Lethal Weapon series

"I'm too old for this s---!"

The four films of the Lethal Weapon series starring Mel Gibson and Danny Glover, were all directed by Richard Donner which is unique and the biggest key to its success.  Donner’s sense of how to handle the material and the actors and crew’s trust in him fueled the series.

Each film touches on a real world issue:,drugs, apartheid, teenage gun violence, and human slavery.  In the first two films the cops are working on assigned cases but in the third and fourth film they stumble onto it.  Ultimately the films focus much more on the relationship between the two men than on their detective work and the relationship is what kept audiences coming back.

Lethal Weapon (1987)

It is the darkest of the series and although I usually like this, the bond between the men is not as strong which keeps the film from being my favorite.  Although the film is driven by a duo only one of them is a title character.  The first film evenly sets up both men and Glover’s Roger Murtaugh, although he has the slightly less dramatic arc, is the heart of the film. 

Things I liked:

Glover is wonderful as the family man dealing with getting older with a sweet though independent teenage daughter.  Murtaugh is a proud veteran cop who wants to finish serving his country, retire and collect his pension.  Glover’s eyes in the desert when wounded and he has to drop the gun convey his vulnerability.  Glover has another great moment when he cannot look at his wife to tell her Rianne has been kidnapped.  In the sequels Murtaugh’s domestic life is played for comedy and drama is layered in.  Here it’s the other way around as it should be. 

Gibson’s Riggs is the character who everyone is a little freaked out by but when Murtaugh’s daughter is kidnapped he is the one that facilitates the rescue.  In the original ending Riggs left town, like at the end of Shane, with the job done, but it was changed to Riggs joining Murtaugh for Christmas dinner, bringing his dog which is a bit of a metaphor for their relationship.  Murtaugh brings Riggs a stable family and Riggs brings Murtaugh loyalty (represented by the dog) and a bit of chaos.

Stephen Goldplatt’s superb cinematography is showcased particularly in the opening shot and in the setting of the showdown in the desert.

Shane Black’s script which launched his career is a great read and enhances a generic plot (two L.A. cops who do not get along take on drug dealers) and lets us spend a lot of time with the main characters. 

Michael Kamen’s and Eric Clapton’s score incorporates a saxophone theme for Murtaugh and a guitar theme for Riggs.  When they do something mischievous in all four films there is a fun guitar riff.

Donner introduces both men naked though in different circumstances; Murtaugh with his family in the bath and Riggs in his trailer smoking a cigarette reduced to almost nothing.

When I first saw the cocaine bust scene I thought Riggs was a junkie.  When he springs into action he is fluid and not bluffing when he tells the drug dealer who has the drop on him to shoot.  Gibson’s wild eyes sell the situation.

The scene in which Riggs nearly commits suicide is placed perfectly afterwards.  Although the most dramatic part of the scene is when he places the gun in his mouth I feel where he cries and hugs his wife’s picture is more moving since we are seeing the grief that is driving these actions.   

There is an early deleted scene with a sniper which is more electric, and interestingly scored with music from the third film, also makes it clear that Riggs is a cop which would ruin some of the dynamics of the cocaine scene so it was wisely removed.

When Murtaugh sees Riggs he is watching him from moment he sees him and places himself in a spot in the office so he can watch him better.

Prior to being tortured Riggs is terrified and both men are in a believable amount of pain throughout. 

Gary Busey is fantastic as Mr. Joshua, with a composure and veneer barely containing a man as nuts as Riggs.  He does not pretend to feel no pain during the demonstration of his strength but rather tolerates it.

Joshua’s bulk in the drawn out finale makes for a good contrast against Riggs' wiriness.

Things I did not like:

Both men recover quickly from their torture.

Why did Joshua exposed himself by going to Murtaugh’s house and how did Riggs and Murtaugh get there first? 

The water from the fire hydrant obscures the fight (but probably helped hide stuntmen’s faces).

The fight makes no sense since Riggs and Murtaugh already have the drop on Joshua.

Other observations:

Is Captain Murphy, played by Steve Kahn, the captain of both men before they work together?  He seems to be but how so if both men have never met and Riggs is coming over from narcotics?

