Lethal Weapon 2 [1989]
RRP: £13.99
Our Price: £2.59 (subject to change)
Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review
The series formula started to kick in with this immediate sequel to Lethal Weapon, but that doesn't necessarily make it a weak movie. Joe Pesci joins the fold, Richard Donner directs again, and Mel Gibson and Danny Glover return as LAPD partners, their relationship smoother now that Gibson's character has recovered from his maddening grief over his wife's death. But the reckless Mel and cautious Danny equation, good for a million laughs, settles into place in this story involving a South African smuggler and a new girlfriend (Patsy Kensit) for Gibson. The movie is hardly comfy, though. The last act gets nasty, and a climactic fight between Gibson (who gets the worst of it) and some high-kicking villain is ugly. --Tom Keogh
Great film, but cut by the BBFC.
Review date: 2007-08-11 Rating: 2 out of 10
It may be the 'Director's Cut' but it's still missing over 30 seconds. The BBFC seems to think the British public can't be trusted to differentiate between fantasy and reality, when the rest of the world can.
The parts cut are as follows:
*SPOILERS*
(1) After Riggs has made his underwater escape from the bag, he climbs back onto the dock and kills two henchmen before going back down to collect Rika. He attacks one with a chain and breaks his neck. He then repeatedly slams the other guys head in the car door (A big no-no at the BBFC). In the UK version, it just cuts from him coming up out of the water to him carrying Rika on the dock.
(2) In final gunfight, Riggs empties his entire clip into a henchman (About 10 or so shots). In the UK version, he shoots him just twice, then it makes a horrendous jump cut that makes no sense to see him standing over the body.
*END OF SPOILERS*
Don't buy this version. If you have a multi-region player, go for the Region 1 or Region 4 edition.
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Reviews
More Of The Same Tosh!!!Review date: 2007-07-28 Rating: 2 out of 10Another 80's low mark in action film history. Mel Gibson gets mad again and blows away the bad guys. However this Lethal Weapon has to be reviled more than the first one due to the fact it introduced a character even more annoying and atrocious than the insidious Jar Jar Binks...Leo Getz!! Joe pesci what was you thinking?? I must apologise again to fans of this series of films, but in my opinion it's a film very much of it's time and unfortunately deserves to be forgotten, just like the bad hair styles...And Leo Getz, bad times indeed!!!!!They're back, they're bad. He's black, he's mad.Review date: 2007-04-24 Rating: 8 out of 10The topical plot of Lethal Weapon 2 may seem a little dated now, but Soud Av-ree-gan villains are always despicable and who doesn't love to them get blown away.
In this second installment in the LW series, Riggs and Murtaugh babysit FBI witness Leo Getz (a wimpy, eager to be friends Joe Pesci), much to their displeasure. Stuck with nothing much to do, they decide to investigate the criminals Leo is testifying against-a rude lot of Soud Av-ree-gan diplomats with immunity to commit as many crimes as they want. Riggs also takes a fancy to their secretary Rika (Patsy Kensit), but obviously their romance isn't going to last. She might as well have a death-clock counting down on her forehead.
Richard Donner seems more involved in making LW2 a better film than the original. This time he shoots in Panavision (why he didn't do this first time around I don't know), allows more time for character development and tries hard to make a political message out of the South African Apartheid situation. Even in his previous film Scrooged, which came out a year earlier, he had anti-apartheid messages. And, if you're really sad like me, you'll notice that Riggs and Rika bang their heads together when they first meet in the exact same way that Frank Cross and Claire Phillips do in Scrooged. And his then pro-NRA posters are still hanging around in the background. Donner later reversed his opinion on this organisation.
I always felt that the original Lethal Weapon was far too plain and straight-forward. It lacked spark in every way, but LW2 introduces more characters, has more sophisticated action and a better plot. Michael Kamen however pretty much cuts and pastes his score from the first and even rips-off his own Die Hard score in a couple of cues. This got worse in LW3.
