Lethal Weapon 2

1989 "The magic is back!"
7.3| 1h54m| R| en| More Info
Released: 07 July 1989 Released
Producted By: Warner Bros. Pictures
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
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Synopsis

In the opening chase, Martin Riggs and Roger Murtaugh stumble across a trunk full of Krugerrands. They follow the trail to a South African diplomat who's using his immunity to conceal a smuggling operation. When he plants a bomb under Murtaugh's toilet, the action explodes!

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Predrag As much as Lethal Weapon may have stepped outside its genre trappings to strike an unexpected chord, its sequel was the film that gave the series the legs it needed to continue onward and upward. While it still plumbs some dark, painful subject matter for its lead characters, Lethal Weapon 2 skews lighter by treating the Murtaugh-Riggs dynamic as the stuff of fruitful comedy, an approach intensified by the slightly annoying, but still faithfully endearing, Leo Getz character, whom Joe Pesci makes all his own.But it's the supreme comfort of Mel Gibson and Danny Glover, with both each other and the script that rockets this to the top of buddy movies to such an extent that it became ripe for parody. The director again proves his command of this material with a handful of memorable scenes, and especially his use of Gibson in his trademark "lethal weapon" scenes, which coined the franchise title. Even though Gibson is a lot less depressed in this film you still completely believe him as a guy that has nothing to lose.It's fair to say that this is Gibson's movie, because it's written that way. Some of Riggs' back story is filled in and he even gets a love interest in the slender form of Patsy Kensit. Riggs cracks the jokes and does the outrageous mental stuff, while Glover's (still doing fine work in Gibson's shadow) Murtaugh continues to be the counter opposite. Tho some of the astute written sequences involving Murtaugh and the South African core of the story are excellently handled by Glover. But regardless of character development and nifty political observations, it's the action that dominates proceedings. Director Richard Donner has a wail of a time putting the cast thru their paces. There's explosions, fights, shoot-outs, more high speed pursuits, and on it goes till we get to the finale, a potential cliffhanger one too.Overall rating: 9 out of 10.
Troy Putland Lethal Weapon was just the beginning. It sets up the relationship between Riggs (Mel Gibson) and Murtaugh (Danny Well) well, with a strong story to boot. The second has the cops in a tight knit, their banter brushing off each other with satisfying effects. Murtaugh is still angry, and Riggs is still crazy, just less suicidal. They're the cop duo others try to replicate. LW2 carries over LW's best bits, while adding extra bonuses for all to revel in. Newcomer Joe Pesci ('I'm Leo Getz, and whatever you want, Leo gets.') is great but does grate, repeating 'ok' so many times I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. The only drawback to LW2 is too much time and effort's spent on character development, as the South African criminals they face have no personalities. This is made up for by a shocking twist involving a key character's past.
OllieSuave-007 This is an action-packed cop sequel pairing up again Mel Gibson as Martin Riggs and Danny Glover as Roger Murtaugh on a mission to stop a gang of South African diplomats using their immunity from U.S. law to commit crimes. From start to finish, it's a non-stop rush of humor and action, from the gun-totting showdown at the diplomat mansion to high speed chases.Gibson and Glover continued their at times frustrated partnership but spelled great chemistry together and delivered enough humor to keep the film engaging enough to go along with the mad rush of all the action scenes. Riggs' suicidal tendencies and Murtaugh's too-old-for-this-s?it mantra continue to become two intriguing focal points in the story. The addition of Joe Pesci as Leo Getz spell headaches for the cops and adds onto the craziness, but I thought he was very annoying in his acting and his voice is very cringe worthy.***spoiler ahead*** The ending is a little anti-climatic as I think it was a little rushed and were wasn't enough lasting drama in places were it is supposed to be serious ***spoiler ends*** Overall, it's one of the better action sequels out there.Grade B
slightlymad22 Continuing my plan to watch every Mel Gibson movie in order, I come to Lethal Weapon 2Plot In A Paragraph: The boys are back in town as L.A.P.D. officers, Martin Riggs (Gibson) and Roger Murtaugh (Danny Glover) who must protect an federal witness (A brilliant Joe Pesci), while taking on a gang of South African drug dealers hiding behind their diplomatic immunity.It's easy to forget how big this movie actually was in 1989. Batman was the big movie of the year, and there was loads of sequels, Indiana Jones 3, Back To The Future 2, Ghostbusters 2, Star Trek V and a Bond movie. I don't think many people expected it to do as well as it did. But by toning down the violence and upping the fun, it ended up the third highest grossing movie of 1989. I'm probably in the minority, but I think this is better the the first movie, and is the highlight of the series.I love the chemistry between Gibson and Glover, they seem to have a real affection for each other. And they both look like they enjoy playing off Joe Pesci, who is a welcome addition to the cast, at times it's like watching the three stooges (that's a compliment) Patsy Kensit looks absolutely gorgeous. The surprise to me is how menacing Joss Ackland was as Arjen Rudd the villain of the movie, he is superb.It has a few problems, continuity errors and poor stunt doubles, but it's well directed, well acted with great pacing, and the perfect balance of big action and big laughs. Although I'm not sure how I feel about the "happier ending" than what Shane Black wrote (with Riggs dying) but without it, there would be no Lethal Weapon 3 or 4.With a domestic gross of $147 million Lethal Weapon 2 (only Batman and Indian Jones out grossed it) was by far the highest hit of Gibson's career.