Intro: After the success of Lethal Weapon 3, it was a given there would be a fourth film in the franchise. But the next sequel proved to be surprisingly difficult to get into production. Until Warner Bros. realized they were heading into 1998 without a surefire summer hit on their hands. They gave Lethal Weapon 4 the greenlight and the movie was thrown together in a mad scramble. Twenty-five years later, it’s time to look back at the results of that rush job in this episode of Revisited.
Set-up: With a global box office haul of three hundred and twenty million dollars, Lethal Weapon 3 wasn’t just the biggest hit of the franchise. The 1992 release was considered to be the most profitable film in Warner Bros. history. So studio executives and producer Joel Silver immediately started looking forward to Lethal Weapon 4. Less than a year after Part 3 reached theatres,...
Set-up: With a global box office haul of three hundred and twenty million dollars, Lethal Weapon 3 wasn’t just the biggest hit of the franchise. The 1992 release was considered to be the most profitable film in Warner Bros. history. So studio executives and producer Joel Silver immediately started looking forward to Lethal Weapon 4. Less than a year after Part 3 reached theatres,...
- 4/11/2023
- by Cody Hamman
- JoBlo.com
Exclusive: Academy Award-winning actor, director, producer and screenwriter Mel Gibson has signed with APA.
Gibson had been at CAA, but left after the exit of his primary agents Jack Whigham and Michael Cooper. They went to Range Media Partners. Gibson moved to APA to join president Jim Osborne, who started his career as one of iconic ICM agent Ed Limato’s protege assistants. Limato was Gibson’s agent forever. Gibson went with Limato to WME but parted company with the agency after Limato died, in the wake of controversial comments the actor/director made at a troubled period in his life. He spent several years regaining his footing when he was managed by former CAA honcho Rick Nicita. When Nicita retired, Gibson went to CAA.
Gibson has been busy. He currently stars in three upcoming feature films: the Tim Kirkby-directed action/thriller Last Looks opposite Morena Baccarin and Charlie Hunnam...
Gibson had been at CAA, but left after the exit of his primary agents Jack Whigham and Michael Cooper. They went to Range Media Partners. Gibson moved to APA to join president Jim Osborne, who started his career as one of iconic ICM agent Ed Limato’s protege assistants. Limato was Gibson’s agent forever. Gibson went with Limato to WME but parted company with the agency after Limato died, in the wake of controversial comments the actor/director made at a troubled period in his life. He spent several years regaining his footing when he was managed by former CAA honcho Rick Nicita. When Nicita retired, Gibson went to CAA.
Gibson has been busy. He currently stars in three upcoming feature films: the Tim Kirkby-directed action/thriller Last Looks opposite Morena Baccarin and Charlie Hunnam...
- 9/15/2020
- by Mike Fleming Jr
- Deadline Film + TV
Lethal Weapon fans might be in for a big surprise! More than 30 years after the first installment in the action film franchise, there’s a new sequel reportedly in the works.
Producer Dan Lin confirmed Lethal Weapon 5 is close to happening during a roundtable interview with The Hollywood Reporter published Monday. According to Lin, Mel Gibson and Danny Glover are returning for the movie, as well as director Richard Donner.
“We’re trying to make the last Lethal Weapon movie,” he said. “And [Richard] Donner’s coming back. The original cast is coming back. And it’s just amazing. The story...
Producer Dan Lin confirmed Lethal Weapon 5 is close to happening during a roundtable interview with The Hollywood Reporter published Monday. According to Lin, Mel Gibson and Danny Glover are returning for the movie, as well as director Richard Donner.
“We’re trying to make the last Lethal Weapon movie,” he said. “And [Richard] Donner’s coming back. The original cast is coming back. And it’s just amazing. The story...
- 1/29/2020
- by Ally Mauch
- PEOPLE.com
Despite previously pouring cold water on the idea, director Richard Donner has hinted that Lethal Finale aka Lethal Weapon 5 might be back on the cards.
We last heard about the project in late 2017, when it was reported it’d reunite Donner, Mel Gibson and Danny Glover for an admittedly rather wrinkly action sequel. At the time, Donner explained that plans had foundered due to difficult negotiations with Warner Bros. Things seem to have changed since then, however, as in an appearance on Gilbert Gottfried’s Amazing Colossal Podcast, they listed Donner’s filmography. When they mentioned Lethal Weapons 1-4, he shouted, “And 5 coming up!”
This is far from a cast-iron confirmation, of course, but it does suggest that the studio logjam must have shifted a bit. If the project really were to go ahead, it’d be a rather strange production. Donner is 88-years-old, Mel Gibson is still (deservedly) suffering...
We last heard about the project in late 2017, when it was reported it’d reunite Donner, Mel Gibson and Danny Glover for an admittedly rather wrinkly action sequel. At the time, Donner explained that plans had foundered due to difficult negotiations with Warner Bros. Things seem to have changed since then, however, as in an appearance on Gilbert Gottfried’s Amazing Colossal Podcast, they listed Donner’s filmography. When they mentioned Lethal Weapons 1-4, he shouted, “And 5 coming up!”
This is far from a cast-iron confirmation, of course, but it does suggest that the studio logjam must have shifted a bit. If the project really were to go ahead, it’d be a rather strange production. Donner is 88-years-old, Mel Gibson is still (deservedly) suffering...
- 5/18/2018
- by David James
- We Got This Covered
Last year it was revealed that director Richard Donner and actors Mel Gibson and Danny Glover were all working on developing a Lethal Weapon 5 film with Warner Bros. The movie is currently being written by Lethal Weapon 4 writer Channing Gibson, and now we've learned from Donner in a recent interview with Maltin on Movies that the movie will be called Lethal Finale, that it will be a dark movie, and he explains why it probably won't happen.
