The Writer's Poke

"Freedom!" -- William Wallace's last word. Good movie? Great movie? Right now, I'm leaning more towards "good movie," but it did win Oscars for Best Director and Best Picture and three other categories, so that would indicate it should be a little bit better than just good.  Checking in on Ebert's original rating, he gave it 3.5/4 stars, and he never bumped it up to the "Great Movie" series.  What does the movie lack? Well, it's historically inaccurate in a lot of ways. That doesn't bother me. Mel Gibson is also way too old for the part of William Wallace. That doesn't bother me either.  At times the film comes across a little too melodramatic, a little too soap opera-y. Not over-the-top so, but enough so that it slightly bothers me.  I also don't like not being able to follow the timeline. What's being captured in this film happens over at least a 15–20-year time period (and that's starting from when Wallace comes back ...

Family. That's the final message the apparent ending of the franchise ends on. And I'm not going to poo-poo that message too much, because I've been wanting more focus on character development for the last two movies. At least in this movie, we get it to some degree -- as well as a little less reliance on stupid comedy. Riggs (Mel Gibson) starts remembering and mentioning his dead wife again, and both Lorna (Rene Russon) and Rog's (Danny Glover) are pregnant.  Six years have passed between film 3 and film 4; I'm guessing that means six years have passed in the timeline... have Riggs and Lorna really been together for six years and somehow not broached the subject of marriage? That seems implausible. Does Rog really not know that his daughter has been dating Lee (Chris Rock), a cop? Again, seems implausible.  The plot, however, is easier to follow. The Chinese villains are easy to villainize. Again, very one-dimensional villains, but at least I can follow who the cop...

"Let's live to regret this." Riggs (Mel Gibson) to Lorna (Rene Russo) That's not a great line, but it's what Riggs says when he's willing Lorna to hold on after the bad guy has almost fatally shot her. And it's about the only line in the movie that stood out even a little bit. Beyond that, if this film had a writer, he wasn't being paid for the dialogue.  In the first film, they immediately draw you in with a naked woman jumping to her death. In the second film, they start with a high-speed chase. In this film, we get a song playing to pretty fire behind the opening credits. Maybe the opening is foreshadowing, as the Riggs will make sure that the bad guys burns in the end, but I thought it was definitely the weakest of the three openings.  But really, after the bomb scare sequence, I checked out. Riggs wants to go in to disable the bomb, even though he has no training in that. He's willing to risk his life -- again, if he's no longer suicidal, ...

Ending lines: Riggs: Give us a kiss before they come. Roger: Where did that bullet hit you anyway? Maybe it's just silly 80s guy talk, but it's just funny to talk like that to your guy friend. At least it was in the 80s... In the first Lethal Weapon, a house blew up, and Roger tries to put out the fire on Riggs's coat by laying on top of him. "What are you, a fag?" Riggs asks. I think it was supposed to be a joke, and it probably was okay to say in 1987. Then in this one, Roger can't move off the toilet -- the classic bomb detonated to blow when he gets off the toilet scene. Riggs has the plan to pull Roger off and cover both of them in the bathtub with the bomb blanket. They make it to the bathtub, the bomb explodes, and when they realize they're not dead, they both laugh. Then Roger says to Riggs, "Would you mind getting off me. I don't want the other guys to see us like this." It's just the part of the comedy in the series, I guess. Bu...

Lethal Weapon has its own special movie wiki; I'm sure a lot of films do, especially film franchises, but this is about the first time I've looked at one before.  I was interested in the ages of the characters vs. the ages of the actors playing them. For example, Danny Glover was 41 in 1987. The character he plays, Roger, had just turned 50. Mel Gibson was 31, but his character, Riggs, was 37.  Why do I care? Because I want to make the Vietnam War background story make sense. The real Gibson was too young for the Vietnam War, and the character Glover plays would almost be a little too old...  Anyway, let's focus on Riggs being 37 and Roger being 50. That's only a 13-year age difference, but Rog feels older. In fact, I thought this might be the movie where Rog is supposed to retire, but I guess he has a few years left in him, even if he does repeatedly say, "I'm getting too old for this shit."  Riggs might be 37, but he's been through a lot. We don'...

Can a good movie adaptation of Huckleberry Finn be made? That's a serious question. I think the answer is probably yes, but I'll need to keep looking, because this one isn't it.  Huckleberry Finn is not a children's story, but because the protagonist of the story is a boy, I have a feeling that most movie versions treat it as such. And maybe that could work, but I think I would prefer the movie to find a way to treat it as a serious story with adult themes. I want to see Huck realize that he needs to "grow up," even as he tries to escape "being civilized."  Michael Curtiz directed this film, and he's capable of doing a much better job (see Casablanca as Exhibit A). Maybe by this point, his best work was long behind him, I don't know. Maybe the budget for this one wasn't that much, or maybe he didn't know what audience to make it for. Maybe he didn't know what the heart of the story should be. Maybe he just needed a better child ac...

What keeps me from pulling the trigger and giving this one 5 stars? I'm not sure. Every time I watch it, I really like it, but maybe it's just the unexplained fantasy elements that keeps me at 4 stars. I'm not sure that's fair, but that's just how I feel about it.  "Is this heaven?" -- Shoeless Joe Jackson (Ray Liotta)  "No... (dramatic pause)... This is Iowa." -- Ray (Kevin Costner) I love that joke, and the film does too, because they use it twice. It's funny both times, but maybe once would be enough?  Ray was an English major in college, which says a lot about him. But somehow, he ends up being a farmer with 200 acres of prime farmland in Iowa. At age 36, his life seems alright, but farming was certainly never his dream, and although he's got what appears to be a good life -- happy marriage with a well-adjusted daughter -- he must wonder if this is all his life will be -- an early midlife crisis.  He hears the voice and is compelled t...