Lethal Weapon 2 - Brennpunkt L.A.

Martin Riggs (Mel Gibson) and Roger Murtaugh (Danny Glover) are back. The movie opens with the cops in hot pursuit of some drugs. It ends up with a big action chase and a helicopter to fly the bad guys away. The bad guys are South African and they threaten Murtaugh and his family. So the captain gives them an easy job babysitting a witness Leo Getz (Joe Pesci) who turns out to have laundered around half a billion dollar worth of drug money. And somebody immediately tries to kill him.

The chemistry is still great for the two guys. The car chase scene right off the bat only highlights their relationship. Joe Pesci adds a fun comedic element into this duo. This is energetic fun. It's funny, and it has good action. The only thing off is the South African bad guy. He is too much like a Bond villain. That's a different franchise.

Lethal Weapon 2 (1989)

The first half hour of this movie is such an empty mixture of very fast chase scenes and some dull talking between supposed bad guys you might not get to the final hour which is fun and funny and as good (in a way) as the first Lethal Weapon from two years earlier. Same cast, same crew, same assets.

The problem at first is partly that we don't know who the bad guys are. We have no reason to fear or hate them. We just know that Mel and Danny have to be in on some new awful crime situation. That requires faith, so okay, we keep watching. The opening chase is highly kinetic and violent and spectacular, if you like that kind of thing. It is also a heads up for a couple scenes later that are also really spectacular —a ridiculous machine gun festival from a helicopter (if they have helicopters that have rocket grenades and boom, that's that), and a really ridiculous yanking down of a spectacular building with a GMC pickup truck (an amazing highlight of the movie).

Yeah, it's a wonderful mixed bag. By the end I was loving it the way you love things like this—not as film studies, but as a lowbrow good time. There are some classic scenes, also ridiculous—like the great toilet one—and some filler, of course, but it clicks along and is a worthy sequel. If you liked the first, you'll like the second.

However, it's worth saying the first one has an elegance at times that makes it not just more artful (who cares?) but more compelling. Just the way the first scene is handled (in the first movie) makes you want to know what's happening, and you worry about the next few scenes because of the first one. Here, it's more a continuation of affection—which means you might have to see the first one before this, in case you haven't!

Many action flicks over the years have been called loud and dumb. This is no exception. The "Lethal Weapon" series has never been especially noted for its intellect but it has something that a lot of action films lack: heart. Mel Gibson and Danny Glover's winning chemistry created some of the most tender moments in the series and "Lethal Weapon 2" excels because they make the audience care about their characters. This movie is by far the best in the series with tones of moments registering directly to the viewer. Gibson and Glover provide these characters with depth that could easily have been lacking and the ending of this film leaves the audience actually feeling the love these two men have for each other. And, as a bonus, "Lethal Weapon 2" digs even deeper into one of the protagonist's past, shedding even more light as to why he is the way he is.

A terrific sequel to one of the first action duo films that worked well. Adding Joe Pesci to the cast, what a great choice! He was so funny, together, Mel, Danny, and Joe are the three stooges of Lethal Weapon. They work together so well. This movie has everything that you could want: action, romance, comedy, and drama.

Again, like in my last Lethal Weapon comment, must we go on for ten sentences? I mean, is it just me or isn't that a little silly? I think so. It's like, you can't just put down you liked the movie or hated it? I miss the old IMDb! *sob!*

8/10

PS: Ask me questions about the movie if you have doubts about me witnessing it's glory.

A worthy sequel. In fact, I think it's a bit of an improvement, with tighter plotting and more kinetic action sequences. I also liked, to my surprise, the addition of Joe Pesci as a witness Riggs and Murtaugh are protecting. Yes, he's more than a tad annoying, but he's annoying in a mostly funny way. I also very much liked Mel Gibson's love interest, played by the cute Brit Patsy Kensit, who unfortunately never made it very big. The sequence with the bomb attached to Murtaugh's toilet is classic, and the shot with the woman cop getting blown off her diving board is (unintentionally) hilarious. Also side-splitting: the aging henchman played by Derrick O'Connor, who becomes a master of kung fu whenever the shot gets dark enough for a stunt double to take his place.