“And I’m ready to do 5. It’s called Lethal Finale. It’s very dark. And we were all set to go and now Warner Bros. is doing their old-fashioned tricks. Not Warner Bros., there’s this guy who runs the studio who’s great but they have these people in the legal department who do the negotiating in the most counter-productive way. They should be sent to a studio and work...
“And I’m ready to do 5. It’s called Lethal Finale. It’s very dark. And we were all set to go and now Warner Bros. is doing their old-fashioned tricks. Not Warner Bros., there’s this guy who runs the studio who’s great but they have these people in the legal department who do the negotiating in the most counter-productive way. They should be sent to a studio and work...
- 2/5/2018
- by Joey Paur
- GeekTyrant
Not long ago, word broke that Richard Donner, Mel Gibson, and Danny Glover were all considering making Lethal Weapon 5. According to the initial report, they were looking to explore the opportunity for another film that Donner would be back to direct. The script for that film will be written by Channing Gibson, who wrote Lethal Weapon 4.
Well today we've learned that the project is still in active development and in a recent interview with the Spocklight podcast, Richard Donner confirmed that Mel Gibson and Danny Glover are officially on board!
"It's a story I came up with with Channing Gibson, the writer who wrote 4, and I'm just having to work it out with the studio. If everybody steps up and we all get together, we'll make it. Mel and Danny are on board. If it doesn't work out, at least we tried. But there's a better chance that you will see the movie.
Well today we've learned that the project is still in active development and in a recent interview with the Spocklight podcast, Richard Donner confirmed that Mel Gibson and Danny Glover are officially on board!
"It's a story I came up with with Channing Gibson, the writer who wrote 4, and I'm just having to work it out with the studio. If everybody steps up and we all get together, we'll make it. Mel and Danny are on board. If it doesn't work out, at least we tried. But there's a better chance that you will see the movie.
- 12/8/2017
- by Joey Paur
- GeekTyrant
Simon Brew Feb 5, 2018
Richard Donner gives an update on Lethal Weapon 5, that's now being held up by someone in legal...
Director Richard Donner has given a fresh update on the status of the planned Lethal Weapon 5 – and it looks like the project has fallen apart again.
Chatting to the Maltin On Movies podcast, Donner revealed that following initial enthusiasm – see our original story below – that the project appears to be petering out.
He confirmed that “I’m ready to do 5”, and that it would be called Lethal Finale.
“It’s very dark. And we were all set to go and now Warner Bros is doing their old-fashioned tricks. Not Warner Bros, there’s this guy who runs the studio who’s great but they have these people in the legal department who do the negotiating in the most counter-productive way”, Donner lamented.
“They should be sent to a studio and...
Richard Donner gives an update on Lethal Weapon 5, that's now being held up by someone in legal...
Director Richard Donner has given a fresh update on the status of the planned Lethal Weapon 5 – and it looks like the project has fallen apart again.
Chatting to the Maltin On Movies podcast, Donner revealed that following initial enthusiasm – see our original story below – that the project appears to be petering out.
He confirmed that “I’m ready to do 5”, and that it would be called Lethal Finale.
“It’s very dark. And we were all set to go and now Warner Bros is doing their old-fashioned tricks. Not Warner Bros, there’s this guy who runs the studio who’s great but they have these people in the legal department who do the negotiating in the most counter-productive way”, Donner lamented.
“They should be sent to a studio and...
- 12/8/2017
- Den of Geek
Simon Brew Oct 27, 2017
Mel Gibson and Danny Glover may be back together, as Warner Bros is toying with Lethal Weapon 5 again...
Since Lethal Weapon 4 was turned around in double quick time (you can read more on that here) and proved a solid hit for Warner Bros in 1998, there have been constant rumours that stars Mel Gibson and Danny Glover, along with director Richard Donner, would reunite for one more outing.
Lots has happened in that time, and Donner hasn’t directed a film since 2006’s 16 Blocks (he is 87 now, so he might prefer putting his feet up). Yet it seems that discussions are underway once again about getting the old gang back together.
Warner Bros is said to be exploring the possibility of Lethal Weapon 5, that would bring Gibson and Glover back for one more outing, and see Donner direct. Channing Gibson, who worked on the screenplay for the last chapter,...
Mel Gibson and Danny Glover may be back together, as Warner Bros is toying with Lethal Weapon 5 again...
Since Lethal Weapon 4 was turned around in double quick time (you can read more on that here) and proved a solid hit for Warner Bros in 1998, there have been constant rumours that stars Mel Gibson and Danny Glover, along with director Richard Donner, would reunite for one more outing.
Lots has happened in that time, and Donner hasn’t directed a film since 2006’s 16 Blocks (he is 87 now, so he might prefer putting his feet up). Yet it seems that discussions are underway once again about getting the old gang back together.
Warner Bros is said to be exploring the possibility of Lethal Weapon 5, that would bring Gibson and Glover back for one more outing, and see Donner direct. Channing Gibson, who worked on the screenplay for the last chapter,...
- 10/27/2017
- Den of Geek
Holy shit! According to Deadline, Mel Gibson, Danny Glover, and director Richard Donner are looking at making a fifth Lethal Weapon movie! I love the Lethal Weapon franchise and the fact that we might see another movie with these characters is awesome! And this time, they really will be too old for this shit!
According to the report, they are all on board to explore the opportunity for another film that Donner would be back to direct. The script for the film will be written by Channing Gibson, who wrote Lethal Weapon 4.
If the movie moves forward it will be set up at Warner Bros. I really hope that this happens. I've always enjoyed watching these characters and it'd be fun to see what they're all up to after all these years. I wonder if they'll try to get Joe Pesci, Rene Russo, and Chris Rock back.
