Aside from a turn as Stallone’s partner-turned-nemesis in The Expendables 3, Mel Gibson has mostly been in Hollywood exile since 2010, when this happened. But with the statute of limitations apparently expiring on the public’s inability to stomach Gibson’s personal issues, a trailer’s emerged for his upcoming film, Blood Father. And while director Jean-François Richet will likely claim this to be a standalone story, there’s compelling evidence it’s actually the fabled “Old Man Riggs” sequel to the Lethal Weapon franchise.
John Link—which is a flimsy alias if we’ve ever heard one, Lieutenant Riggs—is a parolee and proprietor of Missing Link Tattoo, living in what appears to be Riggs’ old trailer home. Link is getting by and staying out of trouble, until his troubled daughter Lydia (Erin Moriarty) resurfaces. The two reconnect using what appear to be the last two landlines in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Pretty soon some gun-toting gangsters show up, and Link invites them to enjoy a proper Riggs-style trailer home gunfight. Father and daughter escape their pursuers, driving what is clearly Murtaugh’s wife’s Country Squire. The trailer quickly devolves into guns, explosions, phones, tattoos, motorcycles, and other shit Link is too old for. Sadly, there are no nail guns, condom commercials, swimming pool deaths, or toilet bombs yet, but this is only the first trailer.
We’ll find out how many things John Link can shoot at before violating the terms of his parole when Blood Father opens into theaters on August 25.