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Lethal Weapon main poster

Lethal Weapon

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7.3/10 • 4.7K

1987-03-061h 50m

AdventureActionComedyThrillerCrime

If these two can learn to stand each other... the bad guys don't stand a chance.

Two newly paired cops who are complete opposites must put aside their differences in order to catch a gang of drug smugglers.

Directors
Richard Donner
Editors
Stuart Baird

Top Billed Cast

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  1. Mel Gibson

    Mel Gibson

    Martin Riggs

  2. Danny Glover

    Danny Glover

    Roger Murtaugh

  3. Gary Busey

    Gary Busey

    Mr. Joshua

  4. Mitchell Ryan

    Mitchell Ryan

    General Peter McAllister

  5. Tom Atkins

    Tom Atkins

    Michael Hunsaker

  6. Darlene Love

    Darlene Love

    Trish Murtaugh

  7. Traci Wolfe

    Traci Wolfe

    Rianne Murtaugh

  8. Jackie Swanson

    Jackie Swanson

    Amanda Hunsaker

  9. Damon Hines

    Damon Hines

    Nick Murtaugh

Reviews5

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John Chard Avatar

John Chard

Dec 31, 2018

8/10

We got the edge Cochise. Close to retirement, Detective Sergeant Roger Murtaugh is a bit disturbed to find he's breaking in a new partner. Even more so when it turns out to be fellow Detective Martin Riggs, who since the death of his wife has scant regard for life, his own or those around him. Light on plot and character development, Lethal Weapon none the less shines bright as a beacon of how a buddy buddy action film should be done. Roughly an hour and forty five minutes of quips, action, villainy, heroics and cross generational/cultural divides. All what else is needed is a star duo with buoyant chemistry - thankfully Richard Donner's movie has it by the clip load. Mel Gibson is Riggs, a trigger happy suspected loony on the ragged edge, wonderfully playing off of Danny Glover's (superb) "too old for this nonsense" sage old copper. Riggs is a hard dude who quickly became a cinematic hero to many, an unstoppable force with a quip on the tongue and a glint in his eye, to which Gibson is terrific and perfectly cast. Gary Busey's "psycho's are us" henchman flits in and out the picture with gleeful nastiness and Shane Black's script crackles as the super stunt work starts to take a hold. Chief villain Mitchell Ryan as The General is almost a bystander though, and there's the odd piece of careless editing, but really Lethal Weapon has a winning formula that the box office punters promptly lapped up. Three sequels, all of which are of differing quality, would follow it, but this is a template movie for the genre and worthy of nostalgic revisits any time of day. 8/10

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  • Lethal Weapon poster
  • Lethal Weapon poster
  • Lethal Weapon poster
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Status
Released
Original Language
English
Budget
$15,000,000.00
Revenue
$120,207,127.00
Keywords
showdownpoliceself-destructionmixed martial arts (mma)los angeles, californiapolice detectiveex soldierwisecrack humorbuddy coplapdmaverick cophomicide detectivechristmasdeath of wifeaction heroshootingcopscritical