Lethal Weapon - Page 2

Yeah, but Rambo II was just a ripoff of Missing In Action, if you want to see it that way. That's right, a full year before.

As much as I dig RUNNING SCARED and 48 HRS, MIDNIGHT RUN trumps 'em both.

And if we're listing the top action movies of the '80s, PREDATOR has well and truly earned its spot.

I'll take MIDNIGHT RUN over 48 HOURS in a second, though it's running neck and neck with RUNNING SCARED in my book. Too close to call.

I could've sworn that was early 90's, or I would've said that myself. Time flies, I guess. I'll nominate Aliens, it always felt more an action movie than a strict scifi movie anyway.

I'd say that LW is up there among my fave 80's action flicks. It's there along with Raiders, Die Hard, Aliens, Predator, 48 Hours and Mad Max 2.

In case some of you didn't know:

The red-black,plaid wearing thug who holds Riggs at gunpoint at the beginning is played by Blackie Dammett. He's also the father of Anthony Kiedis (singer of the Red Hot Chili Peppers).

I just want to know what happened to Donald Gooden, aka ALFRED.

I thought that kid was going places, but apparently things didn't work out for him.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0328863/

I might be in the minority here but I never saw LETHAL WEAPON as a buddy film at all. LW2, 3 and 4, sure. But not the first one. It's no more a buddy film than something like LA CONFIDENTIAL, with two guys who start out hating each other begrudgingly working together, and eventually growing to like and respect one another. All the comic banter and stuff didn't crop up in earnest until the second film. Which is a shame, I think, because some people tend to use the tone of the sequels to dismiss the out and out quality of the first film by saying it's some dumb buddy cop film (not anyone here, of course, but some people). They forget how LW was a fairly straight-laced action/drama that really turned convention on its head with its depiction of Murtaugh and his family.

Man that makes me sound like such an asswad, but that's how I feel.

I like LW2 though I can't say I love it, and I really wish someone had okayed Shane Black's idea to kill off Riggs.

Anyone know of any plans to release deluxe editions of the series? I don't mean that director's cut crap they put out a while ago.

They're gonna release the original LW on HD-DVD, June 27th. They haven't announced any special features though.

From DVD Town: http://www.dvdtown.com/discdetails/l...nhd-dvd/19205/

I'd love a newly released box set of all 4 films with more special features than the original set. .

Well, forgetting it and not mentioning it are two different things. Their veteran status was an important plot element in the first film. After that, it wasn't important to bring it up anymore.

I watched it again today. Like most 80s action movies, it needs a bit of editing to make it faster and slicker but it's still a good film, defined by that central relationship.

Just a few trims throughout the film, really. It doesn't need to lose any whole scenes, but there was a few times where I thought that some shots were too long.

Just curious but what type of editing could the film use? Are you talking more cuts during the set pieces or entire scenes being trimmed down or removed?

Fair enough.

To those who have seen the director's cut what do you think of the schoolyard scene? I like it on its own but when added to the film I'm not as big on it. Riggs already has the scene in the Christmas tree lot and his near suicide attempt to show us how reckless he is but adding the schoolyard bit just seems a bit much for him to go through before even encountering Murtagh.

I agree with that, and I think the trend of extended DVD editions is actually hurting the pacing of a lot of films. For the most part, scenes are cut for very good reasons. This demand to always have more footage is getting in the way of making the best movie possible.

The schoolyard scene is interesting but I feel it slows the pace of the film. We already know the guy's disturbed so the scene is superfluous.

Has anybody seen the deleted scene where Riggs gets assaulted at the bar by two robbers and he ends up kicking the crap out of them? I believe that's on the Pure Lethal tape that came out in '98 with the three films to coincide with release of Part 4 that summer.

I haven't seen that before. Is that supposed to take place early on in part 1?

Yeah, Riggs is drinking at a bar basically feeling bummed out and everything. The bartender asks him if he's doing O.K. and Riggs says sarcastically, "Yeah, I'm real happy". Then as Riggs leaves, two other guys follow and try to rob him. One guy pulls out a ninja star and Riggs ends up kicking the shit out of them. The bartender then kicks Riggs out.

They also had an alternate ending for the original. It basically has Riggs and Murtaugh saying goodbye and we see them covered in bruises and bandages. Richard Donner (or the studio, or both), I believe, preferred the more upbeat theatrical ending. Also, Mel and Danny had so much fun doing the film that they wanted to do a sequel.

It might be on the DVD for LW4. I remember they have an entire section for deleted scenes for the first three. They have one where Rigg's girlfriend, Rika (from LW2) survives and they go shopping for turkeys for Thanksgiving dinner with Murtaugh's family. There's another one for Part 3, where Riggs is having his trailer remodeled. Its not important but I thought I'd mention it.

I remember seeing it, so I think it is on the LW4 DVD.

Watched LW2 last night, partly thanks to this thread. Such a great film, and better than the first I think. Would've been cool if they'd followed with the original story, but c'est la vie, it's still an incredibly fun movie.

LW2- Come for the action. Stay for Murtaugh's retardo face when he laughs at the "rubber tree" on his desk.

Yeah, another great gag involving the condom commercial occurs when Glover and Pesci are hanging out:

"Whoa, check it out it's my favorite commerical. (pointing to Murtaugh's daughter) Check out the body on that one!".

I also love the bits at the delegation office. Glover and Pesci distracting everyone at the front desk, while Riggs shooting out the fish tank is terrific.

" Free South Africa, you dumb son of a bitch !"

I just saw The Long Kiss Goodnight. Man that was Renny harlin at his best. Great great great movie, and possibly one of Sam jackson's best roles.

