Lethal Weapon

This movie is an onslaught of action; beginning with the opening scene death to the captivating end, it's a bombardment of epic scenes and high emotions. The plot is okay but what definitively stands out is Mel Gibson's performance.

From start to finish, Martin Riggs (Mel Gibson) makes you feel excited just watching him. Whether it's with his psychotic bouts, unique demeanour or deep moments, his presence adds an energy to this movie that makes it both fun and insane (in a good way). His quality acting in Lethal Weapon is surely some of the best in cinema.

Besides the amazing casting, the overall story is mediocre. In this film, though, it's the acting that makes it special. There are so many aspects to entertainment, and Lethal Weapon hit the mark with Mel as the lead.

The film opens with a panoramic aerial shot of Los Angeles, where a beautiful blonde girl in a penthouse apartment is lying, in a sexy white satin nightgown, on a luxurious red sofa... Drugs comes into focus on a table next to her...

She rouses herself to sniff some white powder, steps out (completely unbalanced) onto the balcony and stands on the railing, ready to plunge peacefully down...

Mel Gibson is remarkable as Martin Riggs... He is talented as both a cop and a clown... His character carries a great level of tension... He is both charismatic and enigmatic... Riggs is a homicide detective suffering harmful levels of stress, after losing his wife in an automobile accident... He seems unstable... He slaps and pummels a drug dealer in the manner of the "Three Stooges," and dares his hostage taker to shoot him...

He is on the brink of despair... He takes out a bullet, loads it in his .9 millimeter Beretta, puts the gun into his mouth, and appears ready to pull the trigger...

He is suicidal... He snaps a handcuff on a jumper's wrist, and snaps the other end onto his own wrist... Then he holds up the key to the cuffs, and flings it out into space...

He is a sharpshooter... He raises his gun and fires without blinking, and claims that killing is "the only thing he could ever do well."

He is partnered with a black middle-aged police detective to investigate the death of the girl that leaped off the balcony... Both quickly build up a strong friendship that lead them to uncover a very dangerous heroin ring...

Danny Glover is at his best against an actor who can easily steal scenes... He plays an old-fashioned detective who is obsessed about his age, and goes by the book... We simply see him scanning, reading the odds...

Murtaugh - on his 50th birthday - wears his past like a scar... He is a conservative family man who has to follow Riggs' hurtful plan to get his daughter back...

Gary Busey plays Mr. Joshua, a trained expert killer, cool as ice, deadly calm... It's essential for him to find out how much the police know... He tries his best to get Riggs out of the picture... His boss the General (Mitch Ryan) is a rugged man with eyes like chips of stone... The ruthless general thinks that it's now the precise time to turn up the heat... He wants Murtaugh to be tortured... He kidnaps Murtaugh's little girl, the gorgeous Rianne (Traci Wolfe) to make him speak...

Richard Donner's 'Lethal Weapon' is one of the finest films to offer its audience the combination of strong acting, and scenes out of hell... It is an exciting cop drama cleverly constructed... The final battle, where the two cops team up against the general and his henchmen, is especially thrilling... Donner's film also skates around the sexual implications of male bonding, but the scene in which Gibson and Glover are captured by the crooks and tortured dramatizes male vulnerability in a manner that became familiar in the action film...

'Lethal Weapon' may have spawned three sequels and a TV series, but even 30 years later shines heads and shoulders over the rest of the films. It is not a perfect film, not by any stretch of the imagination, but it was hugely influential in the development of the buddy-cop film and to this day is one of the better examples of it.

Yes, it is implausible to the maximum and sometimes overblown, but the overblown nature to me and many others was part of the entertainment and wasn't that distracting. The implausibility is not quite as forgivable, with 'Lethal Weapon' being at its weakest in the script. Not that the script is terrible or anything, a lot of it is smart, very funny and crackles with wit, especially in the chemistry between Gibson and Glover, but sometimes the convolution and repetition reaches fever pitch.

Mitchell Ryan is the other weak link. Despite being the head villain, the character is forgettable somewhat and Ryan is both pantomimic and dull (that may sound oxymoronic but both extremes together are possible, indicating an inconsistent performance). Look at other reviews of the film, and one gets the sense that Mr Joshua, the henchman, is far more memorable (which he is) and sees near-unanimous praise for Gary Busey for good reason, who is at his villainous best here being ruthlessly cold and chilling.

