b_kite Gibson and Glover are the greatest duo in what has to be the greatest "buddy cop" action movie ever made. Most of the action is saved for the third act so we can get some character development. But, the writing from Shane Black of "Predator" and the directing from the great Richard Donner, are excellent. Plus you have Gary Busey as our villian before he went full tilt crazy guy.

benaboo If somebody asks me what my favorite action movie is I'm going to answer Lethal Weapon. Yes, I like Lethal Weapon better than Die Hard. There is just something about this franchise that really speaks to me. This is not your average run of the mill buddy cop film. This movie has a lot of fantastic action, some great drama, and a little bit of humor. The chemistry between Mel Gibson and Danny Glover is magical. The character of Martin Riggs, portrayed beautifully by my favorite actor Mel Gibson is one of my favorite movie characters in all of cinema. Shane Black apparently hated the way Riggs evolved in the later installments but I personally loved that. He was a character that was very well developed and seeing him grow as a character was a pleasure to watch. These films don't have the most memorable villains in the world but the villains in this movie are my second favorites after Jet Li and Company in the fourth film. The fight between Mel Gibson and Gary Busey is one of the greatest in cinema history. I love how a broken fire hydrant rains over them as they fight. The suicide contemplation scene is one of the most well acted scenes by Mel Gibson but he has a bunch of those. Lethal Weapon is not only my favorite action movie of all time but one of my favorite movies and it's spawned a great franchise. Lethal Weapon is fantastic. Lethal Weapon 2 is almost as good. Lethal Weapon 3 is weaker but definitely has it's strong points and Lethal Weapon 4 is fun from start to finish with great action and funny comedy. If I had to grade these films I would give Lethal Weapon an A. I would give Lethal Weapon 2 an A-. I would give Lethal Weapon 3 a B. And I would give Lethal Weapon 4 a B+.

John Brooks All the clichés meet here: this film is undeniably an 80's action flick. It's got the cop one-two punch, that light crime atmosphere and intrigue revolving around a death (suicide...or not ?), cheap campy laughs and lengthy action scenes, soundtrack full of saxophone or bluesy reverb guitars, the "I'm too old for this s*it !" line and a very (too) obvious divide between the good guys fighting the good fight versus the definite bad guys.They really could've used lots more of the comedic potential between a completely insane (like, more than usual) and unleashed Mel Gibson and his black older counterpart Danny Glover whose characters are both likable in their own different ways, naturally. There are at least two full action scenes that seem endless and feel pointless after a certain point where if you're not a fanatic of explosions and electric-paced successive bursts of motion you're probably going to feel every second of them pretty quickly. Too much action - not enough laughs. That's for sure. It's too uneven barring that anyways. The film settles itself nicely at the beginning, develops decently as we get to know more about the plot and the lead characters (how great a shot Mel Gibson really is, etc) but then those monolithic chunks of action... it's too disparate in how much humor is supplied, how much action was needed, and the plot wears thin way too soon. Finally the film is also quite politicized: the 'black and white partners make nice' rationale, the apartheid sign on the fridge that's well emphasized... it's not just an innocent little comedy-action flick, there's real underlying social commentary here.Not good enough, it doesn't matter how slightly more semi-original it was when it came out in 1987: 5/10.

classicsoncall Every once in a while I don't mind kicking back, suspending disbelief, and enjoying a mindless action film like "Lethal Weapon". You have to realize of course, that no human being can withstand the kind of punishment a guy like Martin Riggs (Mel Gibson) endures and then get up the next day feeling good as new. For the sake of these action flicks you just have to go with it, and as long as the story is OK, you'll be fine.I liked the camaraderie that developed between the suicidal Riggs and his newly assigned partner Roger Murtaugh (Danny Glover). It evolved over the course of the story with each man earning the respect and gratitude of the other after several life defying situations. If you're paying attention though, a few questions will pop up. Like when Riggs tells Roger that the guy who shot at him on the street was the same guy who tried to kill him from the helicopter. Considering the distance involved, there's no way Riggs could have seen Joshua (Gary Busey) well enough to be able to identify him on the chopper.Then there's the scene in the desert when Riggs takes up a position to watch Roger's back as he makes contact with The General's (Mitchell Ryan) men. Except for some scrub ground cover, what would have prevented Riggs from seeing The General sneak up on him? If you think about it too much, some of the movie's tension just falls away in the clear light of day.I'll say this for Mel Gibson though, that scene when he was contemplating suicide showed a remarkable range in the man's talent as an actor. Glover's character wasn't called on to get that emotional, but he managed to deliver his role with some finesse as well. As a team, they're an effective pair once all the trouble goes down, with an attitude well reflected by that tattoo on Riggs' arm that says 'Never Quit'.