In the other films as Riggs and Murtaugh drive to the final confrontation there is always an overhead shot of the car but here it is used when they head to Murtaugh’s house prior to the third act. ****

Lethal Weapon 2 (1989)

The first sequel is a near perfect action film.  It further develops the characters and does not regurgitate the first film as a lot of sequels do.  Riggs is intense but with the thrill of the job and he is a lot happier (until the third act).  Murtaugh is much the same.  The bickering they engaged in the first film is more good natured.  Joe Pesci kick started a big decade of his career as Leo Getz, the fast talking accountant. 

Things I liked:

The South African villains are the nastiest of the series.  Joss Ackland as Arjen Rudd has a creepy presence and never blinks his bulgy eyes.  Derrick O’Connor as Vorstead (with a haircut that makes him look like Hitler) is an interesting henchman, small but quite adept and utterly heartless.

Donner’s storytelling is efficient (the opening car chase sets up the bad guys and the family community in the police station, Leo’s kidnapping is told in one shot when the bad guys get into Murtaugh’s car).

The title (with no opening credits which was rare in those days) comes right at the audience in the same direction as the opening shot. 

The scene in which Riggs chases a car on foot while Murtaugh comments on it is hilarious.  

The police psychiatrist’s (whose entrance into this film is framed cleverly into the shot when Riggs bangs his shoulder into the file cabinet) futile attempts to treat Riggs become a running gag in the series.

The snarky carpenter adds some color.  I enjoyed belatedly noticing that he was also watching Rianne’s condom commercial, further embarrassing Murtaugh. 

The pen gives Riggs a way to tell Trish about Vicki’ death.  Gibson keeps moving (preparing chili with crushed Oreos-which he references later to Rika) to cover his discomfort.  Murtaugh’s entrance at the end of the scene is normal awkward timing.

Donner stages and frames a terrifying scenario for Murtaugh as Vorstead and the other killers surprise him in his bedroom by putting tape on his mouth.  At the station the cops show that they have his back.

The bomb under the toilet is creative and there is a comedic gag also used in Ruthless People (the jump cut revealing a lot of people aware of something private). It gives the men an understated bonding moment; note Murtaugh’s vulnerability right before they jump.

Patsy Kensit has a sweetness as Rika, a consulate secretary who does not share Rudd and Vorstead’s racist views. Riggs is happy to have made a connection with her and it is sad the way he carries her body on the beach. 

Vorstead unnerves Riggs a little by stepping into his space when Riggs has everyone at gunpoint.

When Vorstead has Riggs captured Riggs is afraid and failing to cover it up.  

When Riggs calls Murtaugh after Rika’s death he is not quite coherent and seems in shock.

The scale of the stilt house destruction (the house was really destroyed) is impactful. 

Murtaugh’s values are tested when he sees the drug money and Glover believably sells both the temptation and his rejection of it. 

Riggs suffers mightily in the fight with Vorstead and defeats him by pure willpower.  It is obvious that Vorstead was doubled but it takes away none of the desperation the audience shares for Riggs to overcome the knife wound to avenge his wife and Rika. 

Murtaugh’s words to Riggs while holding him feel like something a soldier would say.

Things I did not like:

The psychiatrist is a woman being put down repeatedly in a masculine environment.   

Would the carpenter have really left his nail gun behind?

When Vorstead gets the drop on Riggs,  Riggs should have seen him coming.

Other observations:

Leo represents wish fulfillment as Riggs and Murtaugh often push him around when he gets to be too much as we all are tempted to do so people like that. *****

Lethal Weapon 3 (1992)

The third installment nearly ties the second as my favorite film in the series.  It progresses the characters further and is the series entry which threatens the partnership.  It also has a bigger scale.

Things I liked:

It’s Probably Me, the song combining elements of the score and a duet sung by Eric Clapton and Sting about the friendship between Riggs and Murtaugh plays perfectly against the opening titles.

Murtaugh gets a strong storyline in which he is dealing with the conflicting emotions of retirement and a crisis which allows Glover to show Murtaugh in an entirely different situation.

Jan De Bont, who later directed the excellent Speed (and the uninspired sequel), took over as the cinematographer.  He uses less close-ups than Goldplatt and his camera often moves around the actors. 

The opening building explosion looked amazing in the cinema.  De Bont cleverly lowers the shot in the transition to the next scene to show us Riggs and Murtaugh also demoted to patrolmen.

