“I don’t make things complicated. That’s the way they get, all by themselves.”

Justin’s rating: I have a friend who absolutely loathes the sax. This movie’s soundtrack would make her head implode.

Justin’s review: In a decade absolutely packed wall-to-wall with buddy cop movies, only one sits at the top of the heap as the undisputed champion. And that film is, of course, Turner and Hooch. But there’s plenty of room to vie for the number two spot, and call me old fashioned, but I’ve always been partial to Lethal Weapon for that honor.

Maybe it’s because it was one of the first R-rated ’80s movies I saw, and it really made an impression about how hard it was willing to go for a action crime thriller. At least in the first two films in the series (my memory is hazy for three and four), the bad guys are legitimately powerful, threatening, and ruthless. Heck, they even got Gary Busey in this first one in perhaps the only role I’ve ever enjoyed seeing him play. And I’m not convinced he was acting so much as just being Gary Busey.

OK so before we dig into this, let me ask: How come nobody ever argues if Lethal Weapon is a Christmas movie like we do with Die Hard? It opens on a Christmas jingle and is rife with seasonal decorations and caroling cops. So maybe we can argue about this over the dinner table next December?

Lethal Weapon eases us into the lives of two detectives bound to meet and become best of best friends. Murtaugh (Danny Glover) is a middle-aged family man who feels like he’s getting to old for this shtick. Riggs (Mel Gibson) is an ex-special forces assassin who’s become suicidally unhinged after the death of his wife. I find it interesting that both are portrayed as being Vietnam veterans, so they got that going for their budding relationship.

Thrown together against both of their wills, Murtaugh and Riggs find that they actually work very well together. And they’re going to need all of that chumminess to tackle a vicious drug smuggling ring that isn’t above some sanctioned murder, torture, and harsh language to accomplish their goals.

What these bad guys weren’t counting on, however, was an incredibly bullheaded detective who wants to avenge his friend and a partner with nothing left to lose. They’re going to take more than a few hits and setbacks before all is said and done, but the drug lords are going to get it worse.

This Richard Donner-directed, Shane Black-written story is an impeccable piece of storytelling. It oozes with sleazy ’80s LA vibes and cops that plow through every trope in the book on their way to the end credits. Sometimes it feels exploitative, sometimes implausible, but it is almost always compelling viewing.

It’s just a little bit of everything: Memorable quips, loud shootouts, Riggs’ odd behavior, Christmas theming, and an unfolding mystery. But it’s truly Glover and Gibson’s chemistry that elevated this above the sleaze. They’re the yin-yang that they didn’t know they were missing: Riggs is the youth that Murtaugh fears he’s losing, and Murtaugh represents the stable family that Riggs missed dearly.

And dang it if Lethal Weapon doesn’t escalate beautifully in its final 20 minutes. We’re talking sniper assaults, blood squibs flying everywhere, electro-shock torture, a cross-city chase, and a glorious martial arts bout in showering water. Rewatching this again recently, I was just as impressed as seeing it all the way back as a teen.

This really is a bromance movie at its heart, long before we used that silly term. It’s two best buds against the world that’s against them — and it’s only the power of friendship and a whole lot of bullets that’ll see them through the day.

Intermission!

• You ever notice that when a movie shows someone jumping to their death from a skyscraper, they always land on a car and never, say, on the sidewalk or a fence? Always with the car damage, these movies.
• All dads love to be surprised on their birthday by the entire family while completely naked in the tub
• Fun trivia: Danny Glover was only 41 in this movie, although his character is portrayed as being 50.
• Less fun trivia: Now I feel very old.
• So much nudity in the first 10 minutes
• I like how this film lets us get to know the main characters’ quirks and background without rushing it
• The sniper scene is excellent
• “You’re one psycho son of a bitch, but you’re good.”
• Drug dealers are willing to give you the best tree on their lot
• Nice Three Stooges slaps
• She is a very pointy psychologist
• It’s 26 minutes before these two meet
• “God hates me, that’s what it is.”
• The lighter arm trick
• That looks like a really fun jumping pad: “Let’s go again!”
• When Murtaugh slams the door so hard it just keeps on going, that amuses me
• The super-chunky old cell phone pack
• “Read him his rights and I’ll stand over here being happy.”
• That guy drowned super quick
• Beatboxing!
• Prostitutes make good TV viewing buddies
• “What time is it?” “Daytime.”
• “Come on get up, we got to catch bad guys.”
• The firing range happy face
• Go-Bots name drop
• Air America name drop
• Attack helicopters are the least subtle way to assassinate someone
• “Not anymore, I’m going to burn it down.”
• I admire that Riggs emptied out two full magazines at the chopper
• Never thought about it before, but Riggs wears full tan clothes when he’s doing the sniper thing in the desert, that’s clever camo
• Literal salt in the wound
• “There’s no more heroes in the world.”
• “General McAllister, time for you to die.”
• Maybe don’t fill up your getaway car with grenades the next time?
• We next see Glover and Busey together in Predator 2