Lethal Weapon 4K UHD (1987) May 20

[Techlet]

I suppose the way Riggs helped the jumper was indeed very "down to earth."

[Jay H.]

Originally Posted by Techlet

I suppose the way Riggs helped the jumper was indeed very "down to earth."

It fits Riggs' character. Is it ridiculous he wasn't reprimanded for it? Absolutely.

It still isn't as far-fetched to me as that final fight.

[Techlet]

Originally Posted by Jay H.

It still isn't as far-fetched to me as that final fight.

It fits Riggs' character.

[Stanis]

All you LW4 haters are forgetting the Froggy speech. Rip Froggy!

[Markgway]

Originally Posted by Jay H.

My problem with the movie is Jack Travis; he's just not threatening or hissable. It's impossible to fear a guy who attends hockey games in his downtime.

Disagree... I think Stuart Wilson does a good job. See also "No Escape".

Originally Posted by AKORIS

to each his own of course.... but I found that scene to be embarrassing and probably the worst moment in the entire series.... it should have ended up on the cutting room floor...

Disagree again... I too found that scene rather touching and sweet; it's also the only good Joe Pesci scene in the entire movie. Here he's the 'Leo' of Part 2 again.

[Fat Phil]

Originally Posted by starmike

So, the chopper killing someone from a mile out in broad daylight without any other police or coast guard following is "down to Earth"?

That actually happened to me. And it was the real Gary Busey too. Dude crazy.

[PinkyCarruthers]

All this LW talk has me feeling very tempted to pull out the box set and rewatch the whole series but will hold out in the hope that this time next year we'll have ALL of em on shiny 4K....

Despite some dips in quality over its lifetime, the LW franchise has always held a special place in my heart. I was blessed with an "open-minded" dad who thought nothing of taking me to R-rated movies starting from the age of 7 (Blade Runner being the first ), so I was lucky enough to be the only 11-year-old on my block to attend Lethal Weapon on opening night and it instantly came to define what a cop action thriller should be, and continues to 38 years later. Everything about it was just so vividly memorable, in addition to making me a Mel Gibson fan for life. He was just the coolest (by high school and the time of LW3's release I was even wearing my hair long like Riggs' and copying his fashion sense ). And for anyone complaining about how unbelievable the final fight is, six words: "Get that s**t off my lawn!"

The summer of '89 had so many huge sequels opening that LW2 was a little ways down my must-see list, but it was absolutely the funniest, most exciting and above all BESTEST sequel to LW they could've possibly made. Forget Batman -- for me summer '89 instantly became the year of Last Crusade/LW2 (a dead heat). And I'll never forget sitting there and feeling time begin to slow to a crawl as Riggs lay wounded from that Aryan bastard's Luger with "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" ever so softly rising on the soundtrack, because my mind was flashing back to a report I'd seen in which Shane Black mentioned how he'd wanted to kill off Riggs. "Oh god, they're gonna kill Riggs...." Man did I ever breathe a welcome sigh of relief as those end credits rolled. Clearly I was still naive in the ways of franchise filmmaking, haha. Add to that some awesome kills ("Nailed you both," etc.) and Kamen's South African-accented score offering a unique twist on the original's already classic themes/cues and you've got the perfect action sequel. To the usual titles that get bandied about whenever talk of "best sequels" comes up -- Empire, Godfather II, Aliens, etc. -- I'd add LW2. Couldn't have been happier when it was released as a sell-thru VHS, with it swiftly outnumbering the original for repeat viewings. It still packs a punch of thrills and laughs. (It's also the only one of the series I've revisited in the OLED era and sadly the PQ just didn't measure up for me. Need that 4K! )

Oh and speaking of Aliens, you gotta love any movie that reunites Drake and Vasquez on opposite sides of the law!

