One of those movies where it might be harder to see why it’s great for newcomers, because the blueprint has been ripped off by so many other movies. I’d argue it has a few things going for it that still make it stand out to this day. Shane Black is great at writing dumb action movies, and this is one of his best scripts. The set pieces, dialogue and comedy are all well written, but it’s especially his character work that really shines here. The underlying sadness to Riggs and Murtaugh makes it easy to connect emotionally, and combined with the excellent performances by Glover and Gibson I was engaged from the beginning. Some of the most memorable set pieces are carried by the acting, which is something you rarely see in movies like this. Donner isn’t a director known for having a strong signature, but the cinematography and sleazy sax are very tasteful. He’s also not afraid to push the film to places that could be considered emotionally challenging. There are a few issues, such as the overuse of predictable/tropy plot devices (which were probably less cliche when this was released) as well as some pacing issues, besides that it absolutely holds up. It doesn’t quite beat Die Hard as the best Christmas movie, but fans of that film will probably get a lot out of this as the action strongly references that John McTiernan, muscular style of filmmaking.
Review by JordyVIP 8BlockedParent2023-11-05T23:46:13Z
One of those movies where it might be harder to see why it’s great for newcomers, because the blueprint has been ripped off by so many other movies. I’d argue it has a few things going for it that still make it stand out to this day. Shane Black is great at writing dumb action movies, and this is one of his best scripts. The set pieces, dialogue and comedy are all well written, but it’s especially his character work that really shines here. The underlying sadness to Riggs and Murtaugh makes it easy to connect emotionally, and combined with the excellent performances by Glover and Gibson I was engaged from the beginning. Some of the most memorable set pieces are carried by the acting, which is something you rarely see in movies like this. Donner isn’t a director known for having a strong signature, but the cinematography and sleazy sax are very tasteful. He’s also not afraid to push the film to places that could be considered emotionally challenging. There are a few issues, such as the overuse of predictable/tropy plot devices (which were probably less cliche when this was released) as well as some pacing issues, besides that it absolutely holds up. It doesn’t quite beat Die Hard as the best Christmas movie, but fans of that film will probably get a lot out of this as the action strongly references that John McTiernan, muscular style of filmmaking.
7.5/10