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Lethal Weapon 2 poster

Lethal Weapon 2

year 1989decade 80sdirector Richard Donnergenre Actiongenre Comedygenre Crimegenre Thriller

114 minutes

Cast

Selected cast credits · Film reference

Mel Gibson Martin Riggs
Danny Glover 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 Murphy
Jenette Goldstein Meagan Shapiro
Dean Norris Tim Cavanaugh
Nestor Serrano Eddie Estaban
Grand L. Bush Jerry Collins
Jack McGee Carpenter

Lethal Weapon 2 | The Rewatchables

host Bill Simmonshost Chris Ryanhost Van Lathan
Explore episodeClose episode

Producer credits not yet identified.

Most Rewatchable Scene

The toilet scene

In the discussion (23)
Approx. transcript time · 00:35:49Read transcript
  • Some action movies are best joined 25 minutes in, like 48 hours or Die Hard, but this one should be joined from the opening credits.
  • The opening car chase shows Gibson running, placing him as the Usain Bold of actors in a final against Robert Patrick after Tom Cruise's semifinal loss; John David Washington, Snipes and Eddie Murphy are also named as good runners.
  • Station scenes are loved: the cops betting and the bet called off over the station wagon, and the rubbers gag.
  • The straitjacket shoulder-dislocation bet is a terrible example for impressionable teens, shows his athleticism and pain tolerance, and is Chekhov's shoulder dislocation because it returns when he is almost drowned.
  • The psychiatrist popping up is like Jimmy Cricket; if Riggs endures that pain for a bet, imagine what he will endure for something righteous.
  • The chili scene is not the most rewatchable but is really important for the Riggs character and why the movie is special.
  • Pesci arrives, followed by an evil 80s room-service guy with a mullet who is obviously a South African villain.
  • The pool drop is a great 80s stunt that ups the ante on the first movie's pool shootout.
  • The house-bust car chase and surfboard are among about four scenes with a beginning, middle, end and money shot.
  • The original trailer was just the toilet scene, and it worked.
  • The toilet bomb is one of the great action premises; he sat 12 to 18 hours, the smell is never addressed, and he noticed the bomb when reaching for toilet paper.
  • A complaint follows that this was going to be the speaker's most rewatchable scene and the romance is being taken out of it.
  • 'Guys like you don't die on toilets' is called one of the better lines, and Riggs refuses to leave.
  • The unspoken 'I love you' between the partners, said with the eyes, reminds a host of his dad; Shane Black 'just got it' and the leads play like a symphony.
  • The escape is ludicrous but set up so it seems possible; in reality they would have concussions and hearing issues, which was flagged as a nitpick.
  • Gibson breaking into the office ('it's the master race'), shooting the fish tank and 'pick them up with your hands' are loved.
  • Gibson's trailer getting shot up is a great action scene, and during the escape he asks what she is doing Saturday.
  • The underwater image of the dead girlfriend sticks in the brain like the head in Jaws.
  • Riggs yanks the stilt house down, a great pickup-truck ad; per a Premiere November 1989 breakdown it cost $500,000 and used a replica house.
  • The Gibson versus 'Adolf' fight and Glover's diplomatic immunity revocation close it out; one host has about 12 scenes.
  • Added: the drop cloth scene.
  • Added: 'They fuck you at the drive-thru', so good it was brought back with cell phones; it made one host averse to drive-thrus.
  • The toilet scene is named for most rewatchable, partly because it also has so many nitpicks.

What’s Aged the Best?

Rubber-plant condom joke; young Dean Norris and Nestor Serrano; blond Hitler-haired henchman; South African accents; Joss Ackland; Patsy Kensit; Eric Clapton soundtrack; decision not to kill Riggs; Pesci's introduction; nail guns

In the discussion (14)
Approx. transcript time · 00:56:08Read transcript
  • The condom material with the daughter paying off in the rubber-plant joke is classic cop humor.
  • Seen on cable as a kid, a dad laughed with his entire soul at the condom scene; the joke only made sense years later; a room full of cops is the right setting.
  • Young Dean Norris, with a little hair, and Nestor Serrano cruising around.
  • The bad guy with the blond Hitler hair; a wispy mustache would have been too on the nose.
  • The South African accents get special applause ('who is the dickhead now, eh?').
  • Asked why no South African accent was attempted, the reply is that South African is hard to do. — Chris Ryan
  • Joss Ackland, the Russian diplomat in Hunt for Red October, is good with a variety of accents.
  • Patsy Kensit does a great job, though notes follow about her character having no apparent culpability for working there; she looks great.
  • She faced a tough crowd in Michelle Pfeiffer's golden age, with Greta Scotchy and Meg Ryan also around; a high-school argument over Scotchy versus Kensit is recalled.
  • Kensit married Liam Gallagher and was originally a singer in a band.
  • The soundtrack: Eric Clapton does the guitar work and there is a George Harrison song.
  • The decision not to have Riggs die, financially.
  • The introduction of Pesci, like a microwave scorer off the bench, injects adrenaline and breaks into the Riggs-Murtaugh chemistry.
  • Nail guns: this was the first time seeing one, and with Snoop in The Wire nail guns aged really well.

