Review of Lethal Weapon (1987) by Thomas M — 02 Jun 2010
Seeing this now is kind of a letdown. Almost everything in this movie has been copied somewhere and/or spoofed. But the movie still retains most of its tense edge and grit. Mel Gibson was never better as an actor than he was here (ok thats arguable I'm sure but in my opinion) and never has the mix of bleak dark humor, gritty action, character development been this well balanced.
Gary Busy is evil but hasn't quite gone completely batso so he puts in a solid performance. The orchestral score and Eric Clapton's lame duck musical flourishes are dated and dusty. But still when one calls a movie old or cliched its because it worked so damn well that seeing something like this for the first time before copy cats is kind of a game changer.
Richard Donner (the director) never made a better film. A deserving classic. If ruined by one too many late night airings on TBS and the many copy cats.
This review of Lethal Weapon (1987) was written by Thomas M on 02 Jun 2010.
Lethal Weapon has generally received very positive reviews.
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