Lethal Weapon (1987)
Director: Richard Donner
Starring: Mel Gibson, Donald Glover, Gary Busey, Mitchell Ryan
Primary genre: Action
Secondary genre: Thriller
Nominated for: Best sound mixing
After being saturated with tough guy personas, flashes of nudity and lots of cocaine consumption, the 80s led Shane Black to pen Lethal Weapon; a new take on the buddy-cop genre taking cues from Walter Hill’s 48 Hrs (1982) with a strong R-rating and amped up spectacle.
On paper, you’d think that Lethal Weapon does not offer anything new. After all, rogue cops, drug smugglers and shouting have all been done to death by 1987. Yet, Black’s witty screenplay focuses on clear arcs, clever banter and strong character work. Gibson’s Riggs is a convincing and multi-dimensional hero who suffers from suicidal tendencies due to the sudden loss of his wife; Glover on the other hand, is a seasoned (and laid back) police sergeant who reached 50 years old and likes to have safe outcomes from now on. This clash of polar opposite approaches to law enforcement leads to both thrilling and hilarious results that will generate 3 more commercially and critically successful films.
“ I’m too old for this shit!”
Glover and Gibson have excellent and now iconic chemistry. Whether they take down bad guys, bicker against each other or opening up, they feel real and relatable. Black downplays the action hero aspects in favor of a more human element to the crime solving process. As such, the mystery of the opening act unfolds slowly and Donner’s direction one would argue, seems to be an early blueprint for Michael Mann’s work on L.A. eight years later in his legendary crime saga, Heat (1995). L.A. feels paradoxically vibrant and sunny even during the Christmas season - a Black trademark, while the nighttime shots (especially that opening downtown helicopter sequence) are beautifully captured by the always-reliable Stephen Goldblatt (Batman Forever (1995)).
Lethal Weapon delivers the goods at the action front too bagging an Oscar nod for Best Sound Mixing relying on polished stuntwork in its car chases, shoutouts and fist fights with uncredited input from the legendary Royce Gracie for realistic grappling before all the modern on screen MMA display. Its only weak spot, typically for a film of this decade is the lack of a compelling antagonist. Mitchell Ryan and making an impact here, Gary Busey as the infamous Mr. Joshua are given less than basic backstories. Despite having a presence, they are the standard villainous foil of drug smuggling/ex-military/mercenaries that we have seen in several films by now.
Lethal Weapon might be an 80s product but that doesn’t mean it feels outdated. Its reinvention of the buddy cop genre resulted to several imitators (from The Glimmer Man (1996), Loaded Weapon (1993), to Black’s own Last Boy Scout (1991) and Last Action Hero (1993)) that might have stripped away its impact; lines like “I am too old for this shit” or Eric Clapton’s and Michael Kamen’s saxophonic score have been countlessly used in many motion pictures. Nevertheless, it is undeniable Donner’s movie is so damn entertaining; a near perfect flick that has something to say almost four decades later on.
The most buddy-cop film of all time
+Gibson/Glover
+Goldblatt’s cinematography
+Dynamic storyline
+Music score
+Witty banter
+Quite funny when it wants to be
-Banal villains