Released: 1989
Directed By: Richard Donner
Written By: Richard Donner, Joel Silver
Starring: Mel Gibson, Danny Glover, Joe Pesci
Rating: R
Rent or Buy?: BUY
Story:
�The Magic Is Back�
Following a routine drug bust in downtown Los Angeles, LAPD cops Martin Riggs and Roger Murtaugh find the trunk of the car they�re pursuing filled with $1 million in Krugerrands. Meanwhile, the man behind the drugs, South African consulate member Arjen Rudd kills Hans (the driver of the car) for failure. He then instructs his right-hand man Pieter Vorstedt to send a warning to the police to get them to back off. Vorstedt carries this order out by breaking into Murtaugh�s house and duct-taping him and his wife Trish to the bed and threatening them with
death if the cops don�t back off.
Meanwhile, Murtaugh and Riggs are ordered to protect Leo Getz until the Feds arrive. Leo had laundered a half a billion dollars in drug money for the South Africans. A South African consulate member breaks into Leo�s hotel room and tries to kill him, but Riggs knocks him through the window and in the process himself and Leo out the window too, seven floors down to the swimming pool where the South African escapes.
Leo fills in Roger and Riggs on the South Africans he laundered the money for and they decide to pay them a visit. In an attempt to arrest them, Rudd informs Riggs that he and his consulate members have diplomatic immunity and cannot be detained or arrested.
Riggs receives a message from the police station that Roger hasn�t shown up for work and isn�t answering his phone. Leo and Riggs go to house to find him trapped on the toilet with a bomb attached to it and a message on the paper saying �BOOM, YOU�RE DEAD.� The bomb squad is called in and Roger escapes alive (though his bathroom is in shambles)
Roger and Leo create a distraction at the consulate allowing Riggs to break into Rudd�s office and steal a piece of stationary with the words �ALBA VARDEN � THRUSDAY� on it. Riggs then meets up with the consulate secretary Rika Van Dan Hass and invites her over for dinner.
Rudd in the meantime discovers the stationary paper missing and sends Vorstedt to declare war on the police. He shoots one cop in the face at home, attaches a bomb to another�s diving board, and rigs another�s stereo to explode during a poker game.
Roger realizes that he�s heard the name �Alba Varden� before and decides to check his home movies for it, leaving Leo in the car. While waiting, South Africans carjack Roger�s car and kidnap Leo. Two more break into Roger�s house, but he is able to kill them both.
While having sex with Rika, South Africans attack Riggs� trailer with a helicopter and automatic weapons. Riggs is able to kill them all with just his Berreta and drives Rika home, telling her to quit her job in the morning. As he is leaving, he is knocked unconscious by Vorstedt and taken to the dock.
At the dock, Vorstedt reveals to Riggs that when Riggs was a narc on Long Beach, the cops were getting to close to the South Africans so they put a contract out on them. Vorstedt had driven Riggs� car off the road, but only Riggs� wife was inside. He had killed his wife. Vorstedt then ties Riggs up in chains and tosses him into the water. Riggs though dislocates his shoulder enabling him to struggle out of the straightjacket. Underwater though he sees Rika. . .drowned to death. Riggs gets out of the water, relocates his shoulder and kills the 2 South African
henchmen.
He calls Roger at the police station telling him he�s going to the consulate�s stilt house with plans to destroy them. Roger meets him there and the shooting begins. Roger rescues Leo and kills the henchmen, but Vorstedt is able to get away. Riggs tears the house from its foundation with his truck and sends Leo in Roger�s car back to the police station. Roger and Riggs then head for the docks and the Alba Varden.
Inside a large cargo container, Riggs and Roger find it filled with drug money and a car. They rig the car to drive out of the container, destroying the money with it. Rudd orders them dead. Riggs and Roger are able to defeat most of the henchmen. Just as Riggs turns around, a knife flies into the claf, thrown by Vorstedt. A fight ensues with Riggs stabbing Vorstedt with the knife and dropping a cargo container on him. . .instantly killing him. Thinking they�ve won, Riggs relaxes, only to be shot from up above by Rudd. Seriously wounded, Riggs falls to the deck. Roger aims his gun at Rudd, but Rudd whips out his diplomatic credentials. Roger decides he can�t hide
behind those anymore and shoots a bullet into his brain. Riggs struggles to survive his wounds and eventually does as the LAPD arrives at the docks.
Kyle Haight's Review:
I believe this movie surpases the original movie in terms of story. There�s a bit more comedy in this movie than in the original that spliced nicely together with the action sequences. A lot more graphic in this movie compared to the original �Lethal Weapon� like when Riggs stabs Vorstedt in the final duel, but it doesn�t cross the line like a lot of action movies do. All around good and a strong entry into the �Lethal Weapon� story. Look for a short clip of �Wheel of Fortune� on Leo�s TV in the hotel scene.
* * 3/4 stars out of 4
Hilarious/Memorable Quotes:
Roger Murtaugh: (Riggs has told the cops to watch his daughter�s commerical and Roger�s just found out it�s a condom commercial) Cops never let up, you know that. There�ll be rubbers in my desk, rubbers in the coffee. Rubbers, rubbers, rubbers. If only you�d kept your mouth shut, but no, you had to go tell everybody.
Martin Riggs: Well give the guys a break. It�s in one ear out the rubber.
***
Captain Ed Murphy: (Riggs is smoking in his office) Hey Riggs, you know what that says? (Tosses him a sign that says �No Smoking�)
Martin Riggs: (points at another �No Smoking� sign) Yeah, same thing as that, but I don�t give a fuck.
Roger Murtaugh: You�re lucky. I have to live with that.
***
Leo Getz: Who is it?
Martin Riggs: Police. Open up.
Leo Getz: How do I know it�s the police?
Martin Riggs: After I shoot you through the door you can examine the bullet. Open up!
***
Leo Getz: (his Subway order is wrong) Can I give you guys a friendly piece of advice? Don�t ever go to the drive thru! Always walk up to the counter! You know why? Okay, okay, okay! They FUCK you at the drive thru, okay? They FUCK you at the drive thru. They know you�re gonna be miles away before you find out you got FUCKED, okay! So they don�t care, so who gets fucked? Ole� Leo Getz!
***
Roger Murtaugh: Tell me I�m not fucked.
Martin Riggs: He�s fucked.
***
Roger Murtaugh: Of course I�m black! That�s why I want to go to South Africa. To join up with my oppressed brothers. To take on the tierney of the racist, fascist, white minority regeime!
Leo Getz: Fascist, white regeime!
Roger Murtaugh: One man, one vote!
Leo Getz: One man, one vote!
Roger Murtaugh: Free South Africa ya dumb son of a bitch!
Leo Getz: You dumb son of a bitch.
***
Arjen Rudd: Whose the �dick-head� now, eh?