Action cinema legend Shane Black has set many of his classic movies around the Christmas season, directing and writing a string of genre films — including Iron Man 3 — that all take place during the holidays. When Shane Black wrote Lethal Weapon, the struggling young screenwriter did not expect the mismatched buddy cop movie to make him a superstar. However, the huge success of the film soon turned Black into Hollywood’s most in-demand action movie screenwriter. Within a few years, he was one of the biggest names in blockbusters. All the Shane Black movies have a lot in common, from their spiky dark humor and fast-paced dialogue to their moments of explosive, unexpected violence. However, one of the oddest elements that crops up in numerous, otherwise unrelated Shane Black movies is a Yuletide setting.
Although they are far from the Castle for Christmas/Princess Switch-style warm-hearted comedies that many viewers think of when they hear the phrase “holiday movies,” almost all the Shane Black movies are set at Christmas. The reasoning behind this is easy to discern, as Black’s bleak and often ultra-violent movies are all about human connection underneath their bullet-hole-ridden exteriors. From Lethal Weapon’s story of an unlikely pair of investigators bonding between bloody shoot-outs to Kiss Kiss Bang Bang’s even darker remix of the same premise, at its core, Black’s work is about even the most cynical and damaged characters finding friendship and family unexpected places. As such, it makes sense that out of the 9 movies Black has scripted and/or directed, 5 of them are set around Christmas. Here is every Shane Black movie that’s set during Christmas.
Lethal Weapon
One of the Shane Black movies that made him a star, Lethal Weapon was a smash hit upon release. Decades later, it is easy to see why the story of Mel Gibson’s erratic, suicidal cop Martin Riggs and his partner, placid family man Roger Murtaugh (Danny Glover), was so critically and commercially beloved. The unlikely duo set the story up for success, but setting the action of Lethal Weapon during a sunny LA Christmas underlined the contrast between Murtaugh’s family-oriented existence and Riggs’ solitary isolation. Furthermore, the comedic potential of fistfights and gunfire occurring before a background of tinsel and Christmas trees had not yet been exhausted by the Die Hard franchise and Black’s own later projects, meaning the contrast still felt fresh and funny during the action of this genre classic.
The Lethal Weapon movies even include festive elements in the scene that arguably made Black a star in the world of screenwriting; one of the early moments that introduces Gibson’s Riggs. Riggs brutally beats up a trio of assailants in a Christmas tree lot, a sequence that contrasts the family-friendly setting with his penchant for vicious violence while also contrasting the threatening goons with Riggs’ playful, Three-Stooges-inspired fighting style. It’s a tonal balancing act that Black pulls off effortlessly — one that would be less effective sans the Christmas setting.
The Long Kiss Goodnight
Director Renny Harlin’s The Long Kiss Goodnight is notable for two reasons. For one thing, it is the less disastrous collaboration between the helmer and his then-wife Geena Davis, with the other being 1995’s critically abhorred pirate movie flop Cutthroat Island. For another, its script was once one of the most expensive ever written, which is tough to believe upon a rewatch of the finished film.
The story of a housewife who discovers she is suffering amnesia and was once a hitwoman is perfectly passable, but while this entry in the Shane Black movies roster is not as bad as Harlan’s ignominious reputation may suggest, it is easily one of Black’s weaker projects. Even a major action set piece being set during a Christmas parade feels like Black sliding into self-parody, which somewhat explains why the director stayed away from the big screen for almost a decade after the critical reception this relative dud received upon release.
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
Projects like director Robert Altman’s still-underrated The Long Goodbye ensured that bleak film noirs had already been set in LA before Black returned to cinemas with 2005’s Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. However, the darkly comic thriller saw Black marry the sun-baked city with Christmas, resulting in a dark plot that took place in a doubly cheery, overwhelmingly false setting. It was the perfect backdrop for the story of Robert Downey Jr’s good-hearted wastrel and Val Kilmer’s frustrated detective attempting to unearth a labyrinthine conspiracy and eventually being sucked into the seediest corners of the city’s underworld.
One-time The Predator director Shane Black’s most violent and forlorn movie so far, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang’s Yuletide setting is more ironic than ever, but pays off with a sweet ending that feels even more hard-earned than those of his earlier efforts. There are also a few elements, especially around Val Kilmer’s homosexual detective “Gay Perry”, which finely walk the line between progressive and problematic. While Kilmer’s macho gunslinging Hollywood investigator challenged stereotypes of the time, the way it did so at points can feel uncomfortable when viewing for the first time with 2022 sensibilities.
Iron Man 3
Although Kiss Kiss Bang Bang was not a financial hit upon release, the project gave Top Gun star Val Kilmer and fellow former ‘80s heartthrob Robert Downey Jr. the clout necessary to revive their ailing careers. Downey Jr. in particular parlayed its critical success into roles in Tropic Thunder and Iron Man in 2008, soon becoming an even more bankable star than he had been in his heyday. The actor repaid Black the favor when he chose him as the writer and director of 2013’s Iron Man 3, which Black of course set at Christmas.
This project prompted Black to finally address his obsession with the holiday in an interview, wherein the industry legend stated, “…if you’re doing something on an interesting scale that involves an entire universe of characters, one way to unite them is to have them all undergo a common experience. There’s something at Christmas that unites everybody and it already sets a stage within the stage, that wherever you are, you’re experiencing this world together. “
The Nice Guys
Saying that 2016’s Shane Black comeback The Nice Guys is set at Christmas is admittedly something of a stretch, as Black’s underrated buddy cop movie has only a closing scene that takes place around the holiday. However, the moment when Ryan Gosling’s feckless PI Holland and Russell Crowe’s brooding thug Jackson announce that they are setting up the titular detective agency together is pretty pivotal to the movie’s story. As such, it is almost inevitable that Shane Black would set this sentimental coda on Christmas Eve. After all the bloody gunplay is over, there was only time for a surprisingly sweet ending to proceedings — much like the closing moments of both Lethal Weapon and Iron Man 3.
Will Shane Black’s Next Movie Bet Set At Christmas?
While many of the Shane Black movies are set at Christmastime, does that mean his new endeavor will be too? It’s been announced that actor Robert Downey Jr. will be collaborating with Shane Black yet again to create a number of film and television projects based on the “Parker” crime fiction series by Donald E. Westlake. These will be distributed through Amazon Studios, with the first product being Play Dirty, starring Downey Jr. as Parker — a professional thief with a penchant for brutality who often does mercenary work. Not much else is known about these upcoming movies and TV shows, but it does mark the third collaboration between RDJ and Black. All that being said, there’s no telling whether or not Play Dirty will be set at Christmastime, adding yet another installment to the Shane Black Christmas movies roster. However, there’s no reason that the film couldn’t be set during Christmastime.
