Lethal Weapon (1987)

Hollywood has made a string of incredible cop movies such as Bullitt, The French Connection, 48 Hrs., Beverly Hills Cop, and Die Hard. But one of those movies that I’m talking about is Lethal Weapon. Produced by Joel Silver (Predator), Directed by Richard Donner (The Goonies), and Released in 1987, the film is about two unlikely Los Angeles Police Officers: Roger Murtaugh (Danny Glover), a sensible sergeant veteran and family man. And Martin Riggs (Mel Gibson), loose cannon of a cop with a death wish. They get partnered up, hate each other at first but soon work it out as they go after a gang of drug smugglers led by a ruthless retired U.S. Army general (Mitchell Ryan) and his psychotic enforcer Mr. Joshua (Gary Busey) . I really enjoyed this film; however there were some intense sequences like the opening of the film and the torture sequence. I’d prefer watching the director’s cut version because there is a great scene with Gibson’s character dispatching a sniper who’s was shooting little kids at a school. This was Mel Gibson’s second American role since 1984’s The River and his work as the homicidal Martin Riggs is one of his best performances I’ve ever seen. I also liked Danny Glover’s performance. Both Ryan and Busey were both very creepy but fantastic as the film’s villains. This movie made Donner, Silver, Gibson and Glover to go on to do three more hit sequels from 1989 to 1998 and I enjoyed all of them thoroughly. The song of the same name, performed by Honeymoon Suite, is one of the best movie songs I’ve ever heard. Lethal Weapon is an action movie classic that deserves to watch by every movie lover in the world.