Lethal Weapon has a pretty abrupt start to proceedings as the opening scene shows a young woman jumping off a balcony from towards the top of a tower block and landing on a car. However, this proves to have some relevance to the plot of Lethal Weapon.
Basically veteran cop Murtagh (Glover)is assigned to investigate this incident which is initially deemed to be a 'suicide'. However, an autopsy confirms that the young woman was poisoned before she jumped, therefore she was murdered before she jumped. Murtagh must try to find out who poisoned the young woman and why, but he's not alone in investigating this case and is assigned a partner Riggs (Gibson). Riggs is a suicidal, unhinged police officer who has a very different method of policing to the more 'by the book' Murtagh.
The majority of the humour stems from scenes with Murtagh and Riggs as both of them have a completely different style of policing. Murtagh is more straight laced and has more of a general regard for following police procedure. Whereas Riggs is unorthodox and wild and will go to more extreme methods (as you'll see in the scene where he's on the roof with a potential suicide victim). The character development is also good. Riggs in particular is afforded some depth - we learn that his wife of 11 years was killed in a car accident which explains his suicidal tendencies - it perhaps also helps to explain his rather 'gung ho' approach to policing (as he already feels suicidal, he probably doesn't fear death as much as your average police officer). We also see Murtagh's home life and see that he is a real family man. Both men show their human side, but also show that they can kick a lot of ass when necessary.
There were a couple of problems with Lethal Weapon; Firstly, the final scene where Riggs is left to fight Joshua (Busey) outside Murtagh's house and no police officers bother to intercept until Riggs finally manages to get the better of him. Whilst it was dramatic and a reasonably good finale, it wasn't entirely believable. Secondly; I also felt that at times the film was a bit drawn out and it was disappointing that the baddies were given a lot less screen time than I would have hoped for.
That being said, Lethal Weapon is still a good film but this is mainly due to the great on screen chemistry between Gibson and Glover. Worth watching!
Basically veteran cop Murtagh (Glover)is assigned to investigate this incident which is initially deemed to be a 'suicide'. However, an autopsy confirms that the young woman was poisoned before she jumped, therefore she was murdered before she jumped. Murtagh must try to find out who poisoned the young woman and why, but he's not alone in investigating this case and is assigned a partner Riggs (Gibson). Riggs is a suicidal, unhinged police officer who has a very different method of policing to the more 'by the book' Murtagh.
The majority of the humour stems from scenes with Murtagh and Riggs as both of them have a completely different style of policing. Murtagh is more straight laced and has more of a general regard for following police procedure. Whereas Riggs is unorthodox and wild and will go to more extreme methods (as you'll see in the scene where he's on the roof with a potential suicide victim). The character development is also good. Riggs in particular is afforded some depth - we learn that his wife of 11 years was killed in a car accident which explains his suicidal tendencies - it perhaps also helps to explain his rather 'gung ho' approach to policing (as he already feels suicidal, he probably doesn't fear death as much as your average police officer). We also see Murtagh's home life and see that he is a real family man. Both men show their human side, but also show that they can kick a lot of ass when necessary.
There were a couple of problems with Lethal Weapon; Firstly, the final scene where Riggs is left to fight Joshua (Busey) outside Murtagh's house and no police officers bother to intercept until Riggs finally manages to get the better of him. Whilst it was dramatic and a reasonably good finale, it wasn't entirely believable. Secondly; I also felt that at times the film was a bit drawn out and it was disappointing that the baddies were given a lot less screen time than I would have hoped for.
That being said, Lethal Weapon is still a good film but this is mainly due to the great on screen chemistry between Gibson and Glover. Worth watching!