The jaywalking scene is funny if you do not take the idea of a policeman pulling a gun on an obnoxious citizen seriously.  Neither cop knows how to fill out the form.

The armored truck chase has fantastic stuntwork and is enlivened by the female driver who gets jazzed up both by the pursuit and by Murtaugh.

A beautiful moment occurs when Murtaugh accidentally shoots a gun in a locker room which at first seems comic except that it sets Riggs off, letting out his frustration over Murtaugh’s upcoming abandonment of him.  Donner ends the scene with the two of men unsure what to say. 

The part of Lorna Cole rightfully catapulted actress Rene Russo’s career.  She is a focused and tough cop as skilled as Riggs and gives him a much needed center.  Their relationship is one of the strongest aspects of the film.

The sequence in which Murtaugh kills Darryl is both well edited and tragic.  Riggs notices the activity and casually investigates and shows some anguish as he sees that they are kids.  Murtaugh takes over the second half of the scene which is terrifying instead of thrilling both due to the closer shots, the activity (this is no fun gunfight) and Kamen’s score which is dramatic.  The late afternoon setting gives a feel of the sun coming down on Murtaugh.  Murtaugh’s horror that he has killed Nick’s friend is unsettling as he probably has known Darryl since he was a boy. 

The following scenes explore the aftermath.  Trish looks to her Nick as she receives the news and Murtaugh cannot bare to go inside his house and face his son.

The scene on Murtaugh’s boat is messy as Murtaugh is drunk and Riggs is only able to get through to Murtaugh by making him feel needed.  Murtaugh then recovers the courage to face and apologize to both Nick and, more crucially the boy’s parents.   The devastating consequences of a young person having guns is pointed out by Darryl’s father and is sadly an issue now.

The shootout in the basement of the police headquarters is well staged and scored.  Captain Murphy uses the confusion to get himself out of trouble.  When the young cop is shot (the score changes to a longer sadder guitar riff as he dies) Riggs is frustrated and fatherly Murtaugh is saddened.  Riggs’ pursuit of Travis has 3 acts (foot, trains, and motorcycle).  The callback of Riggs’ dislocated shoulder is a good touch.

The climax at the construction site is my favorite of the four films.  The visual of the site on fire against the fierce combat combines to make it a fantastic sequence, which becomes more emotional when Travis shoots Lorna.  Riggs is both so enraged and distraught that he can barely get his grips against a bulky opponent who is used to winning fights.  Travis is eventually killed with the same armour piercing bullets that he has been using mercilessly.

Things I did not like:

Why does Riggs not call Murtaugh before facing down a group of people with automatic weapons with just a pistol? 

Riggs makes the same mistake with the gunrunners, pulling a gun on a room full of guys only to again get hit on the head when surprised.

It is a little contrived that Murtaugh happens to be at the construction site where Riggs literally lands.

Other observations:

Riggs runs more in this film than any of the others and it was here in which I noticed the determination in which Gibson runs, as if he would go through Hell and back.  Gibson also looks stronger in this film than in the first two. 

As the villain is an ex-cop it feels personal to Captain Murphy and his plight, making money selling illegal weapons, has a big impact on US society. *****

Lethal Weapon 4 (1998)

The film came out at a time when Hong Kong action films were becoming popular in the U.S. and stars like Jackie Chan and director John Woo were crossing over to Hollywood.  Riggs and Murtaugh face off against Chinese Triads who are using slaves in an operation to create counterfeit money to buy the release of Triad leaders.  

The film was put together pretty quickly.  Warner Brothers had pressured Gibson for some time to agree to make Lethal 4, and offered to finance Braveheart in return for a commitment from him (Gibson responded by taking Braveheart to Paramount).  When Gibson decided to make one more and had availability in the first half of 1998, Lethal 4 began filming in January, shot until May and was released in July, which is unusually quick.  I think the film was more or less scripted as they filmed.

Things I liked:

Both cops are facing life changing moments, with Murtaugh about to become a grandfather and Riggs facing fatherhood and the prospect of marriage to Lorna.  Murtaugh is unaware that Rianne is married to a cop, Butters, who is always kissing up to him (leading Murtaugh to think he is the object of the cop’s feelings) and his ignorance is milked heavily by Riggs.

Riggs’ middle age is affecting him, mainly in that he is not as quick as before. It leads to another poignant moment between him and Murtaugh in the locker room.

