lethal weapon series question
 

I have had this thought for quite some time. I love the 1st lethal weapon, it had some great scenes and though I am not totally impressed by Mel as an actor (I think he has a habit of over acting and keeps making funny faces, but this is my opinion!).
Then Lethal weapon 2 came out and that was pretty good, but I was left wondering why they turned it into a comedy series. There wasn't really anything in the first that was funny, in fact it was quite serious for an action film in the eighties.
Does anyone know why they turned them in to comedies?

To be honest, while 2-4 had slightly more comedic elements, all four had the same amount of action and political correctness in 'em...

Also, with Riggs' first "cop" scene [the one with the Xmas tree "salesmen"], it's obvious that he has a twisted sense of humour that being suicidal put a damper on. Meeting Rog and becoming a part of his family helped bring his dark sense of humour forward and push his suicidal tendencies to the back. JMO.

Of course, it's also 6 in the morning and i'm tired as hell, so I could be wrong..

I think the actors got along so well that it just translated onto the screen so they lightened them up a bit but 3 had a gang subplot w/cop killer bulletts that was a little dark and 4 had a whole asian slavery angle so they do get a little adult but the relationships between the characters is what kept me going back.

As in any volitale relationship.. you try to laugh to alleviate the pain. Riggs and Murtaugh grow from hating each other to becoming best friends.

What gets me about the series is its named after Rigg's character, "Guess we'll have to register you as a lethal weapon, huh?" and how dangerous he is...but by the 4th film he's just fighting with normal fighting moves and essentially no martial arts. :(

I think I agree with everything there, but I am not sure what political correctness you saw in the first film. I do recongize the pc in the last three though.

Re: lethal weapon series question
 

I think most of the shift in tone is due to the addition of Joe Pesci to the cast in Legal Wreckin 2. Donner always referred to Riggs, Murtaugh, and Getz as the Three Stooges, so from that point on the characters were played mostly for laughs. In fairness though, their chemistry was really good in LW2.

And one other point I should make. The third act of LW2 was as dark as anything in the first movie(except for maybe the suicide attempt). Riggs is completely insane at that point, and Leo Getz has almost no purpose by then other than to make a joke about Rianne's commercial and get the crap beaten out of him by the South Africans.

I do remember reading somewhere, or maybe it was on a commentary that Gibson was supposed to have died in the ending of pt.2.

He's too old for this shit. That's the theme thru the entire movie of LW4.

Re: lethal weapon series question
 

though I wouldnt call LW2 a comedy it certainly had some hysterical comedic moments throughout, most of them in regards to the Riggs/Murtuagh/Getz relationship. Their chemistry was very good. Bringing back Getz for 3 was a big mistake. It's clear this time that the character was a running joke with no real purpose but to simply please those who liked him in 2. He doesn't even act like Getz