 | |  |  | | Media: | HD DVD | | Country: | USA | | Studio: | Warner Home Video | | Cert: | R | | Discs: | 1 |
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Screen captures are for illustration purposes and may not originate from the item reviewed. | | Lethal Weapon Review| HD DVD review written by Simon Crust, published 20th February 2007 | Supplied for review by  | Lethal Weapon was Richard Donner’s first foray into the action genre. And what a debut is was. The story was pretty basic stuff, essentially a buddy movie, but what gave it its edge over and above its peers was the dynamic partnership of Riggs (Gibson) and Murtaugh (Glover). Riggs is the ‘lethal weapon’ of the title, a near burnt out shell of a cop, suffering depression after the death of his wife, with suicidal tendencies, and an unparalleled assassin’s skill. Murtaugh has just turned fifty and is close to retirement and has Riggs assigned as partner. With seemingly nothing in common except their Vietnam service, the two head up a case involving the death of a twenty two year old prostitute. This case soon balloons into heroin smuggling and an all out war with the group of mercenaries, themselves from Vietnam, that are at the head of the operation.
The story is all pretty much fluff, fraught with impossibilities, and rumbles from one scene to the next with coincidence and contrivance as bed fellows. But it doesn’t matter at all; Donner directs with such gusto that the film just flips along. In fact there are a couple of scenes in this film that have stayed with me since I first saw them in 1987. The first is the Riggs shooting at the helicopter after the assassination of Hunsaker, the other is the assassination attempt on Riggs himself; something about those scenes that just gets my juices flowing. However, looking with a more mature head, it is not a perfect film, especially towards the end when it degenerates into nothing more than chasing, with the obligatory ‘Fatal Attraction’ ending. However, these are minor issues, for most of the time the Riggs / Murtaugh relationship glosses over the cracks.
This original film is far grittier that its sequels, Riggs, especially, is extremely edgy, almost anti-hero, it is only through the relationship he forges with Murtaugh that his character softens. It is this relationship that carried the franchise through the next three sequels allowing Riggs to eventually become a mere puppet of his former self, and that is a shame. Gibson had two career defining scenes with Riggs; the first is the suicide attempt with the hollow bullet, a scene that lead directly to his casting in Hamlet, the other was baring his butt at the beginning of the film; sex symbol status guarantee. Ol’ timer Glover was perfect casting against Gibson’s erratic character, more stayed, a family man, and the perfect foil as well as the perfect match. Their time together on screen makes for some of the best parts of the film because they are just so damn likable.
For me Lethal Weapon is one of those films that I can watch over and over, light enough to enjoy but deep enough to have feelings. And the breeze block size mobile phones are a hoot every time.
Movie score : 8 | | 494 word review written by Simon Crust. |  | This review is sponsored by Movietyme
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| 1 Lethal Weapon |  | 1 USA | HD DVD |  | 26/06/06 | | | 5 | 6 | 1 |
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