Lethal Weapon is one of the great action films of the 1980s and the film that defined the buddy cop genre for a generation. Richard Donner's 1987 film is a work of extraordinary tonal intelligence, a movie that manages simultaneously to be a funny comedy, a tense thriller, and a moving character study, and that succeeds in all three registers through the quality of the central partnership between Mel Gibson and Danny Glover. It understands its characters with precision, delivers its action sequences with physical clarity, and earns its emotional payoffs through the quality of the character work that precedes them. Lethal Weapon is not merely a great genre film. It transcends its genre through the depth and authenticity of the relationship at its centre.
At a Glance
Director: Richard Donner
Runtime: 110 minutes
Starring: Mel Gibson, Danny Glover, Gary Busey, Mitchell Ryan, Tom Atkins
Release: 1987
Critics Rating: ★★★★½ (4.5/5 stars, a genre masterpiece)
Audience Rating: ★★★★½ (4.5/5 stars, timeless)
Review Breakdown
Plot
Martin Riggs, a suicidal special forces veteran working as a Los Angeles homicide detective, is partnered with Roger Murtaugh, a family man approaching retirement who is very much too old for this. Their investigation into the apparent suicide of a young woman leads them to a drug smuggling operation run by former CIA operatives and mercenaries. The plot is efficiently constructed and functional, a crime thriller of adequate complexity that provides sufficient structure for the character work that is the picture's real business. The villains are the film's weakest element, adequate antagonists of limited psychological depth whose primary function is to provide the action sequences with their justification. But the plot's competence is sufficient for a film whose interest lies not in its mystery mechanics but in the developing relationship between its two protagonists.
Characters
Martin Riggs is the film's most significant creative achievement, a character of real psychological complexity whose suicidal ideation is handled with a seriousness and specificity that gives the picture a depth the buddy cop genre had not previously attempted. Gibson plays Riggs's grief, his recklessness, and his gradual recovery with a conviction and vulnerability that makes the character feel credible rather than merely entertaining. Roger Murtaugh is the film's most purely enjoyable creation, a man of considerable competence and domesticity whose exasperation with his new partner is handled with a wit and warmth that makes him the picture's most immediately likeable presence. Glover plays Murtaugh with a naturalism and warmth that makes the character feel entirely real, and his scenes with Gibson have a friction and mutual respect that gives the film its most compelling thread. Gary Busey's Mr. Joshua is the film's most effective villain, a mercenary of physical menace whose final confrontation with Riggs is the picture's most purely exciting sequence.
Tone
Donner's tonal intelligence is the film's greatest directorial achievement, a command of the transitions between comedy, drama, and action that makes the picture feel coherent despite its wide tonal range. The film moves between Riggs's psychological darkness and the comedy of his partnership with Murtaugh with a fluency and confidence that makes the transitions feel natural, and the result is a picture that earns its emotional payoffs through the quality of the character work that precedes them.
Meaning / Themes
At its core, the film is about isolation and connection, about the death wish of a man who has lost everything and the gradual recovery of his will to live through his partnership with Murtaugh and his adoption into the Murtaugh family. Riggs's arc, from a man who keeps a single bullet for himself to one who has found reasons to live, is the franchise's most emotionally resonant development and the foundation on which the entire series is built.
Direction
Donner's direction is the film's greatest technical achievement, a work of complete command of tone, pace, and character that makes the genre's conventions feel fresh. The action sequences are staged with physical clarity and a sense of consequence that gives them a weight the more purely spectacular franchise entries would not always achieve. Michael Kamen's score, incorporating Eric Clapton's guitar work, is one of the great pieces of action film music, a propulsive and emotionally precise work that gives the picture a sonic identity as distinctive as its visual one.
Cultural Reception
Lethal Weapon was a major critical and commercial success on its release, widely regarded as one of the finest action films of the decade and as the definitive expression of the buddy cop genre. Its reputation has only grown in the decades since, and it is now consistently ranked among the finest action films ever made. Gibson and Glover's partnership is recognised as one of the great screen pairings in the action genre's history, and the film's influence on the buddy cop genre is impossible to overstate.
Who Should Watch
Everyone, without reservation. Lethal Weapon is one of the foundational texts of the action genre and a film that works for audiences of every age and background. Those who know it only through its sequels and cultural ubiquity will find a picture that is more psychologically complex and more emotionally affecting than its reputation as a crowd-pleasing action film might suggest.
Final Verdict: One of the great action films of the 1980s and the film that defined the buddy cop genre. Gibson's Riggs is a character of real psychological complexity, Glover's Murtaugh is the franchise's most purely enjoyable creation, and Donner's tonal intelligence gives the picture a coherence and depth the genre has rarely matched. Lethal Weapon transcends its genre through the authenticity of the relationship at its centre.
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