''Lethal Weapon 2'' is a 1989 American
buddy cop
Buddy cop is a film and television genre with plots involving two people of very different and conflicting personalities who are forced to work together to solve a crime and/or defeat criminals, sometimes learning from each other in the process. ...
action comedy
Action comedy is a genre that combines aspects of action and comedy. The genre is most prevalent in film with action comedy films, though several TV series fit this genre.
Film
The action comedy film is a film genre that combines aspects of acti ...
film directed by
Richard Donner
Richard Donner (born Richard Donald Schwartzberg; April 24, 1930 – July 5, 2021) was an American filmmaker whose notable works included some of the most financially-successful films during the New Hollywood era. According to film historian M ...
, and starring
Mel Gibson
Mel Columcille Gerard Gibson (born January 3, 1956) is an American actor, film director, and producer. He is best known for his action hero roles, particularly his breakout role as Max Rockatansky in the first three films of the post-apocaly ...
,
Danny Glover
Danny Lebern Glover (; born July 22, 1946) is an American actor, film director, and political activist. He is widely known for his lead role as Roger Murtaugh in the ''Lethal Weapon'' film series. He also had leading roles in his films include ...
,
Joe Pesci
Joseph Frank Pesci ( , ; born February 9, 1943) is an American actor and musician. He is known for portraying tough, volatile characters in a variety of genres and for his collaborations with Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese in the films ''Ra ...
,
Joss Ackland,
Derrick O'Connor
Derrick O'Connor (3 January 1941 – 29 June 2018) was an Irish theatre and character actor.
O'Connor was best known for his performance as South African mercenary Pieter Vorstedt in ''Lethal Weapon 2'' and for his roles in three Terry Gilliam ...
and
Patsy Kensit
Patricia Jude Kensit (born 4 March 1968) is an English actress and was the lead singer of the pop band Eighth Wonder in the 1980s.
Beginning her career as a child actor, Kensit gained attention when she acted in a string of commercials for Bird ...
. It is a sequel to the 1987 film ''
Lethal Weapon
''Lethal Weapon'' is a 1987 American buddy cop action comedy film directed and co-produced by Richard Donner, written by Shane Black, and co-produced by Joel Silver. It stars Mel Gibson and Danny Glover alongside Gary Busey, Tom Atkins, D ...
'' and the second installment in the
''Lethal Weapon'' film series.
Gibson and Glover respectively reprise their roles as LAPD officers
Martin Riggs
Martin Riggs is a fictional character from the ''Lethal Weapon'' film series created by Shane Black. Riggs was originally played by actor Mel Gibson in all four films from 1987 to 1998, and later by Clayne Crawford in the Fox television serie ...
and
Roger Murtaugh
Roger Murtaugh () is a fictional character in the ''Lethal Weapon'' film series created by Shane Black. Murtaugh was originally played by actor Danny Glover in all four films from 1987 to 1998, and later by Damon Wayans in the Fox television ser ...
, who protect an irritating federal witness (Pesci), while taking on a gang of South African drug dealers hiding behind
diplomatic immunity
Diplomatic immunity is a principle of international law by which certain foreign government officials are recognized as having legal immunity from the jurisdiction of another country. . The film was nominated for an
Academy Award for Best Sound Editing
The Academy Award for Best Sound Editing was an Academy Award granted yearly to a film exhibiting the finest or most aesthetic sound design or sound editing. Sound editing is the creation of sound effects (such as foley). The award was usually ...
(for
Robert G. Henderson
Robert G. Henderson is an American retired sound editor. He got his start on the TV series '' Hogan's Heroes''.
Oscar Nominations
Both of these are in Best Sound Editing.
* 1985 Academy Awards-Nominated for '' Ladyhawke''. Nomination shared w ...
). The film received mostly positive reviews and earned more than $227 million worldwide.
