365 Days. 365 Films.

Lethal Weapon 2 is Lethal Weapon stripped of it’s dignity. It maintains it’s appeal as a classic buddy cop thriller but the criticism from the first movie would still apply. In this sequel, Riggs (Gibson) and Murtaugh (Glover) are investigating South African gangsters as they believe their diplomatic immunity to be an excuse…

The characterisation remains strong and the storyline is just as good as in the first film, but the lack of dignity comes from believing that extra comic relief was needed in the form of Joe Pesci. I love Joe Pesci more than the next person, but his character was entirely unnecessary in this film. His character was, presumably, intended to alienate what we know of Riggs and Murtaugh, as in the first film the main source of comedy was from the sheer differences between these two characters. By the end of Lethal Weapon this was exhausted and the characters were friends again, so what better way to take the piss than introducing a loud mouthed and obnoxious Joe Pesci to contrast both original characters from Pesci and also from each other… Didn’t work out as intended though.

I don’t know what to think of this film as it’s very similar to the first – the first film, although it was a little bit badly made, it was still an enjoyable film to watch in a mindless way, but this film has stretched it a bit too far I think and it was difficult to enjoy as much as the first, despite the directors desperate outreach as Pesci fans… Nonetheless and average film, and only slightly worse than the first…