It will...
According to the report, they are all on board to explore the opportunity for another film that Donner would be back to direct. The script for the film will be written by Channing Gibson, who wrote Lethal Weapon 4.
If the movie moves forward it will be set up at Warner Bros. I really hope that this happens. I've always enjoyed watching these characters and it'd be fun to see what they're all up to after all these years. I wonder if they'll try to get Joe Pesci, Rene Russo, and Chris Rock back.
It will...
- 10/27/2017
- by Joey Paur
- GeekTyrant
Exclusive: It looks like the band just might back together. Deadline hears that Mel Gibson, Danny Glover, Richard Donner are all huddling on the possibility of doing another film for the the Lethal Weapon franchise. In the scenario we’ve heard Donner would direct and Channing Gibson (Lethal Weapon 4) would script. There are many moving parts, but we’ve heard that all are on board and exploring another film. It would move forward, of course, at Warner Bros., the studio…...
- 10/27/2017
- Deadline
Warner Bros greenlit Lethal Weapon 4 late in the day - giving director Richard Donner just over six months to make the movie...
The closing chapter of the Lethal Weapon movie saga was a film that, tonally, was a long way away from the movie that started the series.
In the original Lethal Weapon back in 1987, the character of Martin Riggs - as played by Mel Gibson - was on the verge of suicide, working uneasily alongside Danny Glover's Roger Murtaugh. By the end of Lethal Weapon 4, as the song Why Can't We Be Friends played out, it was all happy families. With babies. Riggs had a wife and child, any hints of suicide were long gone, and the film feels a lot more like a comedy than an action thriller.
But then Lethal Weapon 4 was a film with very different expectations on it. The original Lethal Weapon was a surprise hit.
The closing chapter of the Lethal Weapon movie saga was a film that, tonally, was a long way away from the movie that started the series.
In the original Lethal Weapon back in 1987, the character of Martin Riggs - as played by Mel Gibson - was on the verge of suicide, working uneasily alongside Danny Glover's Roger Murtaugh. By the end of Lethal Weapon 4, as the song Why Can't We Be Friends played out, it was all happy families. With babies. Riggs had a wife and child, any hints of suicide were long gone, and the film feels a lot more like a comedy than an action thriller.
But then Lethal Weapon 4 was a film with very different expectations on it. The original Lethal Weapon was a surprise hit.
- 7/22/2015
- by simonbrew
- Den of Geek
(clockwise from top left) Easy Virtue poster, Up poster, W. banner, Gordon Gekko, Jacob poster for Twilight, Star Trek logo, Hulk, Ugly Truth poster. All Posters has Twilight posters for sale including the Edward and Jacob posters fans have been bidding on at eBay. Also in Twilight news, a no-brainer article over at Deadline Hollywood doesn't tell us any more about the filming of New Moon, the second book in the "Twilight" franchise, than we already knew. Oh, and the Twilight running time is coming in at exactly 120 minutes. Check it out, it's Jessica Biel's head on an international banner for Easy Virtue. Coming Soon has one hell of a boring international poster for Street Fighter. Just Jared has your first look at Jude Law as Watson in Sherlock Holmes. Mark Wahlberg talks The Lovely Bones with Sci-fi saying: "I'm not one of those Shakespearean actors that thinks about...
- 10/14/2008
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
Mel Gibson has turned down the chance to star in another Lethal Weapon movie - destroying hopes for a fifth film in the franchise.
Bosses at movie giant Warners Bros were confident of convincing Gibson and co-star Danny Glover to reprise their roles in the popular action series, ten years after the last Lethal Weapon movie.
But Richard Donner, who directed the first four films in the franchise, insists the Braveheart actor snubbed the offer to reprise his role as unhinged cop Martin Riggs.
He says, "Mel turned it down. I would like to think that Mel turned it down because I wasn't involved. Knowing Mel, I would like to think that. Would that be the kind of thing he does? It sure would be.
"It's too bad, actually, because Channing Gibson, who wrote the fourth one, and Mike Riva, a designer on three of them, had an incredibly strong story for the fifth movie. But we weren't given the opportunity and I think maybe I could have convinced Mel to do it. But Warners chose to go with (producer) Joel Silver... the project is pretty much dead in the water unless someone had the sense to come to me."...
Bosses at movie giant Warners Bros were confident of convincing Gibson and co-star Danny Glover to reprise their roles in the popular action series, ten years after the last Lethal Weapon movie.
But Richard Donner, who directed the first four films in the franchise, insists the Braveheart actor snubbed the offer to reprise his role as unhinged cop Martin Riggs.
He says, "Mel turned it down. I would like to think that Mel turned it down because I wasn't involved. Knowing Mel, I would like to think that. Would that be the kind of thing he does? It sure would be.
"It's too bad, actually, because Channing Gibson, who wrote the fourth one, and Mike Riva, a designer on three of them, had an incredibly strong story for the fifth movie. But we weren't given the opportunity and I think maybe I could have convinced Mel to do it. But Warners chose to go with (producer) Joel Silver... the project is pretty much dead in the water unless someone had the sense to come to me."...
- 10/14/2008
- WENN
But was he ever considering it in the first place? Not long ago it seemed a Lethal Weapon 5 was all but a lock, what with Shane Black writing the script and Columbus Short supposedly in talks to play Danny Glover's son -- but now, according to a recent interview with Richard Donner in the La Times, it looks like the whole thing might just go away. Thank God. That's because, in Donner's world, Mel Gibson has already passed on the project. (And here we thought Glover passed over a year ago.) The director notes, "Mel turned it down. I would like to think that Mel turned it down because I wasn't involved. Knowing Mel, I would like to think that. Would that be the kind of thing he does? It sure would be."
