Lethal Weapon 2 is a 1989 action film directed by Richard Donner, and starring Mel Gibson, Danny Glover, Joe Pesci, Derrick O'Connor and Joss Ackland. It is the first sequel to the 1987 film Lethal Weapon.
The movie was nominated for Best Sound Editing.
Plot
After a furious car chase, the culprit's car, a red BMW, crashes and LAPD officers Martin Riggs and Roger Murtaugh discover the trunk is full of South African Krugerrands (gold coins which were illegal in the U.S. due to the South African apartheid government). Murtaugh is subesquently threatened at his home by South African thugs dressed in black hoods, and Murtaugh and Riggs wonder if this is related to the find of the Krugerrands. (The thugs' racist behavior towards Murtaugh is a clear metaphor for the apartheid government's abuse through its racial segregation in the country.) Murtaugh reveals to Riggs that the person who spoke had a "strange" accent that did not sound British or even German, but a guttural one.
When Murtaugh and Riggs are assigned to protect a Federal witness, Leo Getz (played by Joe Pesci), they discover Getz has been doing business for South African drug smugglers. The drug smugglers are led by Arjen Rudd, who is the minister of diplomatic affairs for the South African consulate in Los Angeles (and so enjoys diplomatic immunity), and his enforcer Vorstedt.
After an unsuccessful attempt to arrest the culprits, Riggs and Murtaugh begin to initiate psychological warfare. While Leo and Murtaugh distract the guards at the embassy, Riggs infiltrates the building and catches the name "Alba Varden", a name that seemed familiar to Murtaugh. Following this, Riggs begins systematically provoking Rudd, hoping for him to blow his temper and thus his cover. But during this Riggs falls for Rudd's secretary, Rika Van Den Haas (Patsy Kensit), who does not care for Rudd.
In retaliation for the interference of Riggs and Murtaugh in their matters, Vorstedt and his men kill Riggs' and Murtaugh's co-officers. Murtaugh narrowly repels an assassination attempt when viewing an old home-made video trying to find out what the Alba Varden is, only to find out that Leo Getz was kidnapped while sitting in Murtaugh's car unattended.
After being captured by Vorstedt, Riggs learns how his wife Vicky really died: Vorstedt tried to murder Martin Riggs in 1984 because in his investigations at that time Riggs had strayed too close to their affairs but inadvertently killed Victoria instead and made the murder look like an accident. Vorstedt attempts to kill Riggs by throwing him into the harbor bay in a straightjacket; Riggs manages to escape by dislocating his shoulder (the result of an old injury), but finds Rika nearby, drowned.
Shortly after saving Getz, Murtaugh and Riggs exact a bloody revenge against the drug smugglers on their cargo ship, the "Alba Varden". In the process, Vorstedt and Riggs get into a violent fight. Riggs stabs Vorstedt with his own knife and leaves him for dead, but Vorstedt grabs a gun and aims it at Riggs. In the nick-of-time, Riggs exacts his revenge by pressing a button on a control panel, which releases a metal container which crushes Vorstedt.
Rudd appears behind Riggs and shoots him several times. Murtaugh sees this and aims his gun at Rudd. Rudd then exclaims, "Diplomatic immunity!" and holds up his ID. Murtaugh responds by shooting Rudd in the head and utters: "It's just been revoked!"
Murtaugh goes to Riggs to find that, though critically wounded, his partner is still alive. The two buddies laugh and joke as the sirens come for them in the background.
Production
Development
In the original script (written by a reluctant Shane Black), the South Africans were even more vicious. At one point, they even torture Riggs in much the same manner as Mr. Joshua in the original. And the ending climaxed with a distraught Riggs dying after the wounds delivered from Arjen Rudd. The character of Rika was originally intended to survive, with the last scene in the movie being Riggs and Rika eating Thanksgiving dinner with the Murtaughs, but the director decided to kill the character to increase Riggs' motivation to destroy the South Africans. The scenes of her rescue and the finale with her were shot, but not used. When the original Shane Black screenplay was changed he left the series. The rewrites that resulted in the final film are by Warren Murphy, co-creator of Remo Williams (the lead character of The Destroyer novels) and Jeffrey Boam (screenwriter for Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and The Lost Boys).
The film was the debut of Leo Getz (Joe Pesci), a crooked but whistleblowing CPA who is placed in protective custody by Riggs and Murtaugh, and makes the detectives' lives a living hell due to his neurotic behavior. The Getz character remained a regular throughout the remainder of the series.
At two points in the film, Riggs intentionally dislocates his shoulder in order to get out of a straitjacket and then slams it back into place. This becomes a running gag not only throughout the series, but also throughout a lot of parody movies.
