on.

It’s really difficult to make a movie like a Lethal Weapon in today’s age.

The first two Lethal Weapon movies were very much 80s and 90s movies and the world’s changed a lot since then.

The first movie was written by Shane Black and he hasn’t been involved in the franchise since then.

It would be interesting to bring in a writer like Black on this picture, yet he hasn’t really been in Hollywood’s good books since what happened with his Predator movie.

Richard Donner is writing Lethal Weapon 5’s script

Lethal Weapon 5 is happening – Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures

Read more: Why Was Wonder Woman 1984 Was Delayed Until 2020?

At the moment, it sounds like Richard Donner will be writing the script to Lethal Weapon 5 on his own.

This would be the first Lethal Weapon that Donner will direct and write, and that would be rather interesting.

I will say that Donner is now 89 years old, so they have to get started on this movie pretty quickly.

Donner’s not going to be around forever, and I really do hope he gets the chance to make the movie.

However, I also hope he tells a story with these characters that needs to be told.

I do think there’s something there, and given that everybody involved wants this to be the last movie in the Lethal Weapon franchise, there could be a lot of room for closure.

What do you think? Are you looking forward to Lethal Weapon 5?

Let us know in the comments below.

What do you make of this news? Let us know in the comments below or on our Facebook or Instagram pages!

And if you enjoy listening to film podcasts, why not check out Small Screen Radio wherever you get your podcasts!