Donner Talks Final “Lethal Weapon” And Gritty Superheroes

Richard Donner is one of the most celebrated and prolific directors in the industry today. Much of his filmography acclaimed and his Lethal Weapon franchise is basically the blueprint for how to make a buddy cop movie and, as it turns out, there might be one final adventure in store for Murtagh and Riggs.

Speaking with The Telegraph for an interview, Donner confirmed that work has begun on a fifth installment and that he’ll both helming the production and producing. The veteran director elaborated, stating that:

This is the final one. It’s both my privilege and duty to put it to bed. It’s exciting, actually… Hahaha! It’s the last one, I’ll promise you that.

The Lethal Weapon franchise is comprised of 4 movies, with the last hitting all the way back in 1998 and Donner has been hinting at a final installment ever since. There was also recently a TV reboot, which featured Damon Wayans as the aging Murtagh and Clayne Crawford as the devil-may-care Riggs, though it would only run for 3 seasons, none of which Donner had anything to do with.

The interview wasn’t only about resurrecting his most famous franchise, though, as talk quickly moved to superhero films, which Donner arguably kicked off with his seminal Superman in 1978. The director confirmed that he’s not a fan of the “dark and gritty” tales that have become so prevalent with modern iterations, stating that:

There are so many people that make superheroes so cynical, it’s depressing. When they’re dark and bleak and angry with themselves and the world, I don’t find it entertaining. I think there’s enough reality going on for that. We just got over four years of that. I think we crave the opposite… When you see it done right, by my standards, it’s so fulfilling. I’m very happy and proud when I see them. When it’s done wrong, it’s such a disappointment.

In fact, he’d much rather superheroes appear with a sense of hope and optimism, and points to the recent success of Wonder Woman as an example of this, commenting that it has the “same feeling of emotion” that his version of Superman did.

Whatever you think about Donner, the man is a legend and he has a point about the dark and gritty versions of superheroes not always being the way to go. All anyone needs to do is watch Josh Trank’s 2015 Fantastic Four reboot to realize this. But what do you think, should comic films be more optimistic? Are you excited for more Lethal Weapon? Sound off in the comments and follow us on Twitter @FilmIronic to never miss a thing!