One more year until Die Hard that set all the clichés for future action pics. Until then, you'll just have to settle for Lethal Weapon, the movie that set the buddy-cop clichés. And that's not necessarily a bad thing.
What a fantastically realistic, original and fun movie the original Lethal Weapon movie was. In addition, it broke barriers by adding a lot of subliminal "Can't we all just get along" messages. Some less obvious than others and some in your face, like making the two "opposite cop partners" white and black. (Later in the series, they shove "Save the Dolphin" messages down our throats.) Still reeling in his wife's untimely demise, excellent/top notch/Jack Bauer Detective Riggs (Gibson) is suicidal, a la a "lethal weapon" and is teamed with over-the-hill Murtaugh (Glover) to solve a case involving someone in Murtaugh's war-laced past. They don't get along, have totally different personalities and must learn to work together for their common goal: justice. By means of
fists and gunpowder, for the most part.
A lot of this sounds eerily familiar and predictable. And it is
for someone watching this for the first time today. But, again, this is the movie that set the standards. You'll have to thank this movie for the countless, and I mean countless, like in the hundreds, of rip-offs. Thankfully, this beginning of the "new age" buddy movie was very well done, but not without its flaws.
It is said that the majority (if not all) of the Lethal Weapon films are improv'ed. Sure, they had somewhat of a script, but for the most part, the actors just did there thing. 90% of the time, it worked. When it didn't, it was slow and a little bit too realistic, like you were watching a dysfunctional family or cop partners on TruTV. Thankfully, that was only 10%.
My parents took me to Lethal Weapon 2 in 1989. I was 14 and was allowed in due to being accompanied by adults. I had yet to see the original for years to come. I fell madly in love with part two. Unfortunately, once I was able to see this, I was disappointed as it was not as action-packed or funny as part 2. That said, this is still worth watching. You will see excellent acting by Gibson, the iconic Busey of the 1980s and the origin of the buddy-cop movies to follow. Absolutely recommended.
