Lethal Weapon (1987) Directors Cut, Lethal Weapon 2 (1989) Directors Cut, Lethal Weapon 3 (1992) Directors Cut, Lethal Weapon 4 (1998)

Finally got around to marathoning that Lethal Weapon DVD 4 pack I bought two years ago, I've never seen any of these movies before.

Lethal Weapon (1987)

The film that launched the Richard Donner helmed action/comedy buddy cop series, as well as a longer association between the director and star Mel Gibson. This would prove to be Gibson's second big franchise after the Mad Max films as well as the most widely known works for co-star Danny Glover. Gibson plays a roughish L.A. cop named Martin Riggs, more then a little unhinged by the death of his wife within the last year, Riggs in partnered up with veteran sergeant Roger Murtaugh (Glover) on a case that turns out to involve a drug smuggling operation run by special forces veteran's of the Vietnam War. The two rub each other wrong at first, but deep friendship develops (with Riggs becoming essentially another member of the Murtaugh family) and the two become a very effective team.

I expected that this series would eventually become a kind of self parody, but it pretty much starts out that way. Riggs casually stops a sniper at a school and busts a bunch of drug pushers at a Christmas tree lot (this movie is set around the holidays, anticipating Die Hard which would come out the next year) all in the same afternoon. The interplay between the devil-may-care Riggs and the more button down Murtaugh give this film and the larger franchise both its heart and its comic base, but this movie and the later movies would all dip into fairly dark territory, with the kidnaping of Murtaugh's daughter, and the subsequent torture of both Glover and Gibson's characters making for a rather stark tonal shift. Still the film works well and proves rather endearing. ***

Lethal Weapon 2 (1989)

The second Lethal Weapon movie came out two years later and like the original film it also concerns a drug smuggling operation, this one run by elements within the local consulate of the South African government, in the late Apartheid era white South Africans made for easily identifiable movie villains. Riggs and Murtaugh have more of a supporting team in this movie, but they are largely there so many of them can get killed and make things more personal for our hero's. Joe Pesci joins the cast here as Leo Getz, a loudmouth whistleblower and star witness in a federal case who Murtaugh and Riggs are assigned to protect, but who they bring with them on dangerous police business, one of the many ways the two violate a lot of laws and regulations in this movie. We get more backstory on the death of Riggs late wife and Patsy Kenist briefly serves as his love interest. ***

Lethal Weapon 3 (1992)

It's gun smuggling rather then drugs in this third entry in the series, with the main bad guy a former cop played by Stuart Wilson. Youth gang violence and "cop killer bullets" are the topical elements in this film. Pesci is back as Leo Getz, now a real estate agent trying to sell the Murtaguh's home as Roger prepares for retirement, he ultimately decides against both selling the house and retiring. Rene Russo is brought in as Lorna Cole, another cop and the permanent love interest for Gibson's character. ***

Lethal Weapon 4 (1998)

The fourth and final film in the franchise very much feels like the benediction for the series that it was intended to be. The smuggling here is human, Chinese nationals, and the plot is probably the series the most complex, involving counterfeiting, criminal rings, and rouge elements of the Chinese government. Jet Li is the most memorable series villain since Gary Busey in the first film. All the series regulars are back, and Chris Rock is added to the cast as an up and coming cop. Roger is do to become a grandfather and Martin a father (with Russo the mother) in this one, and Riggs emotional arc really feels complete with him finally largely healed from his late wife's death. The film ends with an invocation of the series regulars as a loving, but not always functional family, something that feels perhaps over stressed in the contemporary franchise films of two decades later. ***

The Lethal Weapon films work in large part because of that familial vibe among the characters. One of the things I most enjoyed about this series of movies is seeing the Murtaugh children, always played by the same actors, grow up, and how Riggs, and later Getz and Cole become like members of the family. While I didn't enjoy this franchise quite as much as the Die Hard films (number five excepted) they are quite likeable, and I'm certain highly rewatchable.