You’re not really questioning why the best buddy-cop action
comedy of all time is on our 12 Days of Christmas list are you? Nah, I doubt
it. It’s pretty universally known that Lethal
Weapon and Die Hard (a later
entry in this series) are the top 2 unconventional Christmas movies of all
time.
One could argue that there are Christmas themes like
redemption throughout but, honestly, I’m not here to sell you on Lethal Weapon maintaining the Christmas
spirit. No, it’s on the list because one can only take so much fa-la-la-la-la
before you’re ready to become a Lethal Weapon yourself and become sick of all
this yuletide joy. That’s here Lethal
Weapon comes in…Riggs and Murtaugh provide you with a funny, action filled
environment to detach from Christmas but thanks to the background of the film
being the Christmas season you never get pulled completely out of it. They do
it in kind of a genius way too. For instance, take our introduction to Mel
Gibson’s Martin Riggs. It’s a standard undercover cop doing a deal gone wrong
setup BUT they set it in a Christmas tree lot, the scene has nothing to do with
Christmas but you’re able to keep the season in your peripheral thanks to the
setting. It’s the cinematic equivalent to going to get your haircut during
December…you’re not buying presents or going to a party but you aren’t out of
the season.
Of course, no Christmas film would be complete…conventional
or not, without a family gathered around a decorated house on Christmas
morning. This scene at the Murtaugh residence gives us the most “Christmasey”
moment when Murtaugh gives Riggs his gift, the bullet Riggs intended to kill
himself with. Redemption complete, and to all a good night.
Just as an added bonus, I'll include the greatest gift given to the world by Lethal Weapon. The greatest mullet of them all!
