L'Arme fatale

The film opens with a panoramic aerial shot of Los Angeles, where a beautiful blonde girl in a penthouse apartment is lying, in a sexy white satin nightgown, on a luxurious red sofa... Drugs comes into focus on a table next to her...

She rouses herself to sniff some white powder, steps out (completely unbalanced) onto the balcony and stands on the railing, ready to plunge peacefully down...

Mel Gibson is remarkable as Martin Riggs... He is talented as both a cop and a clown... His character carries a great level of tension... He is both charismatic and enigmatic... Riggs is a homicide detective suffering harmful levels of stress, after losing his wife in an automobile accident... He seems unstable... He slaps and pummels a drug dealer in the manner of the "Three Stooges," and dares his hostage taker to shoot him...

He is on the brink of despair... He takes out a bullet, loads it in his .9 millimeter Beretta, puts the gun into his mouth, and appears ready to pull the trigger...

He is suicidal... He snaps a handcuff on a jumper's wrist, and snaps the other end onto his own wrist... Then he holds up the key to the cuffs, and flings it out into space...

He is a sharpshooter... He raises his gun and fires without blinking, and claims that killing is "the only thing he could ever do well."

He is partnered with a black middle-aged police detective to investigate the death of the girl that leaped off the balcony... Both quickly build up a strong friendship that lead them to uncover a very dangerous heroin ring...

Danny Glover is at his best against an actor who can easily steal scenes... He plays an old-fashioned detective who is obsessed about his age, and goes by the book... We simply see him scanning, reading the odds...

Murtaugh - on his 50th birthday - wears his past like a scar... He is a conservative family man who has to follow Riggs' hurtful plan to get his daughter back...

Gary Busey plays Mr. Joshua, a trained expert killer, cool as ice, deadly calm... It's essential for him to find out how much the police know... He tries his best to get Riggs out of the picture... His boss the General (Mitch Ryan) is a rugged man with eyes like chips of stone... The ruthless general thinks that it's now the precise time to turn up the heat... He wants Murtaugh to be tortured... He kidnaps Murtaugh's little girl, the gorgeous Rianne (Traci Wolfe) to make him speak...

Richard Donner's 'Lethal Weapon' is one of the finest films to offer its audience the combination of strong acting, and scenes out of hell... It is an exciting cop drama cleverly constructed... The final battle, where the two cops team up against the general and his henchmen, is especially thrilling... Donner's film also skates around the sexual implications of male bonding, but the scene in which Gibson and Glover are captured by the crooks and tortured dramatizes male vulnerability in a manner that became familiar in the action film...

This is the quintessential buddy cop duo. Martin Riggs (Mel Gibson) is a suicidal disturbed cop suffering with his wife's death. Roger Murtaugh (Danny Glover) is the veteran unlucky enough to be assigned to partner up with Riggs. Murtaugh's Vietnam war buddy had a daughter who was killed. They investigate and find a conspiracy of drug smugglers.

Mel Gibson does great crazy. Only years later do we see him do it real life. Mel has interior intensity that serves him well over the years. This one is no exception. Danny Glover plays the opposite. Murtaugh's catch phrase "I'm too old for this sht!" says it all. Together they form a great Hollywood cop team. Certainly they have enough chemistry for countless sequels.

'Lethal Weapon' may have spawned three sequels and a TV series, but even 30 years later shines heads and shoulders over the rest of the films. It is not a perfect film, not by any stretch of the imagination, but it was hugely influential in the development of the buddy-cop film and to this day is one of the better examples of it.

Yes, it is implausible to the maximum and sometimes overblown, but the overblown nature to me and many others was part of the entertainment and wasn't that distracting. The implausibility is not quite as forgivable, with 'Lethal Weapon' being at its weakest in the script. Not that the script is terrible or anything, a lot of it is smart, very funny and crackles with wit, especially in the chemistry between Gibson and Glover, but sometimes the convolution and repetition reaches fever pitch.

Mitchell Ryan is the other weak link. Despite being the head villain, the character is forgettable somewhat and Ryan is both pantomimic and dull (that may sound oxymoronic but both extremes together are possible, indicating an inconsistent performance). Look at other reviews of the film, and one gets the sense that Mr Joshua, the henchman, is far more memorable (which he is) and sees near-unanimous praise for Gary Busey for good reason, who is at his villainous best here being ruthlessly cold and chilling.

It's not just Busey that makes 'Lethal Weapon' such a pleasure. As good as he is, he isn't even the best thing about it. Those three best things are the action, the chemistry between Gibson and Glover and the performances of the two.

The action is slick and bursts with excitement and tension, some of it is overblown but deliciously so. It is very easy to see why the chalk and cheese chemistry of the polar opposite characters of Riggs and Murtaugh became so popular, very rarely in a buddy-cop film has this kind of chemistry been so entertaining and perfectly pitched.

Gibson's performance here as the loose-cannon of the two is one of his best, a performance of wit, melancholy and great intensity. Glover has the no-nonsense and by-the-book character and is just as spirited while being more subtle. The story may seem familiar by today's standards and is not exceptional structurally, but back then there were not many films with the kind of story 'Lethal Weapon' had and the film was so influential that the number of buddy-cop films increased and the film was parodied a fair bit (like in National Lampoon's 'Loaded Weapon 1', one of those films that has seen me going against the grain and enjoying despite its faults).

As said, there are parts of the script that work well, while Richard Donner directs with an assured hand and the way 'Lethal Weapon' is shot and designed screams slick and stylish, still looking good 30 years on. Was expecting Michael Kamen and Eric Clapton's music to jar considering their other work (style-wise that is) and reading up on how it was orchestrated and used, but actually it added a lot to the atmosphere and had an atmospheric groove.

In conclusion, great fun and magic in the case of the action, the buddy-cop chemistry and the two lead performances. 8/10 Bethany Cox

LETHAL WEAPON (1987) ***1/2 Mel Gibson, Danny Glover, Gary Busey, Mitchell Ryan, Tom Atkins, Darlene Love, Traci Wolfe. One of the best action/comedy/buddy films of all time with Gibson as suicidal loose cannon maverick cop Martin Riggs mismatched with partner Roger Murtaugh (Glover in one great comic role), who is constantly reminded of his age and the danger he's constantly in: solving a drug-linked homicide of Murtaugh's friend's daughter. Busey is memorable as an albino mercenary, Mr. Joshua, unsusceptible to pain. Some great stunts and lots of thrills thanks to helmsman Richard Donner (who also directed the sequels).

I have watched Lethal Weapon dozens of times and it still entertains me like it originally did in 1987.

A good cop movie has to have the following ingredients; chemistry between it's stars, plenty of action, plenty of humour, action, car chases and a damn good villain.

American cops seemed to be stereotyped in movies. They always seem to be crazy and without any respect for their superiors. I hope they're not like that in real life but it's perfect for a movie.

It's great seeing Riggs and Murtaugh become good buddies by the end of the movie. I like cop films like that.

The really great thing about Lethal Weapon is the action. Riggs is crazy in this film-I wouldn't want to meet a cop like him. Riggs and Murtaugh are opposites but they say opposites attract. Riggs is mad and Murtaugh is sane. Together they spell bad news for the bad guys.

I would also like to give credit to Gary Busey who never disappoints when it comes to playing a villain (or indeed any other part).

Great movie!