Hall of Fame: Martin Riggs & Roger Murtaugh
The buddy cop action genre has been around for a while and I’m sure you can name a few movies that have been released that owe Lethal Weapon a dollar or two. Tango & Cash, Red Heat, Rush Hour, and Bad Boys come to mind but in order to fully understand the dynamic between this power team of Martin Riggs and Roger Murtaugh, let’s take a closer look at the two.
Martin Riggs is the mullet-wearing, wise cracking, suicidal, psychopath with a death wish and a fast draw. He is unconventional in every sense of the word. From the ‘fly by the seat of his pants’ lifestyle, to the Harry Houdini dislocating shoulder trick he routinely pulls, Riggs is a man who puts his life on the line even when he probably doesn’t need to. His time in the Special Forces in Vietnam gave him a hard edge which often times rubs Murtaugh the wrong way but dammit he gets the job done.
Roger Murtaugh is our aging, straight-laced, sharp shootin’, family man who while reminding us that he’s “too old for this shit” continues to outwit and outperform any criminal who crosses him. Don’t let the old man suit fool you, he’s as tough a cop as you’ll find on the force. Especially when you threaten his family; which every single villain seems to do. It took time for Roger to trust Riggs but when they finally worked out all their kinks, there’s no one better to take down the bad guys then this pair of lethal weapons….hey, that’s the name of the series!
Now you may be saying to yourself, “Wow, Dirty Harry, John McClane, John Rambo, the T-800, and Riggs and Murtaugh…that’s a pretty badass line-up!” Well, you’re absolutely right! It is indeed a serious collection of ass kickers and we aren’t quite sure we can find suitable nominees for next year that match the above in the categories that matter to us but by God we’ll do our best. Action movies of today might lack the ability to pump out franchises like they used to. There isn’t a Cannon Films around to hand out money to any person with a script involving ninjas and/or Chuck Norris but that doesn’t mean that we have to settle for shitty action. Each year there are dozens of killer action films released worldwide that will shoot adrenaline into your veins and blood into your dong. That’s right; we’re talking an “Action Boner”! (Copyright pending) So just keep on reading and following along here at Bulletproofaction.com and I guarantee that sooner or later we’ll talk about a movie you’ve actually heard of. Till next time…
Congratulations to all of our newest members of the Bulletproof Action Hall of Fame!
