Lethal Weapon 2 (1989)

A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

These are our bodies. Life is the parade of bodies before your eyes, and death is merely the place where all those bodies go. Death is a bank, no withdraws, deposit only. What is the value of the totality of all our struggles? What is the value of our individual struggles? The best of all the Lethal Weapon movies, but all that that means is a formula worked well once and has since then been less and less effective. This movie has action sequences, and comedy! This movie was made in the 1980's, 1989, but still, its an Eighties movie! Nostalgia is poison gas that is gingerbread scented, breathe deep! Yes, Lethal Weapon 2 has nudity, yes the bad guys die at the end.

Released in 1989, "Lethal Weapon 2" stars Mel Gibson and Danny Glover as L.A. cop team, Martin Riggs and Roger Murtaugh. In this sequel they team up with a witness (Joe Pesci) to take down big-league South African drug dealers who have diplomatic immunity. In the meantime Riggs romances an employee of the consulate (Patsy Kensit). Jenette Goldstein is on hand as a fellow cop.I wasn't impressed by the first 30-40 minutes, but the three main characters drew me in from there with their warm camaraderie mixed with a bit o' comedy. Like the original, this is an over-the-top, cartoony cop thriller with ludicrous James Bond-isms. You have to accept the outrageousness in order to enjoy it, just as you do with the Bond flicks and similar cop thrillers, like 1977's "The Gauntlet," although the latter's superior IMHO, as are the Dirty Harry films. While some aspects are predictable, there are a couple original and impressive parts, like the toilet sequence and the money-explosion scene. The film also scores pretty well on the babe front with Kensit and Goldstein, plus a couple others. Anyway, I marginally prefer this one to the original.The film runs 118 minutes (Director's Cut) and was shot in the greater Los Angeles area.GRADE: B

'Lethal Weapon 2' is the absolute perfect example of why the eighties were the renaissance of the action film. I've seen so many bad action films that it becomes hard to decipher what makes an excellent one but I feel that 'Lethal Weapon 2' should be studied as an example. It has all the ingredients I think are essential to making a good action film. The movie most importantly has incredible loud action sequences that have weight because they aren't mired in computer effects or post production trickery and have stunt performers. It also isn't fearful in indulging in violence without being gratuitous. It isn't realistic and there's theatricality but it's not at the two extremes of cartoony blood or PG-13 action fast cuts when someone gets shot. It has grit and blood but it's also so alive with great characters.Most importantly are the characters and the acting. This film solves the problem of the first film in having memorable villains. The whole South Africa apartheid villainy is played for all the hate you can project on these goofy characters. Joss Ackland is so delightful. His performance masterfully skates at being just campy enough to get all the smiles you can without going into the ridiculous. But of course the bulk of the praise must go to the leads. Glover and Gibson are so charismatic and likable that the scenes where they drive to the shoot outs are still highly entertaining. I had a ball revisiting this one.

Richard Donner directs again, and Mel Gibson and Danny Glover return as LAPD partners, their relationship smoother now that Gibson's character has recovered from his maddening grief over his wife's death. But the reckless Mel and cautious Danny equation, good for a million laughs, settles into place in this story involving a South African smuggler and a new girlfriend (Patsy Kensit) for Gibson. The movie is hardly comfy, though. The last act gets nasty, and a climactic fight between Gibson (who gets the worst of it) and some high-kicking villain is ugly. The chemistry between its leads, make this a playful, entertaining sequel.Sequel Includes a smashed car full of Krugerrands, a hillside house blown off its stilts and a bomb set under a toilet, the point of Lethal Weapon 2 is that Mel Gibson and Danny Glover get to race around in all that chaos, acting crazy.If you liked Lethal Weapon, you'll like Lethal Weapon 2; it's almost as simple as that."Worse than the first, but better than the rest. it's nice to have a big-audience action movie attacking apartheid and the slaughter of sea mammals, instead of acting as an enlistment poster for the Army Air Corps, local vigilante groups or the reopening of the Vietnam War, the sentiments don't really transcend the car crashes.Pesci's terrific comic performance really gooses the proceedings, but the film also works because of its exciting action content, the presence of Patsy Kensit as Riggs' love interest, and the series-best interplay between the two lead characters. Despite the film's anti-South African stance, it was passed uncut by the South African censors and became a major financial success in that country. .The films' writer, Shane Black, walked away from this sequel after he decided to kill off the character of Martin Riggs. Warner Brothers disagreed with that decision, and he left the project.The body count is 33, the highest of the 'Lethal Weapon' series. During production, Richard Donner was shocked when Mel Gibson confided that he was drinking five pints of beer for breakfast. Despite his alcohol problems, Gibson was known for his professionalism and punctuality. In the original script, the South Africans were even more vicious. At one point, they even torture Riggs in much the same manner as Mr. Joshua in the original. Its a Strong and funny sequel but if went with original ending would be even more classic.Still its one of the finest examples of the genre its a Kick ass sequel by concentrating on the often frustrating, funny relationship between the three men, the film gains in humour but loses some of the momentum and panache which distinguished the original.Mel Gibson, Danny Glover, and Richard Donner have all stated that this is their favourite film of the Lethal Weapon series.