Lethal Weapon 4K UHD (1987) May 20

[CreasyBear]

Originally Posted by dallywhitty

First two are great.

The other two are alright.

Yep.

I have a hard time picking which one I like more between the first two, but 3 and 4 are definitely lesser films, though still fun in their own right.

[Fat Phil]

People give 3 a hard time for being generally softer/more comedic, but I think it’s massively underrated. Stuart Wilson is a terrific villain, the Sting credit sequence is the greatest thing ever, Michael Kamen’s scoring has never been more on point and everyone’s just so at ease in their roles that the whole affair is basically a delight.

[rocknblues81]

I don't like Joe Pesci in this series, but I love him in almost anything else.

I used to prefer 2, but Riggs being unstable just adds that extra element that is weakened with each sequel.

[Sky_Captain]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

I loves them all, but the first one is deffo more of A Serious Film™️ compared to the rest. Me and the GF watched them all again recently and we were both quoting lines all the way through them.

"Stop in Chinese, motherf*cker!" is used quite frequently in this household, along with old faithful "DIPLOMATIC IMMUNITY!"

[CreasyBear]

Originally Posted by Sky_Captain

"Stop in Chinese, motherf*cker!" is used quite frequently in this household, along with old faithful "DIPLOMATIC IMMUNITY!"

Has just been revoked.

[morris_schaffer]

Originally Posted by IndyMLVC

Watched this last night and it's probably the least I've enjoyed it since I first saw it. Tonally, it's just so different from the other 3. I dunno, it's always been my least favorite but it gets harder to watch the older I get.

That final fight is just downright idiotic.

Still a bonafide 4 star movie for me, but I can't disagree with you on that final fight. My wife, who saw it tonight for the first time, said 'this is nonsense'. And I agree. It's not the fight itself, but how all the cops are just standing around watching which makes it more preposterous. Why would Joshua even go back there ?
But then I'm like 'it' s the 80's, there was a lot of male testosterone going around, and you go with the flow'.

By the way, something I never saw before, an 'end apartheid' poster on Roger's fridge, a sort of call ahead to the 1989 sequel maybe.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by Sky_Captain

"Stop in Chinese, motherf*cker!" is used quite frequently in this household, along with old faithful "DIPLOMATIC IMMUNITY!"

"But you're bleck!" is a favourite of ours, along with "all dressed up and no-one to blow".

[crissrudd4554]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

"But you're bleck!" is a favourite of ours, along with "all dressed up and no-one to blow".

“Well you know in one ear out the rubber!”

[Geoff D]

"Let's get the flock out of here", "thin, very thin" and "word, Riggs" are also standards.

[KubrickKurasawa]

Watched it in theatres in 87' still holds up, always holds up. First Mel Gibson film I saw.

[Markgway]

1 & 2 are excellent, 3 is very good, and 4 isn't.

[Ryan1973]

Originally Posted by KubrickKurasawa

Watched it in theatres in 87' still holds up, always holds up. First Mel Gibson film I saw.

Me too! I was 13 years old!

[Ryan1973]

Lethal Weapon 2 is my favorite followed by Lethal Weapon, Lethal Weapon 3, and Lethal Weapon 4.

[AnimalCMan]

I used to love 2, but now I kinda hate it. Them retroactively trying to tie those bad guys into the death of Rigg’s wife was SO stupid and is a bad sequel cliche other franchises have been guilty of. His relationship with the woman who’s killed is also rushed and doesn’t really work. The jokes are more prevalent and memorable, but that is also is what made the future sequels lean more into comedy. I enjoy this franchise, but IMO none of the sequels come close to the first film. Shane Black was the missing ingredient, he wrote a dark script for 2 that was rejected and he walked. I’m glad he did or we might not have gotten Last Boy Scout, Long Kiss Goodnight, or Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.

[starmike]

[postmodel]

I still hate how the pic in the first post says “aniversaries” on the left side.

But anyway. Looking forward to this. Haven’t watched it in a few years. Merry Christmas.

[Samu_]

Originally Posted by Markgway

1 & 2 are excellent, 3 is very good, and 4 isn't.

Agreed. The opening scene in 4 is really good, but the rest is a bloated, shoddily-slapped together mess. And Chris Rock grinding the film to a halt to do a standup routine. Ugh. No, for me this is in the same ‘only the first 3 exist’ group as: Die Hard, Indy, Alien, Matrix, Star Wars (OT), Toy Story…

[CinemaScope]

Yup, I think 4 is the least of them. What saves it for me is Jet Li, so classy as the baddie, & the final fight isn’t Li against Gibson, it would have been ridiculous having Gibson winning that, it takes the two cops, plus shooting Lee to win. I did read years ago that Mel Gibson originally turned down 4, as he thought that 3 was almost a pastiche & there was nowhere to go after that…but Warner changed his mind with a lorry-load of cash (& maybe a movie deal, I don’t know). I hope the rumoured 5 doesn’t get made.

…& let’s not forget the great music of Kaman/Clapton/Sanborn. The music score is like another main character in the films (I’m lucky to have the complete soundtrack 8xCD set).

[LSK]

The things I remember most of LW 4, is its great opening and then when it ends, it goes on for about twenty minutes afterwards. I could remember it wrong, but it did seem to just go on for a long time, after it actually ended, which I found annoying at the time. It just felt like a bloated movie.

The original Lethal Weapon, however, is a masterpiece in my book. It had its own style, that I don't think other movies had and I just loved it and continue to do so. Even its ending song, that I didn't know at the time or the band playing it, I always found pretty good.

LW 2 is a pretty dark movie, but it's so good. The killing of Riggs girlfriend to give him motivation for the final showdown, gets me every time. It was unusual for its time too, in that this was a big production and a sequel to a hit movie, but they got away with it. Even Riggs was supposed to die in it.

LW 3 is okay. I saw it at the premiere and liked it at the time. Even bought the Laserdisc back then and watched it with friends, but what always annoyed me was, that 3 and 4 focused more on funny lines and situations, and the villains didn't feel dangerous enough. The original movie and LW 2 were the only ones, where the villians actually felt dangerous and had an impact.

[Ben_UK]

For me, the first is a stone coke classic, then they get progressively worse.

The first film is an action film with a bit of comedy, by the fourth film it’s a comedy with a bit of action.