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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.

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.

Mel Gibson and Danny Glover return to kick heads and shoot bad guys for the second time, as Riggs and Murtaugh, the "Oscar and Felix" of law enforcement in "Lethal Weapon 2." This time

around, the boys are forced to become the 3 Stooges when they are assigned to guard a feisty, foul-mouthed federal witness named Leo Getz (the frantic Joe Pesci) from a group of sadistic Afrikaner thugs (led by the usually dark-natured character actor Joss Acklund). At the same time, Riggs meets a new love named

Rika (the hot Patsy Kensit), who happens to be a pawn in the

villain's dangerous games.

The action is faster and more furious in this sequel to the

slam-bang original. Even the banter gets a boost, thanks to the

added comedic riff by Pesci. Watch for his slightly annoying,

yet hilarious speech on a Subway tunafish sandwich!

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.

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!