michaelsmith-78117 Lethal Weapon is a fun, exciting movie that deserves its standing in the pantheon of great action films. Contrary to popular believe this film didn't make Mel Gibson a star- He already was one after Mad Max but it did make him a household name in the US. He and Danny Glover are amazing as the mismatched buddy cop duo and one can say Lethal Weapon restarted the sub genre after 48 hours had done so a few years ago. Featuring great sequences, dialogues worth remembering and great pace Lethal Weapon is a must watch.

HorrorMovieProjectNET Lethal Weapon is the eighties action film that kicked off the whole buddy-cop trope in Hollywood. It's directed by Richard Donner (Superman II) and penned by Shane Black (Predator). Our cast of stars features Danny Glover and Mel Gibson in the lead roles with Gary Busey as a henchman to the main villain, The General played by Mitchell Ryan. I decided to pair the film with a nice Indica like King Louis XIII from Marley Natural. It's a relaxing strain that provides a good deal of happiness. A good combination to dive right into a badass picture like this. The earthy tastes and piny aromas pair well with a good beer too. If that's your kind of thing. The film follows the pairing of two LAPD detectives. Martin Riggs is a detective that is psychologically broken and emotionally damaged following the death of his wife. Roger Murtaugh is a veteran cop that works hard to support his family. They get paired together as partners working various crimes and bonding. Roger is constantly tested by Riggs' inherently psychotic behavior. He almost gives up. However, after things go south and the duo bands together to put an end to a very dangerous group of drug smugglers called Shadow Company. The film features cheesy action film acting and witty dialogue, mostly between Gibson and just about everyone he comes in contact with. His Martin Riggs character is iconic. He stands as one of the best cops in movie history. Danny Glover is the perfect straight man but it's kind of unfortunate that he was so tight cast. Busey is badass in this movie. He looks awesome and does a great job of projecting himself as menacing. Tom Atkins is good too, his role is minimal, but he gives it everything. That is up until his death, which is rather goofy looking. Lethal Weapon also has an amazing soundtrack provided by Michael Kamen and Eric Clapton. Yes, that Eric Clapton. The howling saxophone and blazing guitar set upon a sprawling Los Angeles cityscape provide an amazing atmosphere for the story. The soundtrack provides a great technique for building suspense that gets paid off with intense action scenes. This movie is a hell of a ride. It builds an amazing world that gets explored at break-neck speed. In some cases it's far too fast-paced to be bad. All of the faults with the film are steamrolled by the constant action. The fight scenes are brutal and unrelenting. The final showdown is a thing of pure eighties glory. I love it. It's a classic that should be enjoyed by everyone at least once! There's a reason that It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia loves it so much. The King Louis XIII paired really well with Lethal Weapon. It tasted so good, I ended up having an extra snapper or two. The cannabis had me feeling really relaxed and sunken into my couch. The uplifting effects had me alert and ready for the suspense of the action scenes, which were numerous. The effects were long lasting and are still prevalent when writing this review. Although it feels great, the taste and smell are the leading factors with this particular batch from Marley Natural. Check it out if you can!

classicsoncall Every once in a while I don't mind kicking back, suspending disbelief, and enjoying a mindless action film like "Lethal Weapon". You have to realize of course, that no human being can withstand the kind of punishment a guy like Martin Riggs (Mel Gibson) endures and then get up the next day feeling good as new. For the sake of these action flicks you just have to go with it, and as long as the story is OK, you'll be fine.I liked the camaraderie that developed between the suicidal Riggs and his newly assigned partner Roger Murtaugh (Danny Glover). It evolved over the course of the story with each man earning the respect and gratitude of the other after several life defying situations. If you're paying attention though, a few questions will pop up. Like when Riggs tells Roger that the guy who shot at him on the street was the same guy who tried to kill him from the helicopter. Considering the distance involved, there's no way Riggs could have seen Joshua (Gary Busey) well enough to be able to identify him on the chopper.Then there's the scene in the desert when Riggs takes up a position to watch Roger's back as he makes contact with The General's (Mitchell Ryan) men. Except for some scrub ground cover, what would have prevented Riggs from seeing The General sneak up on him? If you think about it too much, some of the movie's tension just falls away in the clear light of day.I'll say this for Mel Gibson though, that scene when he was contemplating suicide showed a remarkable range in the man's talent as an actor. Glover's character wasn't called on to get that emotional, but he managed to deliver his role with some finesse as well. As a team, they're an effective pair once all the trouble goes down, with an attitude well reflected by that tattoo on Riggs' arm that says 'Never Quit'.

Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de) "Lethal Weapon" is an American 110-minute film from 1987, so this one has its 20th anniversary this year. The writer is Shane Black and he was still very young back then, in his 20s, and this was his very first writing credit. Quite a way to start a career isn't it. The director was Richard Donner and he is a bit on the opposite side. Close to the age of 90 today he was way into his 50s already when he made this one. The stars here are of course the two lead actors Gibson and Glover and the fact that Gibson is first-credit says a lot already about his fame and popularity back then, even if he was still really young, but obviously very easy on the eye. Anyway, he plays a character who suffers terribly from the death of his significant other and his new partner (played by Glover) is a member of a big intact family. So things may become complicated when these two are instructed to work together as a team and they do and they get closer despite Gibson's character's suicidal tendencies. Together the two go up against a gang of drug smugglers who even kidnap Glover's character's daughter. Even if things were not always looking that way, there is a happy end eventually. This film was successful enough for 3 sequels to be made, all of these also starring the duo of lead actors we have in here.Black cop, white cop films were popular back then as for example also Nick Nolte and Eddie Murphy made a fairly famous film back then, two actually I think, even if the old cop was the white one there. By the way, Glover plays a character who is considerably older than he was back then. Anyway, the story is all a bit generic I must say, I bit too much focus on action and heartbreaking stuff without truly having the depth to pull it off. But it's the individual scenes that makes this film somehow a success, like the one with the other suicidal guy early on. The second half felt relatively empty to me I must say, which is quite a shame as the initial premise and some of the plot developments did not look bad. Still in the end, I guess I will be a bit generous here and still give the film a positive rating and recommendation. Even with the villains being really boring for the most part and not half as memorable as they could have been with better writing and/or acting, Gibson is just too much of a cool cat to not enjoy this film, quite a while before his days as an Oscar-winning filmmaker himself. "Lethal Weapon" gets a thumbs-up from me, even if I must say that it did not get me curious about any of the sequels at all and I am pretty sure I will not check them out too soon.