Plot
Two years after the
events of the first film,
LAPD
The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), officially known as the City of Los Angeles Police Department, is the municipal police department of Los Angeles, California. With 9,974 police officers and 3,000 civilian staff, it is the third-large ...
sergeants
Martin Riggs
Martin Riggs is a fictional character from the ''Lethal Weapon'' film series created by Shane Black. Riggs was originally played by actor Mel Gibson in all four films from 1987 to 1998, and later by Clayne Crawford in the Fox television serie ...
and
Roger Murtaugh
Roger Murtaugh () is a fictional character in the ''Lethal Weapon'' film series created by Shane Black. Murtaugh was originally played by actor Danny Glover in all four films from 1987 to 1998, and later by Damon Wayans in the Fox television ser ...
are pursuing unidentified suspects suspected of drug trafficking, only to find they have been transporting an illegal shipment of gold in the form of krugerrand coins from The
Afrikaner
Afrikaners () are a South African ethnic group descended from Free Burghers, predominantly Dutch settlers first arriving at the Cape of Good Hope in the 17th and 18th centuries.Entry: Cape Colony. ''Encyclopædia Britannica Volume 4 Part 2: ...
apartheid
Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...
government of
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
. Later,
consul-general
A consul is an official representative of the government of one state in the territory of another, normally acting to assist and protect the citizens of the consul's own country, as well as to facilitate trade and friendship between the people ...
Arjen Rudd and security agent Pieter Vorstedt kill Hans, their man who lost the shipment of krugerrand, and debate how to stir the police away from their activities. Pieter suggests warning Murtaugh off the investigation and commits a home invasion on his residence, causing Captain Murphy to reassign Riggs and Murtaugh to protecting an obnoxious federal witness, Leo Getz.
It soon becomes clear that both cases are related: after an attempt on Leo's life, Riggs and Murtaugh learn of the former's murky past
laundering funds for vengeful drug smugglers. Leo provides them with information about how laundering works and leads them to the gang, but upon dispatching his would-be assassin and returning with backup they are confronted by Rudd, who invokes
diplomatic immunity
Diplomatic immunity is a principle of international law by which certain foreign government officials are recognized as having legal immunity from the jurisdiction of another country. on behalf of his unscrupulous "associates", leaving the LAPD powerless to take action against them.
Though instructed to leave the case alone, Riggs begins to openly harass the South African consulate, defying Rudd and romancing his secretary, Rika van den Haas, a liberal-minded
Afrikaner
Afrikaners () are a South African ethnic group descended from Free Burghers, predominantly Dutch settlers first arriving at the Cape of Good Hope in the 17th and 18th centuries.Entry: Cape Colony. ''Encyclopædia Britannica Volume 4 Part 2: ...
who despises her boss and his racial philosophy. Murtaugh enlists Leo's help in creating a scene at the consulate that wins the support of anti-apartheid protesters outside. Vorstedt is dispatched to murder all of the officers investigating them while Murtaugh deduces that Rudd is attempting to ship funds from his smuggling ring in the United States to
Cape Town
Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...
via
Los Angeles Harbor. Two assassins attack Murtaugh at his home, but he kills them both with his
contractor's
nail gun
A nail gun, nailgun or nailer is a form of hammer used to drive nails into wood or other materials. It is usually driven by compressed air (pneumatic), electromagnetism, highly flammable gases such as butane or propane, or, for powder-actuate ...
, though Leo is abducted in the process.
After killing many of the investigating officers, Vorstedt seizes Riggs at van den Haas' apartment and discloses that he was responsible for the death of Riggs's wife years earlier during a botched assassination attempt on him. He has his men kill Rika by drowning her and orders them to do the same to Riggs, who escapes and brutally kills both of the men. He phones Murtaugh, declaring an intention to pursue Rudd and avenge his wife, Rika, and their fallen friends; the other policeman willingly forsakes his badge to aid his partner. After rescuing Leo and destroying Rudd's house, they head for the ''Alba Varden'', Rudd's freighter docked in the Port of Los Angeles, as the South Africans prepare their getaway with hundreds of millions in drug money.
While investigating a guarded 40-foot cargo container at the docks, Riggs and Murtaugh discover Rudd's laundered drug money, but are locked inside by Rudd's men. They break out of the box, scattering two pallets of the money into the harbor in the process. Riggs and Murtaugh engage in a firefight with some of Rudd's men aboard the ''Alba Varden'' before separating to hunt down Rudd. Riggs confronts and fights Vorstedt hand-to-hand, culminating when Riggs stabs Vorstedt with his own knife and crushes him by dropping a
cargo container
An intermodal container, often called a shipping container, is a large standardized shipping container, designed and built for intermodal freight transport, meaning these containers can be used across different modes of transport – from ship ...
on him. Rudd retaliates by shooting Riggs in the back multiple times. Rudd again invokes diplomatic immunity upon seeing Murtaugh aim his gun at him; Murtaugh fatally shoots him and declares that his immunity has "Just Been Revoked". Murtaugh then tends to Riggs, whom he believes may be dying and encourages him to hang on and that he is not dead until he says he is. Discovering Riggs survived the shooting, they share a laugh as more LAPD personnel respond to the scene.
