"Lethal Weapon" Is Uplifting

Last week I talked about how Die Hard is depressing. Talking about Die Hard, especially when considering the entire series, always makes me think about the Lethal Weapon films. While there are a number of differences (one is a buddy cop series while the other isn't...even though it tries sometimes), right now I want to focus on two specific ones.

1. While the Die Hard films don't get better as they go (The first is leaps and bounds above the rest [and above almost all action movies, period], but I would place the third one as next best and perhaps even put the fourth above the second.), the Lethal Weapon films each get worse.

2. The Lethal Weapon films take the Martin Riggs character in the exact opposite direction of John McClane. And they make that change a prominent part of the story. (I think this could have made it a much better film series if it had been done successfully, but its lack of grace and subtlety in this area ultimately becomes its downfall by the time you reach the fourth film.)

The first time we meet Martin Riggs, he's trying to work up the courage to kill himself. Not your typical action hero behavior. His wife was killed, and he's not dealing with it well.

Partnering with Roger Murtaugh puts some purpose in Riggs' life. He befriends Murtaugh and his family, eventually fighting to save them.

He's definitely changed by the end of the first film. He's no longer suicidal. But he still has that crazy streak, which makes him lovable.

Then in the second film, his dark past gets dug up as one of the villains admits to being his wife's assassin. And on top of that, Riggs' love interest is killed. Not many films would do something like that, especially that late in the film. Having not had a love interest in the first film, you expect her to stick around. Her death is pretty shocking.

This knocks Riggs down pretty far in the stability department. While he doesn't become suicidal again, he's definitely depressed.

That changes in the third film when he meets his match (and much more playful love interest) in Lorna Cole, a fellow cop. It would have been a total cheat to kill off this love interest as well, but aside from that fact, this was a natural progression for his character.

While the third film isn't great by any stretch of the imagination, it doesn't out-stay its welcome like the fourth one. In this film, Riggs' is expecting a baby. He's now a family man. And he's so connected to Murtaugh's family that the romance/pregnancy in that family affects him just as much.

They pound the "family" message too much, even going so far as to end the film with a group "family" picture that includes Leo Getz.

So if Die Hard is about the futility of man, Lethal Weapon is about the restoration of the soul. But as time has taught us again and again, it's a lot easier to avoid being cheesy when you break a character down than when you build him up.

In other words...I'll take futility.

"Die Hard" Is Depressing

Last night I caught the end of Die Hard 2: Die Harder and immediately began to ponder the futility of man. Sure, John McClane kicks a lot of ass and says some funny lines, but when you look at the series as a whole, it's actually quite depressing.

In the first film, McClane is estranged from his wife, living in New York away from her and his kids. But clearly he loves her. You can see how upset he is when he discovers she's listed under her maiden name at work. And then when the building is taken over and his wife becomes a hostage, he risks his life to safe her. He applies the old saying of "walking over broken glass barefoot for someone" and takes it even further. He RUNS over broken glass. While being SHOT at.

Ultimately he rescues her and is reunited with his love. But as fate (and the producers) would have it, she's ripped from his arms again when terrorists take over an airport. Unfazed, he goes back to action and saves her once more.

But this story does not end happily. Sure, the MOVIE ends happily, but as we learn upon first seeing McClane again on the big screen in the third film, the relationship did not work out. He appears to us broken and hungover, most likely from staying up late and drinking alone while watching some softcore on Cinemax.

While I don't think he's suicidal, he's definitely lost all sense of self-worth. It doesn't bother him in the slightest to wear a horribly racist sign in the middle of Harlem. He doesn't care what people think of him.

And yet, the movie presents a sense of hope. The villain, while clearly not concerned with human life, does beckon McClane in a way, bringing him back from the depths of his own personal hell to force him to care once more.

So at the end of the movie, we're left believing that McClane will call Holly. They will get back together and be happy because that is what action heroes do.

It's not until the fourth film that we realize this isn't the case. Now McClane is a beat cop with a daughter who wants nothing to do with him. The only way he's able to connect with her at all is to literally save her life.

And while we're supposed to be happy that she's likely going to end up with the Mac guy at the end, the previous films have taught us that this is a false happy ending. Not everyone can be happy. PC guy might break her heart, and she might take her heartbreak out on her father. Or, if those two do wind up together, they will move away and leave McClane all alone once more.

So you see, McClane literally saves the lives of those he cares about most, yet they continue to leave him, turning him into a hollow shell of a man.

Thus the moral of the films is this: The efforts of man are futile.