L'arme fatale II

First of all this movie is almost as good as the original. It retains all of the elements that made the first film so darn entertaining and adds some new elements.

As all actors from the first movie appear in the second one as well its pretty clear what you can expect acting wise and surprise, surprise: The acting is still stellar, close to perfection. Mel Gibson is always good and in the second installment of the series he gets to be a little more wild and add even more nuances to the character. For example we get to see Riggs hit on women which adds an entire new side to him as the side we saw in the first film was of him mourning. Also we find out how his wife dies in a beautifully underacted scene (if you want to know how she dies you'll have to see the movie). Danny Glover returns as well and he plays the character pretty much as he did in the first film which is good because the character he plays is the one who is not supposed to change. He is meant to be square and combined with the character of Riggs this becomes highly entertaining. However, a new element is put into the mix to make it even more entertaining, Leo Getz, played beautifully by Joe Pesci and is to this day still one of his most memorable characters. He is funny and fast talking but most importantly: he is a crook and when you put him together with Riggs and Murtaugh the mix becomes explosive. The main villains are played by Joss Ackland and Derrick O'Connor and they are also good and a bit more developed than the villains of the first movie obviously because they had to focus more on the relationship between Riggs and Murtaugh in the first movie. Riggs' love interest is played Patsy Kensit and she is good if a bit underdeveloped.

The story is excellent and is almost better than the story in the first one. It is entertaining and funny and best of all the incredible chemistry between Mel Gibson and Danny Glover is maintained and is almost as good as it was in the first movie. Furthermore the addition of Joe Pesci was a very nice touch because he immediately makes the scenes with him, Gibson and Glover even more interesting and entertaining. The plot with the villains is kept relatively simple like in the first film, which is good because the goal for the film is entertainment not to be thought provoking.

The action of the film is kept in the same style as in the first movie and it is still both exhilarating and entertaining. The effects are still relatively realistic and this of course gives the movie a level of credibility that is sorely needed in many modern action movies.

All in all a worthy sequel and an excellent film on its own.

8/10

Martin Riggs (Mel Gibson) and Roger Murtaugh (Danny Glover) are back. The movie opens with the cops in hot pursuit of some drugs. It ends up with a big action chase and a helicopter to fly the bad guys away. The bad guys are South African and they threaten Murtaugh and his family. So the captain gives them an easy job babysitting a witness Leo Getz (Joe Pesci) who turns out to have laundered around half a billion dollar worth of drug money. And somebody immediately tries to kill him.

The chemistry is still great for the two guys. The car chase scene right off the bat only highlights their relationship. Joe Pesci adds a fun comedic element into this duo. This is energetic fun. It's funny, and it has good action. The only thing off is the South African bad guy. He is too much like a Bond villain. That's a different franchise.

Riggs and Murtaugh now face a bunch of south African criminals hiding behind their diplomatic immunity. The duo have to fight for their right to fight back, as the criminals declare war on the cops, and arouse the lethal weapon in Riggs.

The introdction of Joe Pesci's character is a little annoying at first but it soon grows on you and he adds a focus for the comedy element.

Richard Donner again directs the cop duo and again we have a movie well worth watching.

Plenty of action, a few more laughs and a lethal weapon that is still just as sharp, all combine to deliver another great outing for Riggs and Murtaugh.

8/10

With the possible exception of Martin Rigg's mullet, which actually looks like it's been given a bit of a trim, everything about Lethal Weapon 2 is bigger than the first movie: the explosions are more explosive, the shoot-outs more shooty, the car crashes more crashy, the widdly guitar more widdly, and the warbling sax more warbly. As 80s action flicks go, this is definitely one of the best for spectacular vehicular chaos, ballistic mayhem, random acts of death and destruction, and tuneless music.

Jeffrey Boam's script delivers on all counts, matching Shane Black's original in terms of wit, pathos, and excitement, and although it does introduce what would become one of the most irritating characters in cinematic history—fast talking money launderer Leo Getz (Joe Pesci)—at least Boam has the good sense to inflict a lot of pain and suffering on the guy in the process, Leo getting more than a few bruises as the story progresses.

Seasoned Hollywood director Richard Donner handles proceedings well, balancing the light-hearted moments and the gritty action just right (a trick he seems to have forgotten come part 3), and with the benefit of a bigger budget than before, he gets to pull off some truly impressive action scenes, including the amazing destruction of an entire house on stilts.

Part 2 also benefits immensely from a pair of memorable villains—South African diplomat Arjen Rudd, played by Joss Ackland, and his truly wicked henchman/assassin Pieter (Derrick O'Connor), and the welcome presence of the wooden but still very lovely Patsy Kensit, who very kindly strips off for a sex scene (the price we must pay for that pleasure is yet another Mel Gibson ass shot, but at least it's only a side view— not a full on crack shot like in the first film!).

Lethal Weapon 2 (1989)

The first half hour of this movie is such an empty mixture of very fast chase scenes and some dull talking between supposed bad guys you might not get to the final hour which is fun and funny and as good (in a way) as the first Lethal Weapon from two years earlier. Same cast, same crew, same assets.

The problem at first is partly that we don't know who the bad guys are. We have no reason to fear or hate them. We just know that Mel and Danny have to be in on some new awful crime situation. That requires faith, so okay, we keep watching. The opening chase is highly kinetic and violent and spectacular, if you like that kind of thing. It is also a heads up for a couple scenes later that are also really spectacular —a ridiculous machine gun festival from a helicopter (if they have helicopters that have rocket grenades and boom, that's that), and a really ridiculous yanking down of a spectacular building with a GMC pickup truck (an amazing highlight of the movie).

Yeah, it's a wonderful mixed bag. By the end I was loving it the way you love things like this—not as film studies, but as a lowbrow good time. There are some classic scenes, also ridiculous—like the great toilet one—and some filler, of course, but it clicks along and is a worthy sequel. If you liked the first, you'll like the second.

However, it's worth saying the first one has an elegance at times that makes it not just more artful (who cares?) but more compelling. Just the way the first scene is handled (in the first movie) makes you want to know what's happening, and you worry about the next few scenes because of the first one. Here, it's more a continuation of affection—which means you might have to see the first one before this, in case you haven't!