Cast
Production
Shane Black and Warren Murphy's original ''Play Dirty'' script
Following the success of the first film, Warner Bros. and producers decided to make the sequel. Producer
Joel Silver
Joel Silver (born July 14, 1952) is an American film producer.
Life and career
Silver was born and raised in South Orange, New Jersey, the son of a writer and a public relations executive. His family is Jewish. He attended Columbia High School i ...
asked writer of the first film
Shane Black
Shane Black (born December 16, 1961) is an American filmmaker and actor who has written such films as ''Lethal Weapon'', ''The Monster Squad'', ''The Last Boy Scout'', ''Last Action Hero'', and ''The Long Kiss Goodnight''. As an actor, Black is ...
to write the script for the sequel in the spring of 1987 and Black agreed. Although he was struggling with personal issues, Black still managed to write the first draft along with his friend, novelist
Warren Murphy
Warren Burton Murphy (September 13, 1933 – September 4, 2015) was an American author, most famous as the co-creator of '' The Destroyer'' series, the basis for the film '' Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins''.
Early life
Murphy was born in ...
, co-creator of
Remo Williams (the lead character of ''
The Destroyer'' novels). Their original title for the script was ''Play Dirty''. Although many people thought that their script was brilliant, it was rejected by Silver, studio and director Richard Donner for being too dark and bloody, and because in the ending of the script Riggs dies, while they wanted to keep him alive in case of further sequels. They also wanted the second film to focus more on comedy, while Black's draft focused more on courage and heroics, like Riggs willing to die to protect Murtaugh and his family, due to his love for them.
When his script was rejected, Black felt that he had failed the producers. He initially offered to give his payment back, but his agent talked him out of it. Black also refused to re-write the script and quit from the project after working for six months on it. Black later said how the problem with the second film was that they did too much comedy, and how he dislikes the third and fourth films because of the way Riggs' character was changed.
The final version of the script written by
Jeffrey Boam
Jeffrey David Boam (November 30, 1946 – January 24, 2000) was an American screenwriter and film producer. He is known for writing the screenplays for '' The Dead Zone'', '' Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade'', ''Innerspace'', ''The Lost Boys'', ...
that was used for filming was completely different from Black's draft, other than the scene where the stilt house is destroyed. The character of Leo Getz was originally a minor character in Black's draft with only one scene and few lines of dialogue. Some of the other differences include more graphic violence throughout the script, which included the South Africans being even more vicious than in the final film; at one point Shapiro, the female police officer working with Riggs and Murtaugh, is tortured to death by them. There was also a scene where Riggs gets tortured by them in a similar way to how he was in first film, but a lot worse. There was also an action scene in the script where a plane full of cocaine gets destroyed and cocaine falls over Los Angeles "like snow". In Black's script the final battle took place on hills covered with a big brush fire, and after destruction of the stilt house Riggs chases the main villain Benedict (Pieter Vorstedt in the film), a much different and more dangerous character in original script and Riggs' "arch-nemesis and worst nightmare" according to Black, into the heart of the fire, after which Riggs gets stabbed and dies slowly from his wounds. The last scene in the script was Murtaugh watching the video tape that Riggs made before the final battle since he knew that he was going to die, and on which he says goodbye to Murtaugh. Black's reason for killing Riggs in his draft of the script, as he said in an interview, was that in first film Riggs was a "suicidal mess" who did not care about living or dying but his friendship with Murtaugh and his family was what helped him, and him sacrificing himself to save them would be the last thing he would have to do to be fully at peace. Black also said how the death scene he wrote for Riggs was "beautiful" and would make the audience cry. Black later labeled his rejected ''Play Dirty'' script "the best thing I ever wrote" and said he learned to trust his instincts after this experience. Black's script was never released and despite attempts by fans to find a copy of it, it remains unreleased.
