Those who hear the term “Lethal Weapon” most likely think of the 1987 film with Mel Gibson and Danny Glover. They would be half right.

Same name, same characters and the same basic concept. However that is about where the similarities end. The FOX series adds a couple of new things to the characters. Damon Wayans’ (“My Wife and Kids”) character, Roger Murtaugh, is recovering from a recent near-fatal heart attack and Clayne Crawford’s (“Rectify”) character, Martin Riggs, transfered from Texas after the death of his wife and unborn son. Unlike the movie, this was shown early in the pilot episode, so it adds a little more insight into the pain that Riggs is feeling, which is well portrayed by Crawford.

The introduction of both Riggs and Murtaugh as well as their backstories felt rushed. This is because the show opens with a chase scene and seems to breeze through everything in an effort to get to the action scenes as quickly as possible.

After the initial chase, there is a hostage situation at a bank, another chase with a very unlikely ending, and finishes with a heroic standoff. Every one of these situations is escalated by Riggs’ devil-may-care attitude and ends with him being the last one standing, while Murtaugh is somewhere nearby.

For a pilot episode, the action is too much, too soon. This series has a built-in audience, but if they want to keep that audience and newer viewers who may not be familiar with the original movie, they need to take it down a notch.

The reason many cop shows work, especially the procedural ones, is that an episode starts off slowly, allowing viewers to follow along. These shows will build up tensions leading to any believable action scenes in a given episode, not seemingly jumping from one car chase to the next as “Lethal Weapon” does.

One of the few slower moments in the pilot episode shows Riggs and Murtaugh at the crime scene of what is an apparent suicide, in which Riggs puts on gloves and briefly examines the victim. This is where the series will have to tread lightly because too much action will leave fans feeling they are trying too hard to be like the original. However if they dip into the aspects of a procedural type of show, it may drive away the fans who do watch for the action.

There are a couple of scenes with a coroner named Scorcese, but it seems he will not be focused on as much as other television coroners such as Ducky (“NCIS”) or Maura Isles (“Rizzoli and Isles”). The show did not introduce a forensic expert Abby Sciuto (“WCIS”) type of character, which is one thing the show gets right so far.

For fans of the original film, its sequels or those who like action shows, “Lethal Weapon” is a perfect show.

However, if the show keeps up the pace of the action in the pilot episode, it may not be long before the audience tunes out because of the  show’s unrealistic nature. Audiences may find themselves repeating the classic Murtaugh quote from the original, “I’m too old for this s**t!”