Lethal Weapon 2 (1989)
★★★½ — Lethal Weapon 2 (1989)
The toilet bomb scene alone is worth the price of admission. Riggs crouched on the floor, talking Murtaugh through one of the most absurd situations ever put to film, and somehow managing to make it both genuinely tense and absolutely hilarious at the same time. That's the trick Lethal Weapon 2 pulls off more often than it has any right to, and it's why, even with its flaws, I had a great time with it.
Mel Gibson and Danny Glover are still a joy to watch together. Their chemistry was the beating heart of the original, and it hasn't dimmed one bit here. If anything, the banter is sharper, more relaxed, like two mates who've stopped trying to impress each other and are just riffing. The "too old for this" routine gets wheeled out again, and I'm not even slightly tired of it. Glover delivers it with such weary, lived-in charm that it lands every single time.
But the real revelation here is Joe Pesci as Leo Getz. Loud, twitchy, never quite able to read a room, Leo barrels into every scene like a man who has genuinely no idea he's in an action film. He could easily have been a grating addition, but Pesci makes him irresistible. There's a chaotic energy to Leo that somehow meshes perfectly with Riggs' own brand of barely-controlled mayhem, and the condom commercial running gag pays off in a way that had me grinning like an idiot.
The plot itself is a step up in ambition from the original. Swapping the personal drama for a story involving South African diplomats hiding behind diplomatic immunity gives the film a broader canvas, and there's a genuine nastiness to the villains that keeps things from feeling too cartoonish. The action set pieces are bigger, louder and more explosive, which is exactly what a sequel should deliver. Richard Donner keeps the pace tight and never lets it drag.
That said, I'd be lying if I said it hit the same heights as Lethal Weapon. The first film had something special going on beneath all the noise. Riggs' grief, his death wish, Murtaugh's warmth pulling him back from the edge. It was genuinely moving in places, and that emotional core gave all the action real weight. This one leans harder into the comedy and spectacle, which is fun, but you do feel the trade-off.
Patsy Kensit's character is the clearest example of where the film falls short. She's underwritten to begin with, and her delivery doesn't do much to fill in the gaps. The film needs her relationship with Riggs to carry some emotional heft, particularly towards the end, but it never quite gets there. You feel the mechanics of the plot more than you feel anything real, and that's a problem the original never had.
None of that stops it being a thoroughly entertaining couple of hours, though. It's fast, funny, packed with memorable lines and moments, and Gibson and Glover remain one of cinema's great double acts. It just misses that perfect balance the first film struck almost without seeming to try.
Three and a half stars.
Rating: ★★★½ | Year: 1989 | Watched: 2025-08-30
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