The quinessiential 1980's good cop/bad cop shoot em' up actually doesn't personify the all of the lame conventions that are so frequently ridiculed. Protagonists Martin Riggs (Mel Gibson) and Roger Murtaugh (Danny Glover) are two of the best crafted action film leads ever put on-screen, the actors bringing Shane Black's snappy writing to life with an appropriate mix of male comaradrie and goofiness. Richard Donner is a craftsman with his action but by no stretch a John Woo (or a Michael Mann or a Stephen Spielberg or even a Michael Bay), which serves to highlight just how effective Gibson and Glover are in these roles. Here they battle heroin dealers lead by Gary Busey, though in truth that is sort of second place to Riggs' struggle to move on from the death of his wife. No surprse it has spawned so many sequels, or that it still regularly screens on television even today.
3.5 out of 5
2 comments:
It also features one of the most effective mullets ever captured on screen (bring it back, Mel!).
Damn, you know what, I'd meant to talk about the mullet and forgot! I'm posting a review of every entry in the series over the next few days so maybe I'll find a chance to insert it in there.
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