Filming
Patsy Kensit as Rika van den Haas
The scene where Riggs is on the road outside Arjen's stilt house and grabs onto the front of the truck (the same scene with the surfboard killing a driver) was filmed on March 21st, 1989. A featurette on this scene can be viewed in the DVD Special Featurette on action and stunt sequences.
The opening chase sequence was filmed on November 28th, 1988 according to the "Behind the Scenes" feature within the DVD's Special Features.
Patsy Kensit described her sex scene with Mel Gibson as having been very uncomfortable to act out. She stated that the reason was that she and Gibson were "both married" and "both Catholics."
The Star Wars series and Ghostbusters notwithstanding (which were released some years before), the film was among the first of the summer blockbusters to feature the 'title only' style of opening that would become an established feature of 'event' movies from that point on.
Soundtrack
The soundtrack was compiled, written and performed by Michael Kamen and Eric Clapton.
The track list released commercially is as follows:[1]
- "Cheer Down" - George Harrison
- "Still Cruisin' (After All These Years)" - The Beach Boys
- "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" - Randy Crawford/Eric Clapton/David Sanborn
- "Riggs"
- "The Embassy"
- "Riggs and Roger"
- "Leo"
- "Goodnight Rika"
- "The Stilt House"
- "The Shipyard/Knockin' on Heaven's Door"
The soundtrack also includes "I'm Not Scared" performed by Eighth Wonder and "Since I Don't Have You", "This I Swear", "Lonely Way", "How Much" and "Believe Me" performed by The Skyliners[2] however these are not included on the soundtrack album. The inclusion of Eighth Wonder in the soundtrack is notable as leader singer Patsy Kensit also appears in a major role in the movie.
Reception
The movie was the third most successful movie of 1989 (after Batman and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade), earning nearly $150 million domestically and $80.6 million overseas. The movie received mostly positive reviews, although not as many as the original. Nevertheless, it carefully avoided repeating the original story by bringing in new characters and setting up new directions.
Despite being an overtly anti-Apartheid film and being dismissed by the then South African Consul General in Los Angeles as "an awful film", Lethal Weapon 2 was released uncut in South Africa and was a box-office success, though greeted with amusement.
Mel Gibson, Danny Glover and Richard Donner have all stated that this is their favorite film of the Lethal Weapon series.
Alternate versions
Some broadcasts of the movie on UK television remove scenes showing Riggs fighting and killing the two men on the dock after he climbs out of the water even though the film carries an 18 rating with the scenes intact. The deleted scenes show Riggs first breaking a man's neck and then slamming a car door on another man's head. The final fight with Vorstedt's is trimmed down removing the depiction of large amounts of blood. The sequence where he empties a full magazine into one of the villains is also shortened. The movie was however broadcast uncut by Channel 4 on May 17th 2007 and again on FilmFour on July 3rd and July 7th 2007.
Influence
- In the Family Guy episode "E. Peterbus Unum", in which Peter discovers his home is not a part of American soil, he sings a parody of MC Hammer’s song "U Can't Touch This" and mentions that he can’t be busted by the police for littering, claiming: “just like the bad guy from Lethal Weapon 2, I’ve got diplomatic immunity.”
- The scene at the end of the movie where Murtaugh shoots Rudd in the head was spoofed in the Family Guy episode "Lois Kills Stewie", where Peter shoots Stewie in the head with a revolver, and says "...it's just been revoked," even though the line made no sense in the situation (which Brian points out to Peter, prompting him to change it to "I'll have what she's having," from the movie When Harry Met Sally).
- Die Hard 2: Die Harder - In the scene where Holly gets off the phone on the plane after talking to John, the old lady sitting next to her is reading a magazine where you can clearly see Mel Gibson and Danny Glover in an ad for Lethal Weapon 2. Another Die Hard 2 reference is the title-only opening at the beginning of Lethal Weapon 2. Die Hard 2 was released just a year after Lethal Weapon 2.
External references
- Danny Glover, a human rights activist, had starred in the made-for-TV film Mandela, as Nelson Mandela himself, just two years earlier in 1987; the film's antagonists are South Africans as in Lethal Weapon 2.
- When Danny Glover and his family gather around the TV to watch his daughter's commercial, on the TV before is an episode of the television show Tales from the Crypt, specifically the episode "And All Through the House", which aired on June 10th, 1989 — of which Richard Donner is an executive producer and has directed several episodes. The particular episode playing was directed by Robert Zemeckis and starred Mary Ellen Trainor, who plays the police department psychiatrist, a recurring role in the series.
Miscellanea
- Rudd, as a consul, would have limited consular immunity which would not protect him from crimes not related to his official duties.
- Joe Pesci says the word "Okay" a total of 108 times in this film.
References and notes
See also
External links
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