
Martin Riggs is an L.A. cop with suicidal tendencies and Roger Murtaugh is the unlucky police officer with whom Riggs is assigned. Together they uncover a huge drug-smuggling operation, and as their success rate grows so does their friendship.... (Full plot summary below)
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Martin Riggs is an L.A. cop with suicidal tendencies and Roger Murtaugh is the unlucky police officer with whom Riggs is assigned. Together they uncover a huge drug-smuggling operation, and as their success rate grows so does their friendship.
Leave your thoughts about Lethal Weapon.
| The A.V. ClubNoel MurrayFor his first produced screenplay, Black took the best clichés from his favorite movies and honed them until they cut. Lethal Weapon’s heroes were edgier. And thanks in large part to the all-in commitment of director Richard Donner and producer Joel Silver, its chases and shoot-outs were more destructive. This one modestly budgeted genre exercise pumped hot blood back into a stiffening body. |
| TIME MagazineRichard SchickelThe atmosphere, the buddy stuff and the flashy setting don't make up for the fact that the main story is too distanced throughout much of the movie. Further diluting the film's intensity is the scene structuring; far too often lame expository scenes serve to advance the plot or explain the backstory. |
| Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertIn a movie with the energy of this one, we're exhilarated by the sheer freedom of movement; the violence becomes surrealistic and less important than the movie's underlying energy level. |
| Montreal Film JournalKevin N. LaforestUndeniably one of the best 80s action flicks, next to Commando and Die Hard. |
| Washington PostRita KempleyLethal Weapon opens with a shot of Mel Gibson in his birthday suit and just gets better. Likewise we meet costar Danny Glover in the bathtub, fêted by his family on his 50th birthday. This endearing double exposure introduces us to the vulnerabilities of these superduper heroes, an odd couple of cops who mature into friends as they quell crime. |
| ReelViewsJames BerardinelliThis is one of the best of the subgenre, an action-packed movie that delivers adrenaline jolts with both barrels while not skimping on character development and wry humor. |
| The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick GroenStylish and brutally violent, the film escapes the usual clichés of the ex-soldier fighting a war back home by virtue of Gibson's blue-eyed smile. |
| Hollywood ReporterDuane ByrgeUnfortunately, while Black's assembled all the parts, he's not locked in the conflict early enough, and the good scenes simply aren't enough good to make up for the plot's too-late lock. |
| El Pais (Spain)Jordi Batlle Caminal... creates a new type of hero... [Full review in Spanish] |
| ColeSmithey.comCole Smithey[VIDEO ESSAY] Screenwriter Shane Black's approach to creating unconventional characters for "Lethal Weapon" created a new template for the buddy movie genre, which dates back to the silent era of Laurel and Hardy. |