The humanity in Die Hard and Lethal Weapon surprised me.

I was born way past the old days of action movies. I grew up on fast cuts and shaky cams before John Wick came to end them all.

When I watched Arnold Schwarzenegger movies like Predator or Commando, where he is basically a machine dressed up to kill, I thought that is how every old action movie works. Explosions, cool one liners and fearless heroes.

This is why Die Hard and Lethal Weapon surprised me quite a bit. John McClane is not one of those indestructible heroes. He does not shoot with infinite ammunition. Yes, he does some pretty wild stuff, like jumping from rooftops, but there is also a side of him that makes him very interesting. A touch humanity that is caught when he talks to the police officer or his wife. I like that very much.

The same goes for Lethal Weapon. I thought this would be a buddy comedy series with more style than substance. But one of Mel Gibson's early scenes in the franchise revolves around him sticking a gun into his mouth during a night full of grief and suicidal thoughts. And the aging part of the team has a whole family to care for.

Now yes, Lethal Weapon is a fun buddy cop comedy series. But the heroes have backgrounds, souls and feelings that are not left alone between explosions.

This is why those two movie franchises (I have only seen the first two Die Hards so far) surprised me with some unexpected depth.

Edit: It's cool to see all the discussions, conversations and dialogues my post spawned. I am also very thankful for all your recommendations, such as First Blood, The Last Boy Scout and Total Recall.