Oh and Kill Bill (which I already thought was shit) bears a lot of resemblance to this movie, except with more asians.

You meant to post that in the B-Action Thread, right Fazer?

Good to hear you liked Long Kiss Goodnight, though. Great film.

What?

Renny Harlin at his best is a pretty amusing statement of quality.

Harlin at his best is Die Hard 2.

I concur. In fact, I feel that he was playing way over his head on that one.

What about CLIFFHANGER? Harlin gets dumped on a lot and Lord knows MINDHUNTERS is the type of crap could get some directors lynched. But Harlin has made some genuinely exciting films.

Sure but his problem is that he think "exciting" is all it takes to be "good". A movie with exciting action sequences and cardboard characters moving through a lifeless plot is still a pretty boring movie, in my opinion. What makes Die Hard and Raiders of the Lost Ark great isn't just the intensity of the action. If I don't care what happens, then the movie isn't doing it's job, no matter how many rounds of ammo are spent or cars are wrecked.

Cliffhanger's OK, but a little tacky compared to Die Hard 2. Not as slick or exciting.

I kind of liked Mindhunters. It's goofy and flawed, but more creative than that sort of film usually is.

Cutthroat Island is fascinating to watch, not so much because of what happened on screen as what happened off. You can just imagine the studio execs leaping into traffic.

Funny story. When I was in Iraq we sometimes crossed paths with the civilian security firms like Blackwater and DynaCorp. Dynacorp had a lot of their guys, basically mercenaries, that were from foreign armies, a lot of them, oddly, with thick South African accents straight out of LW2. Unable to resist, I finally walked up to a group of them with my buddies and go, "I'm looking for de policemen, Mahten Reegs."

I certainly agree with that notion and to me the characters in CLIFFHANGER and LONG KISS GOODNIGHT provide that. Is Stallone's plight as interesting as what he has to go through in COP LAND? No, but him and Michael Rooker are certainly worth rooting for and Lithgow was a delight and a perfect nemesis for the story.

I've never seen CUTTHROAT ISLAND because I just don't like pirates. Don't ask, bad childhood experience. But I am positive that LONG KISS GOODNIGHT probably would have been better received if it didn't come out less than a year after ISLAND flopped.

I recently rewatched 3 and 4 cause I just got a wild curiosity. It had been a while. LW3 is easily my least favorite, as they sort of sacrifice the Riggs/Murtaugh dynamic for Rene Russo, and it has the weakest villains of the series. Stuart Wilson? That's when you really can't land anyone else.

LW4 is sappy, and as usual, they recycle and run into the ground all of the bits from the previous incarnations. Pesci's "froggy" speech is painful, and it's sappy as hell, but I still enjoyed it a bit. Jet Li is disappointing if you've seen his HK stuff, but they still gave him a nice intro for US audiences. They play up his moves, his speed, and unlike his other Silver pictures, Donner doesn't cut the hell out of his fight sequences. The final three way fight is actually brutal, believable, and pretty damn good.

In the trilogy, Die Hard 2 gets the most play in my household.

One thing I've always wondered, the line where McClane asks Carmine "What sets off the metal detectors first, the lead in your ass or the shit in your brain" seems like it might have originally been "lead in your ass or plate in your head". Maybe the plate comment would have been too insensitive, but clearly would have made more sense.

And as far as Lethal Weapon films, who, at some point in their lives, hasn't said "you always get fucked at the drive-thru"?

The drive-thru bit was funny, but then they had to make it hospitals and then finally destroy all humor in part 4 with cell phones. Everything was just too recycled by the time 4 came around, there's really no tension at all in that one.

3 isn't very good, 4 is awful.
4 seems like it's full shitty ad libbing. You lose track of the god awful riggs puns.
Plus, it's really hard to sit through the Pesci/Rock annoying rant-offs.

Any relation to Pippi Longstocking?

I know I saw LW 3 and 4 when they were released, and on video. But I couldn't have told you what they were about before reading through this thread.

And back to LW 2 quotes, since I work at a Consulate I tend to hear 'Dip-lo-ma-tic Immun-i-ty' quite a bit.

And I held off getting those crappy cardboard, single-disc edition in hopes of a Die Hard-esque release on dvd... It'll be awhile before I can get an HD player. Oh well, maybe I should just dig out the old versions from the Walmart bargain bins... My luck, the very next day they'll release word about a WB special edition boxset out for Xmas...

BOURNE-inspired bump.

Joshua vs. Riggs: Precursor to the dreaded shaky cam fights of Greengrass's BOURNE movies?

That was a fun read.

I also am not a fan of Lethal Weapon 2. The plot wasn't very compelling.

LW 2 is still awesome.

I think 2 lacks Shane Black, to be honest. I think one can sort of see his fingerprints on the screenplay, but much of the dialogue lacks that partickular "Blackism" that is part of what makes the the first one so enjoyable. The action is still pretty good, there are some cool bad guys, but over all it's a step down from 1. The less is said about 3 the better, 4 at least had some sparks of Jet Li coolness.

Am I the only one here who actually likes LW3?

Stuart Wilson's villain was weak, yes, but I liked how it shifted the focus from Riggs to Murtaugh. The first film had such a wonderful balance of that, and LW2 really became the Riggs Wacky Shoot 'Em Up Hour. I thought the third movie did a nice job of giving them interesting things to do. Sure, Getz was shoehorned in there, and the series started to feel some of the bloat that would sink LW4 altogether, but I thought it was a lot of fun.

I like LW3, because they blow up a building in downtown Orlando. That needs to happen more often. Movie or no movie.