Though "Gibson's people" refused to comment, the La Times is pretty confident in their findings.
Though "Gibson's people" refused to comment, the La Times is pretty confident in their findings.
- 10/13/2008
- by Erik Davis
- Cinematical
Opens
Friday, April 2
This might not be your father's Buford Pusser, but the remake of "Walking Tall" remains the tale of a vigilante with a badge -- and a very big stick. As a man of few words who takes on the forces of pure evil in his rural hometown, WWE star-turned-actor Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is a self-possessed, charismatic screen presence. Drawing on his fans and tapping into hero hunger, the film should find solid footing at the boxoffice.
Like the 1973 Joe Don Baker starrer -- a hit that spawned two sequels, a telefilm and a short-lived series -- this version is inspired by the true story of Tennessee sheriff Pusser. But here the central character, unmarried and ultra-buff, is not an unlikely savior. To the well-chosen strains of Gregg Allman's "Midnight Rider", we first see Chris Vaughn as a solitary figure on a ferry to Washington state, returning home after eight years in the Army Special Forces.
It's a relief that "Walking" strips Mort Briskin's original screenplay of its cloying family-man angle and tragic elements. That helps to lessen the self-righteousness of an uneasy, if popular, combination of moralizing and head-slamming. But that combustible mix is still the heart of the story.
Paying tribute to the central character's weapon of choice -- a hunk of wood -- the story has been moved to lumber country (Vancouver subs for Kipsat County, Wash.). Expecting to work in the town's mill, like his Father John Beasley), Chris finds it's been shuttered by Jay Hamilton (Neal McDonough, whose ice-blue eyes spell "villain"). After inheriting the plant, the town's lifeblood, Jay has turned his entrepreneurial efforts to a lucrative casino, the front for an even more lucrative drug operation. Emblematic of the Wild Cherry's grip on the town, Chris High' school girlfriend, Deni (Ashley Scott), dances in a peep show at the sensory-overload venue.
For Chris, the casino is an assault on small-town integrity. Ever-vigilant to corruption and wrongdoing, he crosses the powers that be and winds up sliced and left for dead by Jay's goons. Denied legal recourse by the sheriff (Michael Bowen), who considers the casino a "no-fly zone," Chris puts a huge stick of cedar to use in the name of justice and ends up in jail. After baring his impressive torso and its gruesome scars for a jury, he's elected sheriff.
He deputizes his pal Ray (Johnny Knoxville of "Jackass"), a recovering addict, to help him crack Jay's speed-manufacturing business. Adding drugs to the corrosive stew of gambling and prostitution, the adaptation ups the ante on moral certainty with broad strokes: Chris' young teen nephew (Khleo Thomas) has an unspecified medical emergency relating to the ingestion of crystal meth, and Chris and Ray are wholesomely abusive cops as they set out to rid their town of vice.
This lean retelling mercifully compresses the physical attacks on the hero and his family, albeit into unbelievably brazen simultaneous ambushes on the precinct and the Vaughn home. As the senior Vaughn, Beasley makes an impression as a former soldier who must overcome his aversion to guns to protect his wife (Barbara Tarbuck) and single-mom daughter (Kristen Wilson).
Director Kevin Bray keeps the action tight and brutal, from the first casino brawl to the final face-off between Jay and Chris (hatchet vs. tree branch). The cast acquits itself well, with the Rock evincing a quiet balance between humor and brawn. Unlike Baker's Pusser, Chris is not a conflicted man, and the pared-down action loses some of its dramatic tension because there's no doubt that the Rock will prevail -- driving home the point is a low-angle shot of the jeans-clad sheriff, wooden club in hand.
Production designer Brent Thomas and costume designer Gersha Phillips achieve a lived-in look that never calls attention to itself. Glen MacPherson's camerawork captures the setting's natural riches and economic straits, while well-chosen '70s rock tunes help propel the proceedings.
WALKING TALL
MGM Pictures
A Hyde Park Entertainment/Mandeville Films production in association with Burke/Samples/Foster Prods. and WWE Films
Credits:
Director: Kevin Bray
Screenwriters: David Klass, Channing Gibson, David Levien, Brian Koppelman
Based on a screenplay by: Mort Briskin
Producers: Jim Burke, Lucas Foster, Paul Schiff, Ashok Amritraj, David Hoberman
Executive producers: Keith Samples, Vince McMahon
Director of photography: Glen MacPherson
Production designer: Brent Thomas
Music: Graeme Revell
Co-producer: Bill Bannerman
Costume designer: Gersha Phillips
Editors: George Bowers, Robert Ivison
Cast:
Chris Vaughn: Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson
Ray Templeton: Johnny Knoxville
Jay Hamilton: Neal McDonough
Michelle Vaughn: Kristen Wilson
Deni: Ashley Scott
Pete Vaughn: Khleo Thomas
Chris Vaughn Sr.: John Beasley
Connie Vaughn: Barbara Tarbuck
Sheriff Stan Watkins: Michael Bowen
Booth: Kevin Durand
Running time -- 86 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
Friday, April 2
This might not be your father's Buford Pusser, but the remake of "Walking Tall" remains the tale of a vigilante with a badge -- and a very big stick. As a man of few words who takes on the forces of pure evil in his rural hometown, WWE star-turned-actor Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is a self-possessed, charismatic screen presence. Drawing on his fans and tapping into hero hunger, the film should find solid footing at the boxoffice.
Like the 1973 Joe Don Baker starrer -- a hit that spawned two sequels, a telefilm and a short-lived series -- this version is inspired by the true story of Tennessee sheriff Pusser. But here the central character, unmarried and ultra-buff, is not an unlikely savior. To the well-chosen strains of Gregg Allman's "Midnight Rider", we first see Chris Vaughn as a solitary figure on a ferry to Washington state, returning home after eight years in the Army Special Forces.
