Review – Lethal Weapon (1987)

Before i write another word, i’d just like to say, i can’t believe it’s taken me over 30 years to finally catch up with this incredibly entertaining, buddy/cop action movie. I genuinely felt, as if i was the only person in the known world who hadn’t seen this film, which has, quite rightly so, gained legendary status among it’s many fans over the years.

The formula for this kind of movie is fairly standard. Take two completely mismatched people, put them together, and wait for the sparks to fly, and fly they most certainly do, in this, possibly the most successful movie of this type, to come out of the eighties.

Gibson plays Martin Riggs, a hardened, grizzled, world weary, L.A cop, who suffers from suicidal tendencies, due to the recent loss of his wife in a car crash. Roger Murtaugh, played by Danny Glover, is a homicide cop, and a family man, who loves his job. They are paired up as partners, by the powers that be, as they believe that Murtaugh will be a much needed, steadying influence on Riggs, whose behaviour has become increasingly erratic and unpredictable. As their initial loathing of each other begins to subside, they gradually find some common ground, and work together to uncover, and smash a major drugs operation.

Throw in a drugs cartel run by Mitchell Ryan as The General, Gary Busey as his horrendous henchman “Mr Joshua, more bullets, explosions and general mayhem than you can shake a stick at, and you have one hell of an action movie.

For me, the only eighties action movie that comes close to this one is Die Hard, and what makes Lethal Weapon work so well, is the chemistry between the two leads. They bounce off each other brilliantly, and it’s hardly surprising, they were asked to reprise their roles for a further three installments. I’m guessing, having not yet seen any of the sequels, that they didn’t quite match up to the original, but despite that, they were all, massive box office hits.

The buddy/cop formula has been around for decades, and began on television, dating back to the 60s with shows like Dragnet, and into the seventies with Starsky And Hutch, Cagney And Lacey and The Sweeney, to name but a few.

The movie itself is brilliant, it’s packed to the rafters with “balls out” action, running up to the final act, which features a brutal torture scene, that the makers of Hostel would have been proud of. It all comes to a satisfying conclusion, leaving you in no doubt, that we have definetely not seen the last of this dynamic duo……