Lethal Weapon 2 (1989)

Riggs and Murtaugh are on the trail of South African diplomats who are using their immunity to engage in criminal activities.

Director:

Richard Donner

Writers:

Jeffrey Boam (screenplay), Shane Black (story)

Stars:

Mel Gibson, Danny Glover, Joe Pesci

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Mel Gibson	...	Martin Riggs
Danny Glover	...	Roger Murtaugh
Joe Pesci	...	Leo Getz
Joss Ackland	...	Arjen Rudd
Derrick O'Connor	...	Pieter Vorstedt
Patsy Kensit	...	Rika Van Den Haas
Darlene Love	...	Trish Murtaugh
Traci Wolfe	...	Rianne Murtaugh
Steve Kahan	...	Captain Murphy
Mark Rolston	...	Hans
Jenette Goldstein	...	Meagan Shapiro
Dean Norris	...	Tim Cavanaugh
Juney Smith	...	Tom Wyler
Nestor Serrano	...	Eddie Estaban
Philip Suriano	...	Joseph Ragucci

Storyline

Riggs and Murtaugh are trying to take down some drug dealers but the they turn out to be not run of the mill drug dealers; they have automatic weapons and helicopters. Eventually they grab one of their vehicles and find a million dollars worth of gold coins or Krugerrands in the trunk. Later Murtaugh is threatened by the men they're pursuing. That's when the Captain reassigns them to protect a man named Leo Getz who is suppose to testify in a big case. When they get to where Leo is, someone tries to kill him and that's when they learn he laundered half a billion dollars worth of drug money. He then takes them to a place he once went to and that's when the people there start shooting at them. Later when they come back with back up they learn that the men work for the South African consulate and have diplomatic immunity. They deduce that they are the ones they were looking for, but because of they have diplomatic immunity they can't do anything.

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Plot Keywords:

shoulder | holster | squad car | squad | car | 

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Taglines:

The magic is back!

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Did You Know?

Trivia

When he was first hired to re-write Shane Black and Warren Murphy's original "Play Dirty" script for this movie, after it was rejected for being too dark and violent, Jeffrey Boam wrote two different drafts of his re-write; one which was a hard boiled action script, and one which had more comedy. He was told to mix both versions of his re-written script, and to make new draft from that. He still ended up having to constantly re-write the script before, and during filming, mostly because Richard Donner always wanted to improvise anything new while filming, or add something more, or different to the scene.

Boam had to do the same with his script for Lethal Weapon 3 (1992) during filming of that movie. Another screenwriter, Robert Mark Kamen, mentioned in a 2012 interview for craveonline, how during the time when he was working as a screenwriter for Warner Brothers, and would often do lot of uncredited work on their films, he also worked on Lethal Weapon 2 and 3. He said how amongst a lot of the stuff he added in the Lethal Weapon 2 script during re-writes, were all the parts with the South African villains. Although he was uncredited for his work on this film, he did get a credit for his work on Lethal Weapon 3 (1992), because he did lot more work on that sequel.

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Goofs

There are at least seven officers with Riggs and Murtaugh when they surround the BMW after it crashes, yet it is obvious towards the end of the pursuit that there are not enough officers in each car to make up this number. There are three patrol cars with one officer in each, plus a motorcycle cop, and the officer in the car the BMW hits before flipping (who does not appear to get out after-wards). At best this is five officers.

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Quotes

Martin Riggs: I'm surprised you haven't heard of me, I got a bad reputation, like sometimes I just go nuts like now ha ha!

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Crazy Credits

The Merrie Melodies theme is briefly heard during the opening sequence.

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Alternate Versions

The newly released Director's Cut has over 3 minutes of extra footage - Riggs gets attention from some women at a hotel spa; the exploding toilet sequence is lengthened and Murtaugh sees it hit his car; Murtaugh gets information about bodywork on his car from a auto repairman; Leo recalls a suspects address in a very unusual, humorous way.

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Connections

Referenced in Thirtysomething: Never Better (1990)

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Soundtracks

Believe Me
Performed by The Skyliners
Courtesy of Original Sound Record Co., Inc.
Written by Richard Barrett

User Reviews

A really lethal sequel

Mel Gibson and Danny Glover return to kick heads and shoot bad guys for the second time, as Riggs and Murtaugh, the "Oscar and Felix" of law enforcement in "Lethal Weapon 2." This time

around, the boys are forced to become the 3 Stooges when they are assigned to guard a feisty, foul-mouthed federal witness named Leo Getz (the frantic Joe Pesci) from a group of sadistic Afrikaner thugs (led by the usually dark-natured character actor Joss Acklund). At the same time, Riggs meets a new love named

Rika (the hot Patsy Kensit), who happens to be a pawn in the

villain's dangerous games.

The action is faster and more furious in this sequel to the

slam-bang original. Even the banter gets a boost, thanks to the

added comedic riff by Pesci. Watch for his slightly annoying,

yet hilarious speech on a Subway tunafish sandwich!

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Afrikaans

Release Date:

7 July 1989 (USA)

Also Known As:

Play Dirty

Filming Locations:

Fox Plaza - 2121 Avenue of the Stars, Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$28,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$20,388,800, 9 July 1989

Gross USA:

$147,253,986

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$227,853,986

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros., Silver Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

114 min 108 min (cut) 118 min (director's cut)

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) Dolby Stereo (35 mm prints) (4 channels) Dolby Digital (5.1)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1