Rene Russo is even better as Lorna, direct as always.  Lorna, who said she hated dogs in Lethal 3, has had a change of heart, perhaps by being a co-owner of the Rottweiler she and Riggs stole from Travis in Lethal 3 and Sam, Riggs’ Sheepdog from the other films.

Jet Li, as Wah Sing Ku, seems like a leopard, small but stalking and confident always ready to pounce. 

The fight in the Murtaugh house has some good stunts and suspense, the brief Mexican standoff Riggs and Murtaugh find themselves in with Ku, followed by the fire. After four films with these people, seeing them (including two pregnant women) nearly burned to death in a familiar home is quite scary.  Ku’s casualness in the whole scenario punctuates how ruthless the Triads are. 

The final showdown with Riggs and Murtaugh against Ku gives Ku a personal stake (Murtaugh just accidentally killed his brother, who Ku had just reunited with and went to a lot of trouble to free).  As an audience member I did not want to see the characters fight Ku.  When it begins it is a little reminiscent of the fight with Mr. Joshua in Lethal 1 with the rain making the blood look messy.  I have seen some online debate as to whether the younger Riggs might have been able to take Ku, which misses the point.  The scene’s power is that the both cops are past their prime and it hurts us to see them take that type of punishment.  If the struggle were just a young Riggs against Ku the fight might feel more even but it would just be a cool scene a la the fight with Joshua.

Riggs has to rediscover his inner “lethal weapon” (knocking his dislocated shoulder painfully back into place) and his intensity increases in the second half of the fight, which almost puts him on even terms with Ku.  Much has been said of how it is unbelievable that the men could have defeated Ku, but they clearly could not have without Murtaugh’s bringing in another weapon. 

The aftermath, Murtaugh desperately looking for and ultimately finding Riggs trapped underwater, is a poignant close after our heroes have managed to survive perhaps their greatest battle (and the last moment of just the two men).

The moving scene in the graveyard is a reminder of how much Riggs’ wife’s death affected him.  Riggs feels he would be betraying Vicki’s memory if he remarries.  Leo’s appearance gives Pesci a chance to play Leo for more than just laughs.  Leo’s more serious demeanor clarifies that he is delivering a message, as he goes back his jumpy self once he is done.  I love that the film takes the time to close this circle on Riggs. 

Leo pats Riggs on the back an extra time as Riggs goes into the delivery room.

Things I did not like:

There are a few tasteless Asian stereotypes.

The hurried production is evident in the editing.  For example after the fire there is no moment in which Murtaugh and his family mourn their lost home.  Also the laughing gas and cell phone scenes last longer than necessary. 

Why do Rianne and Butters not tell Murtaugh the truth?  Rianne has a good relationship with her father. 

Riggs uses none of his well established martial arts skills despite facing opponents who are proficient in them.  Possibly the condensed production timeframe did not allow time for Mel Gibson to train. 

Chris Rock is an incisive comedian who is never afraid of looking at all sides of a complex issue.  However some of his monologues are out of place and sometimes make Butters a little grating. 

Riggs killing Ku with a machine gun, which probably would not fire underwater.  If Ku had simply died from the impalement it that would have been sufficient.

Other observations:

When Lorna laughs at Riggs’ jokes it seems like Russo is reacting to an ad-lib.

Riggs has short hair for the first time in this film.   Perhaps there was no time for Gibson to grow it out but I also think he would have looked a little silly at this age with the mullet. 

Uncle Benny, played by Kim Chan (who the following year played another gangster with the same name in The Corruptor- I would think it was the same character but he dies in both films), is a more grandfatherly type who uses his restaurant as a front for his criminal activities. 

The finale in the hospital is more comic than might be expected but gives us a chance to say goodbye to everyone.  After this I felt that Donner, Gibson and Glover had managed to pull out one more winner but the series probably should quit now while ahead. ****

There has been talk throughout the years of a fifth installment.  If Donner directed it he is now 87 and has not directed a film in many years so I would wonder if it would have the same feel.  Nonetheless if it does come together I would be eager to see what they have to offer.

All in all this is a great series, driven by the strength of the cast and the director who clearly love working together and audiences have gotten to share in it.  I truly enjoyed revisiting each film.  My final ranking is 2,3,1,4.

P.S. Richard Donner passed away in July 2021 at age 91.  RIP and thank you!