[Deans, Laurie (January 13, 1989). "LA CLIPS Lethal Weapon II script defused". ''The Globe and Mail''.]
Director
Richard Donner
Richard Donner (born Richard Donald Schwartzberg; April 24, 1930 – July 5, 2021) was an American filmmaker whose notable works included some of the most financially-successful films during the New Hollywood era. According to film historian M ...
said in the film's Blu-ray commentary that the film was shot in such a way that it could be edited with two different endings, one in which Riggs dies and one in which he lives. Audiences in test screenings responded well to Riggs' survival, and this was kept, though the last shot in the film with the camera moving away from Murtaugh holding Riggs was shot for the ending in which he dies.
Jeffrey Boam's final script
When the original Shane Black screenplay was changed, he left the series. The rewrites that resulted in the final film are by
Jeffrey Boam
Jeffrey David Boam (November 30, 1946 – January 24, 2000) was an American screenwriter and film producer. He is known for writing the screenplays for '' The Dead Zone'', '' Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade'', ''Innerspace'', ''The Lost Boys'', ...
(screenwriter for ''
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
''Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade'' is a 1989 American action film, action-adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg, from a story co-written by executive producer George Lucas. It is the third installment in the Indiana Jones, ''Indiana ...
'' and ''
The Lost Boys
''The Lost Boys'' is a 1987 American supernatural black comedy horror film directed by Joel Schumacher, produced by Harvey Bernhard with a screenplay written by Jeffrey Boam, Janice Fischer and James Jeremias, from a story by Fischer and Jerem ...
''). Boam also did some uncredited re-writing of the script for the first film when Donner thought that some parts of it were too dark and violent.
Boam initially wrote two different drafts for his re-write of '' Lethal Weapon 2''; one which was hard-boiled action script and one which had more comedy. He was told to mix the two drafts together and make a new one that was going to be used for filming. However, not only did Boam end up having to re-write the script many times even before filming started, but he also had to keep re-writing it during production since Donner would always want to improvise something new in a scene or demanded changes to be made on the script in the middle of filming. Boam also wrote the script for ''
Lethal Weapon 3
''Lethal Weapon 3'' is a 1992 American buddy cop action film directed by Richard Donner and written by Jeffrey Boam and Robert Mark Kamen. The sequel to '' Lethal Weapon 2'' (1989), it is the third installment in the ''Lethal Weapon'' film ser ...
'' and he once again had to re-write his script many times before and during filming of that sequel for same reasons. He also wrote an unused draft for the fourth film around January 1995 which had Riggs and Murtaugh fighting against a neo-Nazi survivalist militia group that was committing a terrorist attack in L.A.
Screenwriter
Robert Mark Kamen
Robert Mark Kamen (born October 9, 1947) is an American screenwriter, best known as creator of '' The Karate Kid franchise'', as well as for his later collaborations with French filmmaker Luc Besson, which includes the screenplay for ''The Fifth ...
said in October 2012 interview for craveonline that during the time when he was working as screenwriter for Warner Bros. and would often do lot of uncredited work on their films, he also worked on ''Lethal Weapon 2'' and ''3''. He said how amongst large chunks of the stuff he added in ''Lethal Weapon 2'' script during re-writes were all the parts with 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'' because he did a lot more work on that sequel.
Originally, the character of Rika was intended to survive, with the last scene in the film being Riggs and Rika eating
Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in the United States, Canada, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Philippines. It is also observed in the Netherlander town of Leiden and ...
dinner with the Murtaughs, but the director decided to kill the character to increase Riggs' motivation to destroy the South African drug smugglers. The film was the debut of Leo Getz (
Joe Pesci
Joseph Frank Pesci ( , ; born February 9, 1943) is an American actor and musician. He is known for portraying tough, volatile characters in a variety of genres and for his collaborations with Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese in the films ''Ra ...
), a crooked but whistle-blowing
CPA who is placed in protective custody by Riggs and Murtaugh, and makes the detectives' more difficult due to his neurotic behavior. The Getz character remained a regular throughout the remainder of the film series.
