Richard Donner's 1987 film announced itself with a single image: a man standing on a ledge, daring the world to give him a reason to step back. That image captures everything Lethal Weapon is about. It is a buddy cop film built on a genuine psychological foundation, one that earns its comedy and its action through the quality of the character work that precedes them.
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)
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. 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. The Los Angeles setting is used with a specificity and a texture that gives the film a grounded identity, and the street-level detail of the police procedural elements gives the more spectacular action sequences a context that makes them feel consequential rather than merely exciting.
Characters
Martin Riggs is the film's defining 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. The scene in which Riggs sits alone with a gun and a single bullet is the film's most quietly devastating moment, and Gibson plays it without a trace of melodrama. 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 wholly real, and his scenes with Gibson have a friction and mutual respect that anchors the film's most compelling dramatic 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.
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 series' most emotionally resonant development and the foundation on which the entire franchise is built. The film is also, beneath its action thriller surface, a study in how grief manifests as recklessness, and how the presence of someone worth protecting can become a reason to survive.
Direction
Donner's direction shows complete command of tone, pace, and character, making 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 sequels would not always achieve. Donner's tonal command is the film's greatest directorial achievement, a fluency in moving between comedy, drama, and action that makes the picture feel coherent despite its wide range. The film transitions between Riggs's psychological darkness and the comedy of his partnership with Murtaugh with a confidence that makes each shift feel natural, and the result is a picture that earns its emotional payoffs through the character work that precedes them. 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. The film was a major critical and commercial success on its release, widely regarded as one of the best action films of the decade and as the definitive expression of the buddy cop genre. 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.
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 whose arc from suicidal loner to a man with reasons to live is the series' most emotionally resonant development, Glover's Murtaugh is the film's most purely enjoyable creation, and Donner's tonal command gives the picture a coherence and depth the genre has rarely matched.