Plot: What’s it about?
It’s hard to believe that a quarter of a century has passed since the first Lethal Weapon movie. At the time (“the time” being 1987) Mel Gibson was still a star on the rise, but with a few big name movies to his credit – notably The Year of Living Dangerously and the Mad Max trilogy. But it was the role of Martin Riggs that really put Gibson on the map and made him one of Hollywood’s leading men for the next decade. We all know of Gibson’s troubles in more recent years, but we won’t focus on that. Director Richard Donner, best-known at the time for Superman literally invented a genre that, for better or worse, is here to stay. You know it…the “buddy cop” movie. Much like the Harry Potter films getting progressively darker as the series progressed, the Lethal Weapon movies got more and more goofy. While the first is unquestionably the best, the latter were more commercially successful. It’s safe to say that given any one of the films, you’ll be entertained and if you want to see Mel Gibson sporting a mullet (in the first one only), then you’ve come to the right place. Here’s a synopsis of the quartet and what to expect.
Lethal Weapon
Homicide detective Roger Murtaugh (Danny Glover) is assigned a basket case narcotics officer, Martin Riggs (Mel Gibson) on the verge of suicide after the death of his wife. They come across a case of one Amanda Hunsaker, the daughter of a prominent businessman and just so happens to be friends with Roger as they served together in Vietnam. The duo then discover that Hunsaker has ties to a drug ring led by a retired general (Mitchell Ryan) and the evil Mr. Joshua (Gary Busey…also the last movie in which his hair was combed).
Lethal Weapon 2
”They’re back and they’re not taking any crap!”
Riggs and Murtaugh are back and stumble across a trunk full of South African currency. The South Africans are not too pleased and attempts on their lives are made. They’re taken off the case and given one with a bit lesser capacity for violence as they have to protect whistleblower Leo Getz (Joe Pesci then fresh off his Oscar win for GoodFellas). In an odd twist of fate Getz was also involved with the South Africans. Riggs becomes romantically involved with one of the South African women, but will it last?
Lethal Weapon 3
Murtaugh is finally set to retire and is literally counting the days until this monumental event. However when they investigate a robbery, they find themselves smack dab in the middle of an Internal Affairs investigation led by Lorna Cole (Rene Russo). It appears that a policeman is stealing impounded weapons and selling them on the black market to gangs. Murtaugh shoots and kills a teen, the friend of his son. Murtaugh brings things to justice and ponders retirement (and also Lethal Weapon 4).
Lethal Weapon 4
It’s been six years since the last installment and Murtaugh’s daughter as well as Lorna (Russo) are pregnant. Riggs and Murtaugh must now pair with some rookie cop, Butters (Chris Rock) to investigate a Chinese immigrant drug ring. Wah Sing Ku (Jet Li) attempts to take out Murtaugh’s family and also discovers that Butters is the father of his daughter’s unborn child. Murtaugh and Riggs must once again prevail against impossible odds.
The End.
Video: How does it look?
If memory serves, the first two Lethal Weapon movies were released on the fledgling HD DVD format several years back and then again on Blu-ray. We’ve now got all four on Blu-ray and the pictures look decidedly better. Granted, the latter two movies do look a bit better than the first two, but given that the first one is 25 years old – it’s understandable. All four films are presented in a VC-1 encode with the first being a 1.85:1 aspect ratio – the latter trio are all 2.40:1. Images look crisp and well-defined. Colors seem to pop on all four, though there’s a bit of dirt and grain associated with the original. The majority of the action takes place in southern California, so we’re blessed with some deep blues and flesh tones seem warm and natural. Gibson’s forehead doesn’t have quite the wrinkle factor that it does today, but looking at his early 90’s mop is a spectacle in itself! Contrast and black levels are strong and consistent on all four films, though the fourth looks the most well-balanced of the quartet. In short, this gives us what we’ve been waiting for and it’s nice to see that Warner didn’t skimp too much on this franchise that’s made nearly a billion dollars worldwide.
Audio: How does it sound?
The first two films now sport a DTS HD Master Audio track, a step up from the Dolby Digital Plus mixes that were found on the HD DVD’s a few years back. As far as sound goes, it’s a major improvement from the previous soundtracks. While the sonics are understandably a bit limited, I found vocals to be sharp and concise, surrounds were ample and effective as well. The latter two films benefit from lossless soundtracks and as technology improved, so too did the sound on parts 3 and 4. We get a bit more depth with these two as LFE become more involved. Dialogue still sounds nice and clean, but there’s more of an ambiance associated with these two then the first two. Any way you slice it, these have never sounded better than they do now.
Supplements: What are the extras?
If you’ve seen any of the previous Lethal Weapon discs, then you’ll be familiar with the special features on the discs. Yes, there is a fifth disc full of some brand new supplements, but the individual movies themselves only have some very sparce supplements. Let’s start at the beginning, shall we? The first movie has the same commentary track by Donner. He’s pretty matter-of-fact, but there’s not a lot of new information gleamed. There are 14 deleted scenes as well as trailer and a music video “Lethal Weapon” by Honeymoon Suite. Moving onto the sequel we find another commentary by Donner that’s really not that great. There are long silences in between his gruff comments and I’d skip this if at all possible – just enjoy the movie. There are a trio of deleted scenes as well as a short featurette on “Stunts & Action” as well as the trailer. Moving onto the third film we find yet another commentary by Donner. He’s a bit more talkative this time around, but does tend to get distracted at times. Three deleted scenes are included as is a music video “It’s Probably Me” featuring Sting and Eric Clapton as well as the teaser and theatrical trailer. Moving onto the last film, we find the last commentary track, but this time Donner is joined by producer J. Mills Goodloe and associate producer Geoff Johns. This track is much livelier than the previous three and Donner must have needed a few muses because he chatters away during this one. “Pure Lethal! New Angles, New Scenes and Explosive Outtakes” is mainly just a series of scenes from all four films and hosted by Danny Glover.
The fifth disc is what fans have been most likely waiting for as we find four newly-produced featurettes. We start off with “Psycho Pension: The Genesis of Lethal Weapon” features Richard Donner, Mel Gibson, Danny Glover and writer Shane Black as well as some of the ensemble cast as they explore the franchise and what made the movies so successful and popular. “A Family Affair: Bringing Lethal Weapon to Life” focuses on the cast and crew of the films and how their on and off set relationships influenced the films and made them ever so popular. “Pulling the Trigger: Expanding the World of Lethal Weapon” is just that, the ever-expanding cast of the sequels is what made the films work and grow and this 30 minute feature explores that. “Maximum Impact: The Legacy of Lethal Weapon” is a bit of a reflection on the four movies, the issues that they dealt with and we get insight from actors, directors and producers as to the enduring legacy that are these films.