So needless to say, by the time summer '92 rolled around LW3 was THE big-ticket attraction of the season for me, but alas, May 15th would forever live in infamy as the biggest letdown of my moviegoing career. What a slipshod, lackluster and above all AVERAGE sequel. Was this REALLY made by the same cast and crew as the other two?! For one thing, Stuart Wilson's Jack Travis had no right calling himself the flunky of a LW villain, much less the main villain himself. A TV villain if ever I saw one. He belonged on an episode of The A-Team. Mr. Joshua could've wiped the floor with this bozo blindfolded with one arm tied behind his back. And don't get me wrong, I dig Rene Russo heaps and she pairs wonderfully with Mel just as she would with Brosnan, Costner, Travolta, etc., but Lorna Cole's a boring character and she makes Riggs less interesting. Honestly, I liked him better when he was bringing home consular secretaries half his age. And worst of all, the action paled in comparison to what had come before. Riggs going off the elevated highway is the only one that comes to mind, and it's over in an instant. Because here's the thing: EVERY action sequence/beat in the first two was never less than memorable. Take LW2 -- the opening car chase and helicopter gun battle capped by the discovery of the krugerrands, Riggs going out the hotel window into the pool, the great tow-truck chase with its "wipeout," the helicopter assault on Riggs' beach trailer (one of my all-time fave action sequences), Riggs' underwater escape, the stilt house's demise and finally the climactic harbor shootout with Riggs' deliciously memorable dispatching of Ackland's henchman. And that's another thing: LW3 doesn't even HAVE a henchman. No one to pose a physical threat to Riggs. Again, did the same people really make this movie? For my money, LW3 has exactly two memorable scenes: Murtaugh's killing of his son's friend and his later drunken heart-to-heart with Riggs on the boat. Unfortunately these very strong character beats are undermined by obnoxious, tired sitcom-level "humor" like the gospel-singing armored-car driver pursuing Murtaugh. (And what WAS that cat doing in the parking garage?) LW3 was also where they started with the whole "the gang's all here"/"we're one big happy family" thing with Pesci shoehorned into the story for no reason other than that people liked him the first time and he was a fresh Oscar winner cashing in a no-doubt huge payday for above-the-line star billing alongside the two leads, even recycling his signature gag from LW2 ("They F**K you at the [whatever it was....]"). The law of diminishing creative returns was in full effect. I should've known the writing was on the wall for this sequel by the tagline: "The magic is back again." That would be like, "If adventure has a name, it must still be Indiana Jones." LW3 is one of those movies like RoboCop 2 where every few years I'll put it on in the misplaced hope that THIS time its true worth which has so long eluded me will be revealed once and for all, thereby lifting the denial from my heart. The crushing disappointment refuses to yield to reality. But I'm glad to see it getting some love on here. I'll gladly give it another shot on 4K.

Thankfully LW4 was a marked improvement on 3. Once again it had a worthy villain and two memorable action sequences in the freeway chase with Riggs on the trailer and the final fight in the rain, which is all kinds of awesome. Love that Riggs and Murtaugh have to tag-team a wounded Li's ass and even then get whupped, just as it should be. Also love that Murtaugh has to rescue the trapped Riggs. "I'm comin, buddy!" Puts a little lump in my throat every time. Also offers a fresh spin on the pair's "1-2-3" trope to cap off the movie and their partnership. Yeah there's still cringey stuff like the laughing-gas scene and the ridiculous subplot with Trish's new career as a romance novelist, but on the whole it goes a long way to righting the franchise after the dive into mediocrity that was LW3. Also appreciate that they took the time to give all the characters a proper emotional send-off, like bringing Riggs back to his wife's graveside (even Leo's frog story works for me). And a full extra star awarded for that photo album under the end credits to the great Clapton tune. Sends the movie and the series out on a real heartfelt note. As all those great BTS snapshots from throughout the series' lifespan flashed by, I really felt the weight of my own 11-year odyssey with these beloved characters coming to an end and PASS THE KLEENEX! *sniff* A lovely little unexpected grace note. Felt great exiting the theatre after that first afternoon showing.

Sorry for the dissertation but as I say, I still have a great fondness for this franchise and these characters. When you consider how other franchises of the era ended up withered or rotted -- Die Hard, Terminator, Beverly Hills Cop -- that's a rare thing. All your comments have really put me down memory lane with a series that I've hardly revisited at all in the past decade or so. Very much looking forward to that 4K which hopefully will be a box set with all extras ported over. Make it so, Warners!

(One extra that I was always disappointed never got included: Does anyone remember Mel's LW2 home movies from that 1989 episode of At The Movies with Rex Reed and Dixie Whatley? I believe it was a full episode devoted to LW on the occasion of the sequel's release. Found a "Mel Gibson's Video Diary 2: Lethal Weapon 3" entry but can't find the first one anywhere on YouTube. )

[PinkyCarruthers]

Originally Posted by Jay H.

My problem with the movie is Jack Travis; he's just not threatening or hissable. It's impossible to fear a guy who attends hockey games in his downtime.

Lol, I remember thinking the exact same thing.

The other thing that turns me off about this scene is that it shamelessly recycles Michael Kamen's "Hollywood Blvd Chase" cue, which I consider one of the finest pieces of action scoring ever. It was very effectively re-used for the tow truck chase in 2 but here it's lazily tracked in to provide a false sense of urgency for what's really a rather lighthearted scene and not at all worthy of its inclusion.