The ending could have killed the series off had Riggs died, which is what Shane Black originally intended. We would have been spared the awful LW3 had this been so. But instead Riggs manages to fight off death and stay alive in Murtaughs arms despite being shot about 86 times. A nice touch having Bob Dylan's "Knockin' On Heaven's Door" playing over his potential last moments alive though.
After this the series became too comical and diluted. They SHOULD have killed him.
The HD-DVD shines with a beautiful 2.4:1 1080p image and has pretty damn good Dolby Digital+ sound. Extras are minimal I'm afraid. But still well worth the money.Cut by 31 secsReview date: 2004-12-30 Rating: 8 out of 10A great movie but like so many UK releases has been censored. The R1 US version and the R4 Australian Version are UNCUT! R4 editions are PAL format and do not require a region hack or multi region player.
LA's most destructive cops make a diamond returnReview date: 2004-12-29 Rating: 10 out of 10Mel Gibson and Danny Glover reprise their roles as destructive LA cops Martin Riggs and Roger Murtaugh. Also returning is the brilliant direction of Richard Donner, who weaves his combination of clever humour, rip-roaring action and well-placed emotion between friends to make all three work on a balanced scale. Obviously, the film is basically a saturday night action picture for all those action movie junkies out there, but Donner puts something resembling a plot into the film that makes it just that bit much enjoyable. So sit down with a big bucket of popcorn, a six-pack of Dr Pepper (my personal choice) and enjoy the sit through nigh-on two hours of blistering action that never fails to amaze, shock and surprise.Life-on-the-edge Riggs (Gibson) and stable family man Murtaugh (Glover) are back for a frantic second adventure that sees them pitted against a gang of ruthless South African drug smugglers, led by evil foreign diplomat Arjen Rudd (Ackland) and his cold-eyed henchman Pieter Vorstedt (O Connor). The film jumps straight into the action that sees Riggs and Murtaugh in pursuit of a two cars that have been 'stolen'. The chase ends up with two of the cars thieves escaping by helicopter and the other flipping over and ending up crashing through a shop's window. After the contents of the trunk are revealed to most of the LAPD, Riggs and Murtaugh know that the heat is back on, only this time turned up a notch.
While only wanting to bring Rudd and his Krugerand empire down, Riggs and Murtaugh are ordered to babysit Leo Getz (Pesci), who has been in business with the South Africans and tried to extort half a billion dollars from them, the favour is returned later in the film by Leo being brutually tortured by Vorstedt's gang of henchmen. Obviously, a film of this calibur wouldn't go with out a little bit of romance, and that's put in by Riggs falling for Rudd's secretary, Rika Van Den Hass (Kensit) who also takes a liking to Riggs's destructive personality. The film then ends the usual hollywood way, two men, heavily outnumbered by loads of thugs and henchmen armed with heavy weaponary, guess who comes out on top.
Overall, Lethal Weapon 2 does deliver on the fronts of action, humour, excitement and emotion, but fails on the romantic and one liners fronts. But then again, who needs romance in a movie wehen you have gun-blazing action to keep you company. Surprisingly, this is the worst in the series, but it still gets 5 stars for delivering the action sequences that made the series so famous.
Product Details/Specifications
Actor(s):
Mel Gibson
Joss Ackland
Patsy Kensit
Danny Glover
Joe Pesci
Creators:
Mel Gibson (Primary Contributor)
Danny Glover (Primary Contributor)
Richard Donner (Producer)
Jennie Lew Tugend (Producer)
Joel Silver (Producer)
Peter Frankfurt (Producer)
Jeffrey Boam (Writer)
Shane Black (Writer)
Warren Murphy (Writer)
Director(s):
Recording label: Warner Home Video Manufacturer: Warner Home VideoEAN: 7321900162906Binding: DVDNumber of items: 1Format: Director's Cut, PAL, Widescreen, Release date: 2001-10-29Number of discs: 1Aspect ratio: 2.35:1Audience rating: Suitable for 18 years and overRegion code: 2Running time: 109 minutesTheatrical release date: 1989-07-07Language: Afrikaans (Original Language)
Language: English (Original Language)