Lethal Weapon
A high water mark in the action / “cop buddy” genre as well as an undisputed classic of the 1980s, this Grand Masterpiece by director Richard Donner working from a script by Shane Black managed to blow up big in 1987 and led to a long running franchise that in and of itself resembled something akin to a high quality, R-rated cop show, but it was the original that broke the barriers with its risky portrayal of an edgy, psychotic hero who specialized in the art of killing. Mel Gibson was never better than as Sgt. Martin Riggs, a crazed, suicidal LA cop horribly broken inside after the car accident that killed his wife, who nonetheless is recognized by his superiors as such a tough son of a bitch willing to go to any lengths to bring down lowlife criminals that they keep him out there on the streets because of the results he produces. Gibson is especially stunning in an early, harrowing and heartbreaking scene (with hardly any dialogue) where he looks at his late wife’s picture and contemplates suicide by actually putting a gun in his mouth, yet it’s his essential goodness and knowledge that he’s the best at what he does in bringing down evil that somehow keeps him alive, making for a tremendous, at times almost possessed performance that not only deserved, but demanded serious awards consideration that never came. Contrasted with this is Danny Glover’s Sgt. Roger Murtaugh, an older, fairly stable and conservative cop with a loving wife and children, who finds himself partnered with Riggs while investigating the death of a beautiful, blonde, drug-addicted prostitute (depicted in an opening scene that showed Donner was taking no prisoners) whom it turns out was the daughter of an old Nam vet buddy of Murtaugh’s (Tom Atkins) who pleads with him to find those responsible and kill them. These are the events which set the plot in motion, but fortunately the script is in no rush to hurry the story along, preferring instead to wonderfully develop the two main characters through a series of character building scenes and of course the development of the rapport between Gibson and Glover, which became a staple of the franchise complete with a signature line of dialogue (“I’m too old for this shit!”), but here it works better than it ever did later on, mostly because we get to witness the process of Riggs and Murtaugh getting used to each other and building their mutual trust which was a given in the sequels, all leading up to Murtaugh bringing Riggs home for dinner and to meet his family, where Murtaugh’s (very cute) teenage daughter develops an instant crush on Riggs and can’t take her eyes off him the whole time while in his presence. With all this meticulous character development of the heroes, some may worry that the villains might be shortchanged, and while they don’t play a role until nearly halfway through the film, they’re still the best bad guys the series ever had, a group of ex-CIA Vietnam mercenaries who now work with their Southeast Asian contacts to bring large shipments of heroin into the country and oversee distribution, and needless to say will stop at nothing to stay in business (and interestingly enough screenwriter Shane Black wrote a whole companion script focusing entirely on their origins and activities, but was unable to get it produced). The primary antagonist is Gary Busey (in what amounted to a career comeback for him) as Mr. Joshua, a bleach-blonde, wild-eyed, stone cold killer who carries out most of the hits throughout the film, but moreso, develops an intense, unspoken rivalry with Riggs possibly because they see each other almost as kindred spirits albeit on the polar opposite sides of the morality spectrum, which goes to set up their final battle, an almost primal, savage, man on man confrontation, set against the backdrop of a peaceful, idyllic, suburban setting surrounded by cops who are being held back by Murtaugh, with a more than satisfying denouement to say the least. Overall, an incredibly well done piece that defined cinema cool in its time, and introduced to all of us one of the greatest action heroes the world has ever known…
10/10