It's a relief that "Walking" strips Mort Briskin's original screenplay of its cloying family-man angle and tragic elements. That helps to lessen the self-righteousness of an uneasy, if popular, combination of moralizing and head-slamming. But that combustible mix is still the heart of the story.
Paying tribute to the central character's weapon of choice -- a hunk of wood -- the story has been moved to lumber country (Vancouver subs for Kipsat County, Wash.). Expecting to work in the town's mill, like his Father John Beasley), Chris finds it's been shuttered by Jay Hamilton (Neal McDonough, whose ice-blue eyes spell "villain"). After inheriting the plant, the town's lifeblood, Jay has turned his entrepreneurial efforts to a lucrative casino, the front for an even more lucrative drug operation. Emblematic of the Wild Cherry's grip on the town, Chris High' school girlfriend, Deni (Ashley Scott), dances in a peep show at the sensory-overload venue.
For Chris, the casino is an assault on small-town integrity. Ever-vigilant to corruption and wrongdoing, he crosses the powers that be and winds up sliced and left for dead by Jay's goons. Denied legal recourse by the sheriff (Michael Bowen), who considers the casino a "no-fly zone," Chris puts a huge stick of cedar to use in the name of justice and ends up in jail. After baring his impressive torso and its gruesome scars for a jury, he's elected sheriff.
He deputizes his pal Ray (Johnny Knoxville of "Jackass"), a recovering addict, to help him crack Jay's speed-manufacturing business. Adding drugs to the corrosive stew of gambling and prostitution, the adaptation ups the ante on moral certainty with broad strokes: Chris' young teen nephew (Khleo Thomas) has an unspecified medical emergency relating to the ingestion of crystal meth, and Chris and Ray are wholesomely abusive cops as they set out to rid their town of vice.
This lean retelling mercifully compresses the physical attacks on the hero and his family, albeit into unbelievably brazen simultaneous ambushes on the precinct and the Vaughn home. As the senior Vaughn, Beasley makes an impression as a former soldier who must overcome his aversion to guns to protect his wife (Barbara Tarbuck) and single-mom daughter (Kristen Wilson).
Director Kevin Bray keeps the action tight and brutal, from the first casino brawl to the final face-off between Jay and Chris (hatchet vs. tree branch). The cast acquits itself well, with the Rock evincing a quiet balance between humor and brawn. Unlike Baker's Pusser, Chris is not a conflicted man, and the pared-down action loses some of its dramatic tension because there's no doubt that the Rock will prevail -- driving home the point is a low-angle shot of the jeans-clad sheriff, wooden club in hand.
Production designer Brent Thomas and costume designer Gersha Phillips achieve a lived-in look that never calls attention to itself. Glen MacPherson's camerawork captures the setting's natural riches and economic straits, while well-chosen '70s rock tunes help propel the proceedings.
WALKING TALL
MGM Pictures
A Hyde Park Entertainment/Mandeville Films production in association with Burke/Samples/Foster Prods. and WWE Films
Credits:
Director: Kevin Bray
Screenwriters: David Klass, Channing Gibson, David Levien, Brian Koppelman
Based on a screenplay by: Mort Briskin
Producers: Jim Burke, Lucas Foster, Paul Schiff, Ashok Amritraj, David Hoberman
Executive producers: Keith Samples, Vince McMahon
Director of photography: Glen MacPherson
Production designer: Brent Thomas
Music: Graeme Revell
Co-producer: Bill Bannerman
Costume designer: Gersha Phillips
Editors: George Bowers, Robert Ivison
Cast:
Chris Vaughn: Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson
Ray Templeton: Johnny Knoxville
Jay Hamilton: Neal McDonough
Michelle Vaughn: Kristen Wilson
Deni: Ashley Scott
Pete Vaughn: Khleo Thomas
Chris Vaughn Sr.: John Beasley
Connie Vaughn: Barbara Tarbuck
Sheriff Stan Watkins: Michael Bowen
Booth: Kevin Durand
Running time -- 86 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
Opens
Friday, April 2
This might not be your father's Buford Pusser, but the remake of "Walking Tall" remains the tale of a vigilante with a badge -- and a very big stick. As a man of few words who takes on the forces of pure evil in his rural hometown, WWE star-turned-actor Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is a self-possessed, charismatic screen presence. Drawing on his fans and tapping into hero hunger, the film should find solid footing at the boxoffice.
Like the 1973 Joe Don Baker starrer -- a hit that spawned two sequels, a telefilm and a short-lived series -- this version is inspired by the true story of Tennessee sheriff Pusser. But here the central character, unmarried and ultra-buff, is not an unlikely savior. To the well-chosen strains of Gregg Allman's "Midnight Rider", we first see Chris Vaughn as a solitary figure on a ferry to Washington state, returning home after eight years in the Army Special Forces.
It's a relief that "Walking" strips Mort Briskin's original screenplay of its cloying family-man angle and tragic elements. That helps to lessen the self-righteousness of an uneasy, if popular, combination of moralizing and head-slamming. But that combustible mix is still the heart of the story.
Paying tribute to the central character's weapon of choice -- a hunk of wood -- the story has been moved to lumber country (Vancouver subs for Kipsat County, Wash.). Expecting to work in the town's mill, like his Father John Beasley), Chris finds it's been shuttered by Jay Hamilton (Neal McDonough, whose ice-blue eyes spell "villain"). After inheriting the plant, the town's lifeblood, Jay has turned his entrepreneurial efforts to a lucrative casino, the front for an even more lucrative drug operation. Emblematic of the Wild Cherry's grip on the town, Chris High' school girlfriend, Deni (Ashley Scott), dances in a peep show at the sensory-overload venue.