Filming
The scene where Riggs is on the road outside Arjen's stilt house and grabs onto the front of the truck (the same scene with the surfboard killing a driver) was filmed on March 21, 1989. The opening chase sequence was filmed on November 28, 1988. The scenes where Riggs and Rika are ambushed by helicopters at night on the beach were filmed at Marineland of the Pacific in
Rancho Palos Verdes, California, on "Cobble Beach". Other portions of the film were shot in
Palm Springs, California
Palm Springs (Cahuilla: ''Séc-he'') is a desert resort city in Riverside County, California, United States, within the Colorado Desert's Coachella Valley. The city covers approximately , making it the largest city in Riverside County by land a ...
.
here for Table of Contents
The ''
Star Wars
''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...
'' series and ''
Ghostbusters
''Ghostbusters'' is a 1984 American supernatural comedy film directed and produced by Ivan Reitman, and written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. It stars Bill Murray, Aykroyd, and Ramis as Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz, and Egon Spengler, thr ...
'' notwithstanding (which were released some years before), the film was among the first of the summer blockbusters to feature the 'title only'
style of opening that would become an established feature of 'event' films from that point on.
Soundtrack
The soundtrack was released on
Warner Bros. Records
Warner Records Inc. (formerly Warner Bros. Records Inc.) is an American record label. A subsidiary of the Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the ...
and was written and performed by
Michael Kamen
Michael Arnold Kamen (April 15, 1948 – November 18, 2003) was an American composer (especially of film scores), orchestral arranger, orchestral conductor, songwriter, and session musician.
Biography Early life
Michael Arnold Kamen was born in ...
,
Eric Clapton
Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is often regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s list of ...
, and
David Sanborn
David William Sanborn (born July 30, 1945) is an American alto saxophonist. Though Sanborn has worked in many genres, his solo recordings typically blend jazz with instrumental pop and R&B. He released his first solo album ''Taking Off'' in 1 ...
.
The track list released commercially is as follows:
# "
Cheer Down
"Cheer Down" is a song by English musician George Harrison that was first released in 1989. The track was his contribution to the soundtrack of the film ''Lethal Weapon 2'' and was also issued as a single. Harrison wrote the song with Tom Petty ...
" by
George Harrison
George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician and singer-songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Indian c ...
# "
Still Cruisin' (After All These Years)" by
The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys are an American Rock music, rock band that formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian Wilson, Brian, Dennis Wilson, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and frie ...
# "
Knockin' on Heaven's Door
"Knockin' on Heaven's Door" is a song by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, written for the soundtrack of the 1973 film ''Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid''. Released as a single two months after the film's premiere, it became a worldwide hit, r ...
" (Bob Dylan) by
Randy Crawford
Veronica "Randy" Crawford (born February 18, 1952) is an American jazz and R&B singer. She has been more successful in Europe than in the United States, where she has not entered the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 as a solo artist. However, she has ap ...
,
Eric Clapton
Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is often regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s list of ...
and
David Sanborn
David William Sanborn (born July 30, 1945) is an American alto saxophonist. Though Sanborn has worked in many genres, his solo recordings typically blend jazz with instrumental pop and R&B. He released his first solo album ''Taking Off'' in 1 ...
# "Riggs"
# "The Embassy"
# "Riggs and Roger"
# "Leo"
# "Goodnight Rika"
# "The Stilt House"
# "The Shipyard/Knockin' on Heaven's Door"
The soundtrack also includes "
I'm Not Scared
''I'm Not Scared'' ( it, Io non ho paura, ''I Am Not Afraid'') is a 2003 Italian crime mystery thriller film directed by Gabriele Salvatores. Francesa Marciano and Niccolò Ammaniti wrote the script, basing it on Niccolò Ammaniti's successful ...
" performed by
Eighth Wonder, which features co-star Patsy Kensit on vocals, and
The Skyliners
The Skyliners are an American doo-wop group from Pittsburgh. The original lineup was: Jimmy Beaumont (lead), Janet Vogel (soprano), Wally Lester (tenor), Jackie Taylor (bass voice, guitarist), Joe Verscharen (baritone). The Skyliners were best ...
performed "
Since I Don't Have You
"Since I Don't Have You" is a song written and composed by Jackie Taylor, James Beaumont, Janet Vogel, Joseph Rock, Joe Verscharen, Lennie Martin, and Wally Lester. It was first a 1958 hit single for the doo-wop group the Skyliners on the ''Bi ...
