Cross-media picks for Richard Donner fans — films, series, games and books in the same vein.
If the films and shows of Richard Donner are your touchstone, these picks follow the same current: odd-couple partnerships built on friction and trust, lone figures holding impossible ground, and stories that balance genuine peril with a sense of fun. From Die Hard's siege in an LA building to MacGyver's knapsack ingenuity, each title rewards the viewer who wants action that earns its thrills.
Film
Rush Hour 2
Two cops, one Hong Kong holiday, zero rest: mismatched-partner comedy-action at its most energetic.
Film
Thrashin'
Rival skater crews, teenage daring, and real stakes — scrappy youth-vs-authority fun on four wheels.
Film
Fatal Justice
A hitwoman discovers her own employer has made her the next target — paranoid thriller with a sharp hook.
Film
Die Hard 2
Wrong-place wrong-time heroics on Christmas Eve: one tired cop holding off an airport siege alone.
Film
Gun Brothers
A swashbuckling secret-identity outlaw bends corrupt authority — pure action-hero escapism.
Film
The Last Boy Scout
A burnt-out detective and an ex-footballer trade insults while unravelling a murder that goes all the way up.
Film
Die Hard
One outgunned off-duty cop, a building full of hostages, and zero backup — the blueprint for modern action.
Film
The Last Duel
A fish-ball seller framed by a dirty cop fights back — justice delivered against crooked authority.
Series
MacGyver
A secret agent with a knapsack full of ingenuity outwits every crisis — wit over firepower, always.
Series
Knight Rider
A cop left for dead gets a new face and an AI car — slick wish-fulfilment action with a warm heart.
Series
Black Scorpion
A cop by day, vigilante by night: pure comic-book-style action in a city that's completely lost control.
Series
Lethal Weapon
An unhinged ex-SEAL and a by-the-book veteran make the exact mismatched-partner pairing you know and love.
Series
Terror in Resonance
Young terrorists wage a cryptic war on Tokyo — tense, conspiracy-laced crime with a brilliant-mind hook.
Series
SilverHawks
Bionic space cops versus an alien mob boss — Saturday-morning action with genuine stakes.
Series
Now and Again
A dead man's brain in a superhero body can't go home: sci-fi action with an unexpectedly human ache.
Series
XIII
A presidential assassination and an amnesiac suspect kick off a paranoid conspiracy unravelling across the globe.
Game
ClayFighter
Absurdist clay fighters slug it out — irreverent, gleefully cartoonish combat chaos.
Game
Cannon Fodder
Darkly comic soldiers march into impossible odds — war as black farce, every life gloriously expendable.
Game
Scarface: The World Is Yours
Tony Montana claws back his empire from nothing — relentless, propulsive crime action with huge swagger.
Game
Quarantine (1994)
A cabbie navigates a dystopian slum city controlled by a ruthless megacorp — gritty urban action-racing.
Game
Mission: Impossible (1990)
One secret agent versus a global doomsday scheme — classic espionage action in game form.
Game
No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle
An assassin-ranked antihero's best friend is dead and revenge is the only agenda — pulpy, kinetic mayhem.
Game
DTR: Retribution
A betrayed vice cop wages one-man war on a corrupt city — hard-boiled and relentlessly propulsive.
Game
MDK 2
Three mismatched heroes must out-think and out-blast an alien invasion together — scrappy ensemble action.
Book
Ace in the Hole
Joker rights under threat at a political convention — superhero ensemble drama with real ideological stakes.
Book
Superman/Batman
Superman and Batman team up against a cosmic threat — iconic heroes, impossible odds, maximum spectacle.
Book
The Destroyer #11
A rogue secret agency must destroy itself before a political scandal brings the whole government down.
Book
Back blast
A former CIA ghost returns to Washington and walks straight into the conspiracy that burned him.
Book
Child's Play
Gun-toting teenagers eliminate witnesses in the government's protection program — pulpy crime with a bite.
Book
O dingos, ô châteaux!
An orphaned nephew and his ruthless uncle intersect in a story of wealth, murder, and family betrayal.
Book
The Punisher
The Punisher's Christmas naughty list — Frank Castle's relentless war on crime, globally and brutally.
Book
Iron cast
Two friends using forbidden abilities to run cons in 1919 Boston's criminal underground — stylish, high-stakes intrigue.
Start with Die Hard and The Last Boy Scout for that same breakneck buddy-action energy, then try the Lethal Weapon TV series for a modern spin on the mismatched-partner formula Donner helped define.
Yes — Back Blast and The Destroyer #11 both deliver shadowy agency thrills and lone-agent-against-the-system tension, while Superman/Batman captures the appeal of iconic heroes facing impossible odds.
Scarface: The World Is Yours nails the crime-empire comeback, DTR: Retribution channels the lone-cop-vs-corrupt-system energy, and Mission: Impossible (1990) goes straight for classic espionage-action territory.