For Chris, the casino is an assault on small-town integrity. Ever-vigilant to corruption and wrongdoing, he crosses the powers that be and winds up sliced and left for dead by Jay's goons. Denied legal recourse by the sheriff (Michael Bowen), who considers the casino a "no-fly zone," Chris puts a huge stick of cedar to use in the name of justice and ends up in jail. After baring his impressive torso and its gruesome scars for a jury, he's elected sheriff.
He deputizes his pal Ray (Johnny Knoxville of "Jackass"), a recovering addict, to help him crack Jay's speed-manufacturing business. Adding drugs to the corrosive stew of gambling and prostitution, the adaptation ups the ante on moral certainty with broad strokes: Chris' young teen nephew (Khleo Thomas) has an unspecified medical emergency relating to the ingestion of crystal meth, and Chris and Ray are wholesomely abusive cops as they set out to rid their town of vice.
This lean retelling mercifully compresses the physical attacks on the hero and his family, albeit into unbelievably brazen simultaneous ambushes on the precinct and the Vaughn home. As the senior Vaughn, Beasley makes an impression as a former soldier who must overcome his aversion to guns to protect his wife (Barbara Tarbuck) and single-mom daughter (Kristen Wilson).
Director Kevin Bray keeps the action tight and brutal, from the first casino brawl to the final face-off between Jay and Chris (hatchet vs. tree branch). The cast acquits itself well, with the Rock evincing a quiet balance between humor and brawn. Unlike Baker's Pusser, Chris is not a conflicted man, and the pared-down action loses some of its dramatic tension because there's no doubt that the Rock will prevail -- driving home the point is a low-angle shot of the jeans-clad sheriff, wooden club in hand.
Production designer Brent Thomas and costume designer Gersha Phillips achieve a lived-in look that never calls attention to itself. Glen MacPherson's camerawork captures the setting's natural riches and economic straits, while well-chosen '70s rock tunes help propel the proceedings.
WALKING TALL
MGM Pictures
A Hyde Park Entertainment/Mandeville Films production in association with Burke/Samples/Foster Prods. and WWE Films
Credits:
Director: Kevin Bray
Screenwriters: David Klass, Channing Gibson, David Levien, Brian Koppelman
Based on a screenplay by: Mort Briskin
Producers: Jim Burke, Lucas Foster, Paul Schiff, Ashok Amritraj, David Hoberman
Executive producers: Keith Samples, Vince McMahon
Director of photography: Glen MacPherson
Production designer: Brent Thomas
Music: Graeme Revell
Co-producer: Bill Bannerman
Costume designer: Gersha Phillips
Editors: George Bowers, Robert Ivison
Cast:
Chris Vaughn: Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson
Ray Templeton: Johnny Knoxville
Jay Hamilton: Neal McDonough
Michelle Vaughn: Kristen Wilson
Deni: Ashley Scott
Pete Vaughn: Khleo Thomas
Chris Vaughn Sr.: John Beasley
Connie Vaughn: Barbara Tarbuck
Sheriff Stan Watkins: Michael Bowen
Booth: Kevin Durand
Running time -- 86 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
Friday, April 2
This might not be your father's Buford Pusser, but the remake of "Walking Tall" remains the tale of a vigilante with a badge -- and a very big stick. As a man of few words who takes on the forces of pure evil in his rural hometown, WWE star-turned-actor Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is a self-possessed, charismatic screen presence. Drawing on his fans and tapping into hero hunger, the film should find solid footing at the boxoffice.
Like the 1973 Joe Don Baker starrer -- a hit that spawned two sequels, a telefilm and a short-lived series -- this version is inspired by the true story of Tennessee sheriff Pusser. But here the central character, unmarried and ultra-buff, is not an unlikely savior. To the well-chosen strains of Gregg Allman's "Midnight Rider", we first see Chris Vaughn as a solitary figure on a ferry to Washington state, returning home after eight years in the Army Special Forces.
It's a relief that "Walking" strips Mort Briskin's original screenplay of its cloying family-man angle and tragic elements. That helps to lessen the self-righteousness of an uneasy, if popular, combination of moralizing and head-slamming. But that combustible mix is still the heart of the story.
Paying tribute to the central character's weapon of choice -- a hunk of wood -- the story has been moved to lumber country (Vancouver subs for Kipsat County, Wash.). Expecting to work in the town's mill, like his Father John Beasley), Chris finds it's been shuttered by Jay Hamilton (Neal McDonough, whose ice-blue eyes spell "villain"). After inheriting the plant, the town's lifeblood, Jay has turned his entrepreneurial efforts to a lucrative casino, the front for an even more lucrative drug operation. Emblematic of the Wild Cherry's grip on the town, Chris High' school girlfriend, Deni (Ashley Scott), dances in a peep show at the sensory-overload venue.
For Chris, the casino is an assault on small-town integrity. Ever-vigilant to corruption and wrongdoing, he crosses the powers that be and winds up sliced and left for dead by Jay's goons. Denied legal recourse by the sheriff (Michael Bowen), who considers the casino a "no-fly zone," Chris puts a huge stick of cedar to use in the name of justice and ends up in jail. After baring his impressive torso and its gruesome scars for a jury, he's elected sheriff.
He deputizes his pal Ray (Johnny Knoxville of "Jackass"), a recovering addict, to help him crack Jay's speed-manufacturing business. Adding drugs to the corrosive stew of gambling and prostitution, the adaptation ups the ante on moral certainty with broad strokes: Chris' young teen nephew (Khleo Thomas) has an unspecified medical emergency relating to the ingestion of crystal meth, and Chris and Ray are wholesomely abusive cops as they set out to rid their town of vice.
