Movie Review: Lethal Weapon (1987)

Lethal Weapon stars Mel Gibson and Danny Glover and in my mind, it's one of the most overlooked movies of the present time. Lethal Weapon is a buddy-cop movie from the 1980s. Not Police Academy, but something with really good character development. The film revolves around Danny Glover's character, trying to celebrate his birthday while also solving the murder of a porn-star. Mel Gibson's character, a suicidal rookie cop is partnered with Glover's role, and the two begin a very typical film bond. What I mean by that is that this movie has the typical personalities that one might encounter in a cop movie. One cop who's seen it all has been partnered with one who has seen nothing, but thinks he's seen everything. We see this in a wide range of movies: Beverly Hills Cop is a great example. Surprisingly, Se7en also had that dynamic between Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman. The two roles are frequently used because it allows for the two personalities to "bounce" off of each other. Which is the key to the excellent quality of this movie. These two roles are so well played by Danny Glover and Mel Gibson, that it creates for a fascinating on-screen character relationship between these two different characters. As they solve this crime, they're both warming up to each other and both of their characters....at the same time....arch. That's really hard to do and the best thing about it is that this film makes it look easy. Another reason that Lethal Weapon is also really interesting to watch, is because of the setting. This movie takes place during the Christmas holidays. Which makes the character archs even more likely. It's a christmas movie without being directly about christmas. It isn't even a subplot, it's a background. That's all it is. It's almost as if the bird in the background of your latest vacation photo speaks volumes to the pics of you. Overall, Lethal Weapon is a great movie because of the fact that the characters mirror each other and the fact that the archs are so carefully designed...not to mention awe-inspired cinematography. Three stars.