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.
... View MoreReally great film to watch. Action packed with likable characters.
... View MoreLethal WeaponIt has some loop holes and weird illogical scenes but then it has a different plot line compared to the other buddy-cop movies and Mel and Danny whose chemistry is off the hook since their characters are written with depth and sincerity.
... View More"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.
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