You’re never “too old for this sh*t!” when the gold standard of the buddy cop film genre, Lethal Weapon, brings all of its thrilling action sequences, and the good cop/crazy cop chemistry between Danny Glover and Mel Gibson to the big screen. Glover’s Roger Murtaugh is a family man and cop that’s just hit his 50th birthday and in no hurry to take any unnecessary risks, which is a car battery shock to the system when he is paired with Mel Gibson as his suicidal partner, Martin Riggs, a cop willing to jump off a building to make an arrest. The two men become a formidable team as they chase former military elites turned drug dealing baddies (Mitchell Ryan and Gary Busey) in and around Los Angeles, under director Richard Donner’s fast and loose direction. Lethal Weapon is a dart to the heart of 1980’s action movie goodness that spawned three sequels in this quadrilogy, and Shane Black’s smart and streamlined first script announced his arrival like an unstoppable bus on Hollywood Boulevard.
“In a movie with the energy of this one, we’re exhilarated by the sheer freedom of movement; the violence becomes surrealistic and less important than the movie’s underlying energy level.” – Roger Ebert
“For his first produced screenplay, Black took the best clichés from his favorite movies and honed them until they cut. Lethal Weapon’s heroes were edgier. And thanks in large part to the all-in commitment of director Richard Donner and producer Joel Silver, its chases and shoot-outs were more destructive. This one modestly budgeted genre exercise pumped hot blood back into a stiffening body.” – Noel Murray, AV Club