It's not just Busey that makes 'Lethal Weapon' such a pleasure. As good as he is, he isn't even the best thing about it. Those three best things are the action, the chemistry between Gibson and Glover and the performances of the two.

The action is slick and bursts with excitement and tension, some of it is overblown but deliciously so. It is very easy to see why the chalk and cheese chemistry of the polar opposite characters of Riggs and Murtaugh became so popular, very rarely in a buddy-cop film has this kind of chemistry been so entertaining and perfectly pitched.

Gibson's performance here as the loose-cannon of the two is one of his best, a performance of wit, melancholy and great intensity. Glover has the no-nonsense and by-the-book character and is just as spirited while being more subtle. The story may seem familiar by today's standards and is not exceptional structurally, but back then there were not many films with the kind of story 'Lethal Weapon' had and the film was so influential that the number of buddy-cop films increased and the film was parodied a fair bit (like in National Lampoon's 'Loaded Weapon 1', one of those films that has seen me going against the grain and enjoying despite its faults).

As said, there are parts of the script that work well, while Richard Donner directs with an assured hand and the way 'Lethal Weapon' is shot and designed screams slick and stylish, still looking good 30 years on. Was expecting Michael Kamen and Eric Clapton's music to jar considering their other work (style-wise that is) and reading up on how it was orchestrated and used, but actually it added a lot to the atmosphere and had an atmospheric groove.

In conclusion, great fun and magic in the case of the action, the buddy-cop chemistry and the two lead performances. 8/10 Bethany Cox

I've seen Lethal Weapon over 100 times and it just keeps getting better! Mel Gibson plays a crazed cop who teams up with a family cop (Danny Glover). At first, they can't stand each other, but as the movie rolls along, they end up with this type of bond. I'm sure that most people or everyone has seen this wonderful movie. It has plenty of action and violence. I love the chemistry between Mel Gibson and Danny Glover. And who could forget, Gary Busey, Mr. Joshua, a VERY fitting role for the wonderful actor. He couldn't have been replaced for that role. No one could have done a better job than Busey. Go Gary! I love the end! One of the best fitting scenes in film history. I also admire Gibson and Busey doing their own stunts, and studying martial arts, just to make 4 nights of filming a cult fighting scene for this excellent movie. This one is definitely a winner! If you haven't seen this superb film, then I STRONGLY recommend that you do! Great film!

One more year until Die Hard that set all the clichés for future action pics. Until then, you'll just have to settle for Lethal Weapon, the movie that set the buddy-cop clichés. And that's not necessarily a bad thing.

What a fantastically realistic, original and fun movie the original Lethal Weapon movie was. In addition, it broke barriers by adding a lot of subliminal "Can't we all just get along" messages. Some less obvious than others and some in your face, like making the two "opposite cop partners" white and black. (Later in the series, they shove "Save the Dolphin" messages down our throats.) Still reeling in his wife's untimely demise, excellent/top notch/Jack Bauer Detective Riggs (Gibson) is suicidal, a la a "lethal weapon" and is teamed with over-the-hill Murtaugh (Glover) to solve a case involving someone in Murtaugh's war-laced past. They don't get along, have totally different personalities and must learn to work together for their common goal: justice. By means of…fists and gunpowder, for the most part.

A lot of this sounds eerily familiar and predictable. And it is…for someone watching this for the first time today. But, again, this is the movie that set the standards. You'll have to thank this movie for the countless, and I mean countless, like in the hundreds, of rip-offs. Thankfully, this beginning of the "new age" buddy movie was very well done, but not without its flaws.

It is said that the majority (if not all) of the Lethal Weapon films are improv'ed. Sure, they had somewhat of a script, but for the most part, the actors just did there thing. 90% of the time, it worked. When it didn't, it was slow and a little bit too realistic, like you were watching a dysfunctional family or cop partners on TruTV. Thankfully, that was only 10%.

My parents took me to Lethal Weapon 2 in 1989. I was 14 and was allowed in due to being accompanied by adults. I had yet to see the original for years to come. I fell madly in love with part two. Unfortunately, once I was able to see this, I was disappointed as it was not as action-packed or funny as part 2. That said, this is still worth watching. You will see excellent acting by Gibson, the iconic Busey of the 1980s and the origin of the buddy-cop movies to follow. Absolutely recommended.