", "This I Swear", "Lonely Way", "How Much", and "Believe Me"; however, none of these are included on the soundtrack album.
In 2013 La-La Land Records issued the complete score (plus the original soundtrack album) as Discs 3 and 4 of its ''Lethal Weapon Soundtrack Collection'' eight-disc set.
Release
Box office performance
''Lethal Weapon 2'' was the third most successful film of 1989 in North America (after ''
Batman
Batman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on ...
'' and ''
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
''Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade'' is a 1989 American action film, action-adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg, from a story co-written by executive producer George Lucas. It is the third installment in the Indiana Jones, ''Indiana ...
''), earning nearly $150 million in the US and $80.6 million overseas.
[
]
Critical reception
''Lethal Weapon 2'' holds an 82% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
based on 45 reviews and has an average rating of 7.00/10. The consensus reads: "''Lethal Weapon 2'' may sport a thin plot typical of action fare, but its combination of humor and adrenaline, along with the chemistry between its leads, make this a playful, entertaining sequel." On Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, the film has a weighted average score of 70 out of 100, based on 21 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore
CinemaScore is a market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts based on the data.
Background
Ed Mintz founded Ci ...
gave the film a rare average grade of "A+" on an A+ to F scale.
''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' stated, "Though it includes a smashed car full of Krugerrands
The Krugerrand (; ) is a South African coin, first minted on 3 July 1967 to help market South African gold and produced by Rand Refinery and the South African Mint. The name is a compound of ''Paul Kruger'', the former President of the South Af ...
, a hillside house blown off its stilts and a bomb set under a toilet, the point of ''Lethal Weapon 2'' is that Mel Gibson
Mel Columcille Gerard Gibson (born January 3, 1956) is an American actor, film director, and producer. He is best known for his action hero roles, particularly his breakout role as Max Rockatansky in the first three films of the post-apocaly ...
and Danny Glover
Danny Lebern Glover (; born July 22, 1946) is an American actor, film director, and political activist. He is widely known for his lead role as Roger Murtaugh in the ''Lethal Weapon'' film series. He also had leading roles in his films include ...
get to race around in all that chaos, acting crazy. Before it skids out of control in the final sequence, the film is so careful to preserve its successful comic-action formula that it follows the most basic law of sequels. If you liked ''Lethal Weapon
''Lethal Weapon'' is a 1987 American buddy cop action comedy film directed and co-produced by Richard Donner, written by Shane Black, and co-produced by Joel Silver. It stars Mel Gibson and Danny Glover alongside Gary Busey, Tom Atkins, D ...
'', you'll like ''Lethal Weapon 2''; it's almost as simple as that." ''Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'' reviewer Michael Wilmington stated that "though it's nice to have a big-audience action movie attacking apartheid and the slaughter of sea mammals, instead of acting as an enlistment poster for the Army Air Corps, local vigilante groups or the reopening of the Vietnam War, the sentiments don't really transcend the car crashes."
Home media releases
''Lethal Weapon 2'' has been released on VHS and DVD numerous times, along with a singular Blu-ray Disc
The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and c ...
release. The first DVD was released in 1997 and featured the film's theatrical version. The Director's Cut was released in 2000. Since then, numerous sets have been released that contain all four films in the series (featuring the same DVDs). The theatrical version was also released on Blu-ray in 2006.
References
External links
*
*
*
*
*
{{Authority control
1989 films
1989 action thriller films
1989 action comedy films
1980s buddy comedy films
Apartheid films
American action comedy films
American action thriller films
American buddy comedy films
American buddy cop films
American detective films
American sequel films
American films about revenge
1980s English-language films
Fictional portrayals of the Los Angeles Police Department
Films scored by Michael Kamen
Films scored by Eric Clapton
Films directed by Richard Donner
Films produced by Joel Silver
Films set in Los Angeles
Films shot in California
Lethal Weapon (franchise)
American police detective films
Silver Pictures films
Films about United States Army Special Forces
Warner Bros. films
1980s buddy cop films
Films with screenplays by Shane Black
Films with screenplays by Jeffrey Boam
1980s American films