[Cliff]

Originally Posted by PinkyCarruthers

All this LW talk has me feeling very tempted to pull out the box set and rewatch the whole series but will hold out in the hope that this time next year we'll have ALL of em on shiny 4K....

Despite some dips in quality over its lifetime, the LW franchise has always held a special place in my heart.

[Show spoiler]I was blessed with an "open-minded" dad who thought nothing of taking me to R-rated movies starting from the age of 7 (Blade Runner being the first ), so I was lucky enough to be the only 11-year-old on my block to attend Lethal Weapon on opening night and it instantly came to define what a cop action thriller should be, and continues to 38 years later. Everything about it was just so vividly memorable, in addition to making me a Mel Gibson fan for life. He was just the coolest (by high school and the time of LW3's release I was even wearing my hair long like Riggs' and copying his fashion sense ). And for anyone complaining about how unbelievable the final fight is, six words: "Get that s**t off my lawn!"

The summer of '89 had so many huge sequels opening that LW2 was a little ways down my must-see list, but it was absolutely the funniest, most exciting and above all BESTEST sequel to LW they could've possibly made. Forget Batman -- for me summer '89 instantly became the year of Last Crusade/LW2 (a dead heat). And I'll never forget sitting there and feeling time begin to slow to a crawl as Riggs lay wounded from that Aryan bastard's Luger with "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" ever so softly rising on the soundtrack, because my mind was flashing back to a report I'd seen in which Shane Black mentioned how he'd wanted to kill off Riggs. "Oh god, they're gonna kill Riggs...." Man did I ever breathe a welcome sigh of relief as those end credits rolled. Clearly I was still naive in the ways of franchise filmmaking, haha. Add to that some awesome kills ("Nailed you both," etc.) and Kamen's South African-accented score offering a unique twist on the original's already classic themes/cues and you've got the perfect action sequel. To the usual titles that get bandied about whenever talk of "best sequels" comes up -- Empire, Godfather II, Aliens, etc. -- I'd add LW2. Couldn't have been happier when it was released as a sell-thru VHS, with it swiftly outnumbering the original for repeat viewings. It still packs a punch of thrills and laughs. (It's also the only one of the series I've revisited in the OLED era and sadly the PQ just didn't measure up for me. Need that 4K! )

Oh and speaking of Aliens, you gotta love any movie that reunites Drake and Vasquez on opposite sides of the law!

So needless to say, by the time summer '92 rolled around LW3 was THE big-ticket attraction of the season for me, but alas, May 15th would forever live in infamy as the biggest letdown of my moviegoing career. What a slipshod, lackluster and above all AVERAGE sequel. Was this REALLY made by the same cast and crew as the other two?! For one thing, Stuart Wilson's Jack Travis had no right calling himself the flunky of a LW villain, much less the main villain himself. A TV villain if ever I saw one. He belonged on an episode of The A-Team. Mr. Joshua could've wiped the floor with this bozo blindfolded with one arm tied behind his back. And don't get me wrong, I dig Rene Russo heaps and she pairs wonderfully with Mel just as she would with Brosnan, Costner, Travolta, etc., but Lorna Cole's a boring character and she makes Riggs less interesting. Honestly, I liked him better when he was bringing home consular secretaries half his age. And worst of all, the action paled in comparison to what had come before. Riggs going off the elevated highway is the only one that comes to mind, and it's over in an instant. Because here's the thing: EVERY action sequence/beat in the first two was never less than memorable. Take LW2 -- the opening car chase and helicopter gun battle capped by the discovery of the krugerrands, Riggs going out the hotel window into the pool, the great tow-truck chase with its "wipeout," the helicopter assault on Riggs' beach trailer (one of my all-time fave action sequences), Riggs' underwater escape, the stilt house's demise and finally the climactic harbor shootout with Riggs' deliciously memorable dispatching of Ackland's henchman. And that's another thing: LW3 doesn't even HAVE a henchman. No one to pose a physical threat to Riggs. Again, did the same people really make this movie? For my money, LW3 has exactly two memorable scenes: Murtaugh's killing of his son's friend and his later drunken heart-to-heart with Riggs on the boat. Unfortunately these very strong character beats are undermined by obnoxious, tired sitcom-level "humor" like the gospel-singing armored-car driver pursuing Murtaugh. (And what WAS that cat doing in the parking garage?) LW3 was also where they started with the whole "the gang's all here"/"we're one big happy family" thing with Pesci shoehorned into the story for no reason other than that people liked him the first time and he was a fresh Oscar winner cashing in a no-doubt huge payday for above-the-line star billing alongside the two leads, even recycling his signature gag from LW2 ("They F**K you at the [whatever it was....]"). The law of diminishing creative returns was in full effect. I should've known the writing was on the wall for this sequel by the tagline: "The magic is back again." That would be like, "If adventure has a name, it must still be Indiana Jones." LW3 is one of those movies like RoboCop 2 where every few years I'll put it on in the misplaced hope that THIS time its true worth which has so long eluded me will be revealed once and for all, thereby lifting the denial from my heart. The crushing disappointment refuses to yield to reality. But I'm glad to see it getting some love on here. I'll gladly give it another shot on 4K.