What’s Aged the Worst?

'Nailed them both' pun; overlong love story; Donald Trump reference; Riggs's dive-and-roll bullet dodging; villains having killed Riggs's wife; rule-breaking police propaganda; Mel Gibson

In the discussion (10)
Approx. transcript time · 01:01:30Read transcript
  • The nail-gun scene's shoehorned 'nailed them both' is the worst version of bad 80s action puns.
  • The love story runs maybe three minutes too long, though the movie is under two hours.
  • A random Donald Trump reference.
  • The number one choice: Riggs's bullet avoidance of diving and flipping, which would still get him shot, especially by a machine gun.
  • The South Africans having killed Riggs's wife is unneeded: the girlfriend's death is motivation enough to pull down the stilt house.
  • Agreement, likened to the New Jack City reveal that Nino Brown killed Scotty's mom.
  • Perhaps it gave Riggs closure, but the wife dying in a random accident on the one night he didn't drive her is more affecting.
  • The movie is classic propaganda: Riggs has no warrant and they break every policing rule now being reformed.
  • Mel Gibson himself, again: 'Why, Mel?', spoiling his other movies.
  • The wife-killing reveal could have been saved as the plot of Lethal Weapon 3.

The Joey Pants “That Guy” Award

In the discussion (5)
Approx. transcript time · 01:06:53Read transcript
  • Joss Ackland wins, known by face from Hunt for Red October long before his name.
  • Special shout-out to Boggs from Shawshank, shot early by the South Africans, also in Aliens.
  • Jeanette Goldstein is the cop who dies on the diving board, also Edward Furlong's mother and Vasquez in Aliens.
  • All the cops could be called that guys: the curly-haired black cop is in Die Hard and another is in Babel.
  • Jack McKee, the construction worker at Murtaugh's house, competes most with Ackland; he is in The Paper and Rescue Me.

Apex Mountain

Danny Glover; Richard Donner; Patsy Kensit; Evil South Africans; Houses on stilts; Ramses condoms; Diving board bombs; Varsity jackets

In the discussion (13)
Approx. transcript time · 01:09:17Read transcript
  • Gibson is still probably not at Apex; this movie let him do whatever he wanted in the 90s, but it is still Braveheart.
  • Glover: yes.
  • Theory: the movies aged Glover about 30 years in our subconscious although he was 43, taking him out of contention for roles he could have played. — Van Lathan
  • He has appeared in about 200 movies, around 100 since 2000.
  • Predator 2 was supposed to be his star turn, but Murtaugh is feeble and he got trapped by the character; Angels in the Outfield maybe broke out a little.
  • Richard Donner: probably yes; he owned the movie and won the battle for the franchise's soul over Shane Black's darker idea.
  • Patsy Kensit: obviously. Evil South Africans: gotta be. Houses on stilts: bad things happen in them, absolutely.
  • Ramsey's condoms: no better moment for the brand, though it had a run before Trojans overtook it; jokes follow about the pharaoh name.
  • Separated shoulders: this might be it, though Emmett Smith and Breeze coming back are raised as other cases.
  • Diving board bombs: definitely; the effect does not look CG.
  • Nail guns: no; Snoop in The Wire made them more important.
  • Mid-nits, a missed Apex Mountain item is raised; asked what it was, the answer is Bellflower, prompting mention of a separate movie called Bellflower.
  • Forgotten Apex pick: varsity jackets, an era started by Eddie Murphy with Riggs having his version; they look great, though hot to wear in LA.

Sequel, Prequel, Limited Series, or All-Black Remake

Obviously not; hype-house prank spinoff next to the South African consulate

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 01:19:17Read transcript
  • As a 10-episode Netflix show: obviously not.
  • The Lethal Weapon TV series came and went.
  • If playing with the IP: a hype house with Logan and Jake pranking a South African consulate next door.

Who Won the Movie?

In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 01:24:25Read transcript
  • Joe Pesci won the movie: Riggs obviously wins, but the vote goes to Pesci like the Heisman vote that went to Charles Woodson over Peyton Manning. — Van Lathan
  • The time-out for saying Pesci was better here than in Goodfellas is raised again; the reply blames jet lag and regrets it.
  • Gibson is the right answer, but the title is vacated like Reggie Bush's, so there is no winner. — Chris Ryan
  • Pesci makes the movie; a joke follows about the vacated title going to Danny Glover.
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