This lean retelling mercifully compresses the physical attacks on the hero and his family, albeit into unbelievably brazen simultaneous ambushes on the precinct and the Vaughn home. As the senior Vaughn, Beasley makes an impression as a former soldier who must overcome his aversion to guns to protect his wife (Barbara Tarbuck) and single-mom daughter (Kristen Wilson).
Director Kevin Bray keeps the action tight and brutal, from the first casino brawl to the final face-off between Jay and Chris (hatchet vs. tree branch). The cast acquits itself well, with the Rock evincing a quiet balance between humor and brawn. Unlike Baker's Pusser, Chris is not a conflicted man, and the pared-down action loses some of its dramatic tension because there's no doubt that the Rock will prevail -- driving home the point is a low-angle shot of the jeans-clad sheriff, wooden club in hand.
Production designer Brent Thomas and costume designer Gersha Phillips achieve a lived-in look that never calls attention to itself. Glen MacPherson's camerawork captures the setting's natural riches and economic straits, while well-chosen '70s rock tunes help propel the proceedings.
WALKING TALL
MGM Pictures
A Hyde Park Entertainment/Mandeville Films production in association with Burke/Samples/Foster Prods. and WWE Films
Credits:
Director: Kevin Bray
Screenwriters: David Klass, Channing Gibson, David Levien, Brian Koppelman
Based on a screenplay by: Mort Briskin
Producers: Jim Burke, Lucas Foster, Paul Schiff, Ashok Amritraj, David Hoberman
Executive producers: Keith Samples, Vince McMahon
Director of photography: Glen MacPherson
Production designer: Brent Thomas
Music: Graeme Revell
Co-producer: Bill Bannerman
Costume designer: Gersha Phillips
Editors: George Bowers, Robert Ivison
Cast:
Chris Vaughn: Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson
Ray Templeton: Johnny Knoxville
Jay Hamilton: Neal McDonough
Michelle Vaughn: Kristen Wilson
Deni: Ashley Scott
Pete Vaughn: Khleo Thomas
Chris Vaughn Sr.: John Beasley
Connie Vaughn: Barbara Tarbuck
Sheriff Stan Watkins: Michael Bowen
Booth: Kevin Durand
Running time -- 86 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
- 3/29/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Opens Friday, Feb. 28
Like a well-oiled machine, "Cradle 2 the Grave" purrs along at maximum efficiency, delivering fights, chases, explosions and comic interludes with cool precision. The cast is handsome and athletic. The pace is swift. And cinematographer-turned-director Andrzej Bartkowiak establishes a look of scruffy urban chic that plays nicely off the calibrated chaos of the movie's action stunts. The movie is soulless, though, in conformity with the current Hollywood mind-set that fears any intrusion of humanity or sentiment into its "thrillers."
Movies like "Cradle 2 the Grave" are more designed than written. Playing to the prevailing tastes of the youth market, especially males, the Joel Silver production fuses martial arts with hip-hop, Jet Li with DMX. It's the super-cool cinema of stoic action heroes, tough women, pitiless villains and stunts choreographed to a hip-hop beat. "Cradle", aiming to be little more than a crowd-pleaser, should scoop up above-average boxoffice coin from several demographics.
Li has a singular presence onscreen. Taciturn and determined, he projects tremendous strength but little inner life. He dispatches opponents without breaking a sweat and steers clear of emotional connections to other characters. While he is undeniably charismatic, rooting for Li in a film is like rooting for a computer in a chess match.
So Silver and writers John O'Brien and Channing Gibson wisely give "Cradle" two protagonists to carry the load. The first is Tony Fait, played by rap artist and actor DMX, who with a posse of high-tech thieves pulls off a complex heist in downtown L.A. that nets a puzzling cache of black diamonds. The other is Li Su,'s a Taiwanese superagent whom early in the movie someone accurately characterizes as a "kung fu James Bond."
When the diamond theft results in the kidnapping of Fait's young daughter, the two would-be adversaries, Fait and Su, join forces to go up against the ruthless Ling (Mark Dacascos). Ling, Su's former partner turned freelance international crook, seeks the diamonds for their industrial use as a weapon of mass destruction.
Each thief has his own butt-kicking consort. Fast-rising Star Gabrielle Union is Fait's second-in-command, equally adept at karate chopping an opponent and creating sexy diversions to distract unsuspecting men while Fait is breaking and entering. Black-belt bad girl Kelly Hu is Ling's heartless hottie who hates kids, cops and just about anything else that doesn't translate into cold cash.
Rounding out the lively cast are Drag-On's all-purpose go-to guy; Anthony Anderson's smooth-talking machinist, who creates comic diversions of his own; and Tom Arnold, in an amusing switch on racial roles in old Hollywood movies, as the white guy supplying comic relief.
A simplistic plot manages to squeeze in more than a few action set pieces. There's a chase through downtown streets, alleys and stairways between police cars and DMX on a quad bike that concludes in a series of rooftop jumps; a tussle between heroes and thugs in an alley, where they must dodge ravenous Dobermans, and DMX somersaults off a wall; a battle at an illicit fight club that throws Li into a cage against 15 freestyle combatants; and a climax that has a number of face-offs, the most notable being between Li and Dacascos, after a helicopter crash, that takes place in a ring of fire. If all this leaves viewers more drained than exhilarated, that's the nature of this particular beast.