Thankfully LW4 was a marked improvement on 3. Once again it had a worthy villain and two memorable action sequences in the freeway chase with Riggs on the trailer and the final fight in the rain, which is all kinds of awesome. Love that Riggs and Murtaugh have to tag-team a wounded Li's ass and even then get whupped, just as it should be. Also love that Murtaugh has to rescue the trapped Riggs. "I'm comin, buddy!" Puts a little lump in my throat every time. Also offers a fresh spin on the pair's "1-2-3" trope to cap off the movie and their partnership. Yeah there's still cringey stuff like the laughing-gas scene and the ridiculous subplot with Trish's new career as a romance novelist, but on the whole it goes a long way to righting the franchise after the dive into mediocrity that was LW3. Also appreciate that they took the time to give all the characters a proper emotional send-off, like bringing Riggs back to his wife's graveside (even Leo's frog story works for me). And a full extra star awarded for that photo album under the end credits to the great Clapton tune. Sends the movie and the series out on a real heartfelt note. As all those great BTS snapshots from throughout the series' lifespan flashed by, I really felt the weight of my own 11-year odyssey with these beloved characters coming to an end and PASS THE KLEENEX! *sniff* A lovely little unexpected grace note. Felt great exiting the theatre after that first afternoon showing.

Sorry for the dissertation but as I say, I still have a great fondness for this franchise and these characters. When you consider how other franchises of the era ended up withered or rotted -- Die Hard, Terminator, Beverly Hills Cop -- that's a rare thing. All your comments have really put me down memory lane with a series that I've hardly revisited at all in the past decade or so. Very much looking forward to that 4K which hopefully will be a box set with all extras ported over. Make it so, Warners!

(One extra that I was always disappointed never got included: Does anyone remember Mel's LW2 home movies from that 1989 episode of At The Movies with Rex Reed and Dixie Whatley? I believe it was a full episode devoted to LW on the occasion of the sequel's release. Found a "Mel Gibson's Video Diary 2: Lethal Weapon 3" entry but can't find the first one anywhere on YouTube. )

I am 100% with you. I don’t hate it (I don’t hate ANY Lethal Weapon), but LW3 has always felt foreign to me with regard to the series. I don’t think Jan de Bont’s cinematography felt of the same style as Stephen Goldblatt’s style on LW & LW2. Jack Travis is a horrible, forgettable TV episode villain. The tone is also off throughout and it does oddly feel like a Lethal Weapon movie made by different people. It’s a distant 4th for me. Like you, I find Lethal 4 to be wonderful. It’s got some great set pieces (something 3 lacks) in the opening gas station sequence, the freeway chase, and finale (both the gun battle that starts the finale all the way through to the underwater ending) AND YET, the thing I love the most is that after the finale there’s still 10 minutes of story including Leo’s heart to heart with Riggs at Vicki’s grave, the marriage of Riggs and Lorna, and the final family reunion. What I love about 4 is that it takes time to properly say goodbye to all these characters. It truly feels like an intended, emotional farewell to fans. And THEN, it gives the same courtesy to the cast and crew with the amazing picture book end credits. I’ve spent so much time over the past 25 years defending 4 that’s it’s honestly unnerving to see someone else lay it out so similarly.

Plus… this will ALWAYS be one of the greatest movie/audience moments I’ve ever experienced in a theater:

Jet Li - Lethal Weapon 4 (1998 Crowd Reaction Audio) - YouTube

For me, it's:
LW2/LW1 (and these two can flop back and forth depending on the mood I'm in but LW2 always edges it out on paper just because it ends with Cheer Down.
LW4
LW3 (with a bit of distance)

[The Sovereign]

I love the first one - all of it. Like the second one a lot. I’ve forgotten most of 3 & 4, which doesn’t bode well for them, but I should give them a rewatch. Hopefully the whole series gets an upgrade.

