Review of Lethal Weapon (1987) by Caleb H — 11 Jul 2012

Lethal Weapon could only have come from the 80's and early 90's, before the heyday of PG-13 dictated that 90% of action movies offer good, clean, sorta violent fun. Shane Black, the go-to writer for mismatched buddy films (sorry, Ron Shelton) wouldn't hit the highs of Lethal Weapon again until Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang-and a lot of that has to do with finding the perfect cast.

Like Die Hard, the plot is a paint-by-numbers action film; this time with a militia group involved in drug smuggling and the cops trying to bring them down. Danny Glover is the affable family man cop, who doesn't really want to be here, and Mel Gibson is the batshit crazy cop, who constantly kills suspects and is one wire short of blowing his own brains out.

Their chemistry is the biggest reason Lethal Weapon works as well as it does-and the film is actually at its' strongest when Mel and Danny are just hanging out, not shooting at bad guys. Oh, the action is well-directed in a way that only Joel Silver, who ALWAYS seems to be trying to top himself, can deliver.

But the real strength here is the easy camaraderie between Gibson and Glover, who both slide effortlessly into their roles and develop loads of character in their introductory scenes alone. The bad guys are your general 80's enemies; scumbags without a single likable quality, although Gary Busey's badass turn as Mister Joshua is pretty memorable.

As cop films go, there's nothing new in Lethal Weapon, but the approach still seems fresh. The film has inspired dozens of imitators, but none can really equal Lethal Weapon, which seems like more a stroke of casting luck than anything else.

Like Die Hard and Robocop, this is one 80's mainstay that still holds up surprisingly well today as a reminder that an R=Rated movie can be just as much fun-if not more-than a PG-13 CGI marathon.