Lethal Weapon 2 (1989)

Director:

Richard Donner

Writers (WGA):

Shane Black (characters)
Shane Black (story) ...

Release Date:

7 July 1989 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Comedy | Crime | Thriller

Tagline:

The magic is back!

Plot:

Riggs and Murtaugh are on the trail of South African diplomats who are using their immunity to engage in criminal activities.

Plot Keywords:

Police | Car | Chase | Consulate | Sequel

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 1 win

Cast

Mel Gibson	...	Martin Riggs
Danny Glover	...	Sergeant Roger Murtaugh
Joe Pesci	...	Leo Getz
Joss Ackland	...	Arjen Rudd
Derrick O'Connor	...	Pieter Vorstedt
Patsy Kensit	...	Rika van den Haas
Darlene Love	...	Trish Murtaugh
Traci Wolfe	...	Rianne Murtaugh
Steve Kahan	...	Captain Ed Murphy
Mark Rolston	...	Hans
Jenette Goldstein	...	Officer Meagan Shapiro
Dean Norris	...	Tim Cavanaugh
Juney Smith	...	Tom Wyler
Nestor Serrano	...	Eddie Estaban
Philip Suriano	...	Joseph Ragucci

Runtime:

114 min | Germany:108 min (cut version) | USA:118 min (director's cut)

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Afrikaans

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) | Dolby (35 mm prints)

Certification:

USA:R (certificate #29848) | Brazil:16 | Iceland:16 | Finland:K-15 (director's cut) | New Zealand:M | South Korea:15 | Argentina:16 | Australia:M | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:18A | Chile:18 | Finland:K-16 | France:U | Ireland:18 | Netherlands:12 | Norway:18 | Singapore:M18 | South Korea:18 (director's cut) | Sweden:15 | UK:15 (original rating) (cut) | UK:18 (video rating) (cut) | USA:Unrated (director's cut) | West Germany:16 | West Germany:18 (director's cut) | Thailand:R-14

Filming Locations:

2nd Street Tunnel, Downtown, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Silver Pictures

Trivia:

The "bomb in the toilet" sequence was used as an early teaser trailer for the movie. The trailer ended with the toilet landing on Murtaugh's car and the voice-over announcer saying "They're not taking any more crap!"

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: At the end of the opening chase, the BMW hits an oncoming police car and flips. There is clearly no one in the patrol car upon impact.

Quotes:

[after Riggs just destroyed a house on a cliff]
Roger Murtaugh: Riggs, you crazy son of a bitch!

Movie Connections:

Featured in Here's Looking at You, Warner Bros. (1991) (TV)

Soundtrack:

This I Swear

An action movie with heart

Many action flicks over the years have been called loud and dumb. This is no exception. The "Lethal Weapon" series has never been especially noted for its intellect but it has something that a lot of action films lack: heart. Mel Gibson and Danny Glover's winning chemistry created some of the most tender moments in the series and "Lethal Weapon 2" excels because they make the audience care about their characters. This movie is by far the best in the series with tones of moments registering directly to the viewer. Gibson and Glover provide these characters with depth that could easily have been lacking and the ending of this film leaves the audience actually feeling the love these two men have for each other. And, as a bonus, "Lethal Weapon 2" digs even deeper into one of the protagonist's past, shedding even more light as to why he is the way he is.