[IndyMLVC]

Originally Posted by PinkyCarruthers

(One extra that I was always disappointed never got included: Does anyone remember Mel's LW2 home movies from that 1989 episode of At The Movies with Rex Reed and Dixie Whatley? I believe it was a full episode devoted to LW on the occasion of the sequel's release. Found a "Mel Gibson's Video Diary 2: Lethal Weapon 3" entry but can't find the first one anywhere on YouTube. )

They were made for HBO and haven't been seen since then.

[PinkyCarruthers]

Originally Posted by IndyMLVC

They were made for HBO and haven't been seen since then.

HBO! I'd forgotten that. Thank you!

[PinkyCarruthers]

Originally Posted by Cliff

Plus… this will ALWAYS be one of the greatest movie/audience moments I’ve ever experienced in a theater:

[Show spoiler]Jet Li - Lethal Weapon 4 (1998 Crowd Reaction Audio) - YouTube

For me, it's:
LW2/LW1 (and these two can flop back and forth depending on the mood I'm in but LW2 always edges it out on paper just because it ends with Cheer Down.
LW4
LW3 (with a bit of distance)

Haha, thanks. Great way to enjoy that scene!

I've always been very partial to that tune also, especially on that initial viewing as a wind-down from the emotional stress of truly believing Riggs was gonna die! But I also love Honeymoon Suite's title track from the original. I was a big HS fan at the time, as they were huge in Canada (where I'm from) but not nearly as well-known in the U.S. An unusual choice but a great little song to send the movie out on. I still groove to it on their Greatest Hits album.

[Streamingsux]

I'm generally against changing a movie after the fact but I kinda wish they'd digitally "fix" the handcuffs breaking/grabbing hands when they jump off the building together scene from the first Lethal Weapon. That's one of those movie mistakes that I've just never been able to unsee lol. I'm not saying I'd DEFINITELY prefer that sort of fix but, if done right, I'd probably accept it/maybe even be happy with it. But yeah, I enjoy all four to varying degrees. 1 and 2 are probably about equal for me. And if pressed I'd probably give the edge to 4 over 3 due to more/better action and better villain. Though three has its moments, it doesn't have as many and overall isn't as memorable. Plus, that movie has this weird thing where they overuse one particular bit of adult language (SOB) more than any other movie has comically overused any curse word. More than a Scorsese movie overuses the 'f' word. Murtaugh in particular says SOB in some way or another to a comical degree. It borders on strange. But there's no way I wouldn't buy all four of these on 4K. Especially considering some of the other things I've chosen to buy lol leaving out any of the Lethal Weapons would just be silly..

[PinkyCarruthers]

Originally Posted by Streamingsux

Plus, that movie has this weird thing where they overuse one particular bit of adult language (SOB) more than any other movie has comically overused any curse word. More than a Scorsese movie overuses the 'f' word. Murtaugh in particular says SOB in some way or another to a comical degree. It borders on strange.

Drinking game, maybe? Hadn't noticed that although it's been too long since I watched it in any case, but I love his final "SOB" of LW2 where he throws down the pack of cigs as he's cradling Riggs' head. Makes me laugh every time. Plus of course there's the consulate scene with Pesci: "You dumb son of a *****!"

[Streamingsux]

That'd be a deadly drinking game. I bet some variation of SOB is said fifty times in that movie and I'm not sure if that's an exaggeration or not. It could literally be fifty. It's wild..

[Markgway]

Originally Posted by Cliff

Plus… this will ALWAYS be one of the greatest movie/audience moments I’ve ever experienced in a theater:
Jet Li - Lethal Weapon 4 (1998 Crowd Reaction Audio) - YouTube

You can tell that's not a UK audience.

In the UK the audience would have been silent throughout that scene.

Besides jump scares and involuntary laughter we sit respectfully silent.

[Markgway]

Originally Posted by PinkyCarruthers

(And what WAS that cat doing in the parking garage?)

Parking?

Originally Posted by IndyMLVC

They were made for HBO and haven't been seen since then.

Sky Movies Plus and The Movie Channel showed them in the UK before the Satellite TV premieres back in the early 90s.

[stvn1974]

Recently tried to watch the first two when they were on TV. They are really slow and don't stand up, IMO. The other action flicks from the era with Ahnuld and some of the Stallone still do but these were kind of boring when you have stuff like Wick and others now. I won't be buying these, Mel Gibson being who he is just makes it easier to skip them.

[Markgway]

Originally Posted by stvn1974

Recently tried to watch the first two when they were on TV. They are really slow and don't stand up, IMO. The other action flicks from the era with Ahnuld and some of the Stallone still do but these were kind of boring when you have stuff like Wick and others now. I won't be buying these, Mel Gibson being who he is just makes it easier to skip them.

Satire, surely?