Filming in Long Beach and downtown Los Angeles locations, cinematographer Daryn Okada and designer David F. Klassen create a new kind of film noir that turns much of Southern California into a latter-day Wild West. Cops are useless, crime rampant and an underworld of clubs and fight venues exists if you know the right door to pass through. It's a dark and industrial milieu, brimming with menace and corruption, where the distance between cradle and grave can be very short. A soundtrack from John Frizzell and Damon "Greases" Blackman that includes several recording artist signed to DMX's label is a major selling point.
CRADLE 2 THE GRAVE
Warner Bros. Pictures
Silver Pictures
Credits:
Director: Andrzej Bartkowiak
Story by: John O'Brien
Screenwriters: John O'Brien, Channing Gibson
Producer: Joel Silver
Executive producers: Ray Copeland, Herg Gains
Director of photography: Daryn Okada
Production designer: David F. Klassen
Music: John Frizzell, Damon "Greases" Blackman
Co-producers: Susan Levin, Melina Kevorkian
Costume designer: Ha Nguyen
Editor: Derek Brechin
Fight choreographer: Corey Yuen
Cast:
Su: Jet Li
Tony Fait: DMX
Ling: Mark Dacascos
Tommy: Anthony Anderson
Sona: Kelly Hu
Daria: Gabrielle Union
Archie: Tom Arnold
Miles: Drag-On
Vanessa: Paige Hurd
Running time -- 101 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
Like a well-oiled machine, "Cradle 2 the Grave" purrs along at maximum efficiency, delivering fights, chases, explosions and comic interludes with cool precision. The cast is handsome and athletic. The pace is swift. And cinematographer-turned-director Andrzej Bartkowiak establishes a look of scruffy urban chic that plays nicely off the calibrated chaos of the movie's action stunts. The movie is soulless, though, in conformity with the current Hollywood mind-set that fears any intrusion of humanity or sentiment into its "thrillers."
Movies like "Cradle 2 the Grave" are more designed than written. Playing to the prevailing tastes of the youth market, especially males, the Joel Silver production fuses martial arts with hip-hop, Jet Li with DMX. It's the super-cool cinema of stoic action heroes, tough women, pitiless villains and stunts choreographed to a hip-hop beat. "Cradle", aiming to be little more than a crowd-pleaser, should scoop up above-average boxoffice coin from several demographics.
Li has a singular presence onscreen. Taciturn and determined, he projects tremendous strength but little inner life. He dispatches opponents without breaking a sweat and steers clear of emotional connections to other characters. While he is undeniably charismatic, rooting for Li in a film is like rooting for a computer in a chess match.
So Silver and writers John O'Brien and Channing Gibson wisely give "Cradle" two protagonists to carry the load. The first is Tony Fait, played by rap artist and actor DMX, who with a posse of high-tech thieves pulls off a complex heist in downtown L.A. that nets a puzzling cache of black diamonds. The other is Li Su,'s a Taiwanese superagent whom early in the movie someone accurately characterizes as a "kung fu James Bond."
When the diamond theft results in the kidnapping of Fait's young daughter, the two would-be adversaries, Fait and Su, join forces to go up against the ruthless Ling (Mark Dacascos). Ling, Su's former partner turned freelance international crook, seeks the diamonds for their industrial use as a weapon of mass destruction.
Each thief has his own butt-kicking consort. Fast-rising Star Gabrielle Union is Fait's second-in-command, equally adept at karate chopping an opponent and creating sexy diversions to distract unsuspecting men while Fait is breaking and entering. Black-belt bad girl Kelly Hu is Ling's heartless hottie who hates kids, cops and just about anything else that doesn't translate into cold cash.
Rounding out the lively cast are Drag-On's all-purpose go-to guy; Anthony Anderson's smooth-talking machinist, who creates comic diversions of his own; and Tom Arnold, in an amusing switch on racial roles in old Hollywood movies, as the white guy supplying comic relief.
A simplistic plot manages to squeeze in more than a few action set pieces. There's a chase through downtown streets, alleys and stairways between police cars and DMX on a quad bike that concludes in a series of rooftop jumps; a tussle between heroes and thugs in an alley, where they must dodge ravenous Dobermans, and DMX somersaults off a wall; a battle at an illicit fight club that throws Li into a cage against 15 freestyle combatants; and a climax that has a number of face-offs, the most notable being between Li and Dacascos, after a helicopter crash, that takes place in a ring of fire. If all this leaves viewers more drained than exhilarated, that's the nature of this particular beast.
Filming in Long Beach and downtown Los Angeles locations, cinematographer Daryn Okada and designer David F. Klassen create a new kind of film noir that turns much of Southern California into a latter-day Wild West. Cops are useless, crime rampant and an underworld of clubs and fight venues exists if you know the right door to pass through. It's a dark and industrial milieu, brimming with menace and corruption, where the distance between cradle and grave can be very short. A soundtrack from John Frizzell and Damon "Greases" Blackman that includes several recording artist signed to DMX's label is a major selling point.
CRADLE 2 THE GRAVE
Warner Bros. Pictures
Silver Pictures
Credits:
Director: Andrzej Bartkowiak
Story by: John O'Brien
Screenwriters: John O'Brien, Channing Gibson
Producer: Joel Silver
Executive producers: Ray Copeland, Herg Gains
Director of photography: Daryn Okada
Production designer: David F. Klassen
Music: John Frizzell, Damon "Greases" Blackman
Co-producers: Susan Levin, Melina Kevorkian
Costume designer: Ha Nguyen
Editor: Derek Brechin
Fight choreographer: Corey Yuen
Cast:
Su: Jet Li
Tony Fait: DMX
Ling: Mark Dacascos
Tommy: Anthony Anderson
Sona: Kelly Hu
Daria: Gabrielle Union
Archie: Tom Arnold
Miles: Drag-On
Vanessa: Paige Hurd
Running time -- 101 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 2/28/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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