Movie · 1987 · Action, Thriller, Crime · 1h 50m · R · English
Curator score: 6.6/10 (491.3K ratings)
If these two can learn to stand each other... the bad guys don't stand a chance.
Overview
A veteran cop and an unstable detective become partners who must put their differences aside in order to bring down a heroin-smuggling ring run by ex-Special Forces.
Ratings
Curator score: 6.6/10
IMDb: 7.6/10
Letterboxd: 3.74/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 82%
Metacritic: 68
TMDB: 7.3/10
Director
Richard Donner
Production
Silver Pictures, Warner Bros. Pictures
Cast
Mel Gibson, Danny Glover, Gary Busey, Mitchell Ryan, Tom Atkins, Darlene Love, Traci Wolfe, Jackie Swanson, Damon Hines, Ebonie Smith, Bill Kalmenson, Lycia Naff, Patrick Cameron, Don Gordon, Jimmie F. Skaggs, Jason Ronard, Blackie Dammett, Gail Bowman, Robert Fol, Selma Archerd
Curator Review
Verdict
A defining 80s buddy-cop action movie that balances hard-edged set pieces with real character chemistry and unexpected emotional weight. It’s influential, funny, and still works as both a thriller and a relationship movie.
Best for
fans of 80s action and crime thrillers
viewers who like mismatched-partner chemistry
people who enjoy gritty movies with humor and heart
holiday-season rewatchers looking for an unconventional Christmas movie
Skip if
you want modern pacing and cleaner action choreography
you’re sensitive to dated macho humor or 80s cop-movie attitudes
you prefer action films with minimal melodrama
Overview
Lethal Weapon is one of the key movies that turned the buddy-cop formula into a durable action template. It gives you the expected explosions, shootouts, and banter, but what makes it last is the emotional contrast between its two leads: one is a wounded chaos engine, the other a weary family man trying to hold his life together.
Worth noting
Richard Donner keeps the movie moving with sharp momentum, but the film’s real strength is how it lets trauma, grief, and trust sit right beside the genre mechanics. That balance makes it feel tougher and warmer than many of its imitators. The action is big, the dialogue is quotable, and the chemistry does most of the heavy lifting.
Bottom line
It’s also a very 1987 movie in the best and worst ways: stylish, muscular, and a little rough around the edges. If you want a foundational action film with personality, this is absolutely worth seeing. If you’re only here for sleek modern efficiency, it may feel a bit shaggy, but that shaggy energy is part of the appeal.
Top Letterboxd reviews
matt lynch (4.5★) · 856 likes
A few quick things on a movie I have been overthinking for 3+ decades.
I love that it's largely Murtaugh's story. He's the main character; Riggs is inflicted on him. Roger's never a mystery to us and Riggs is entirely unpredictable, not just the titular lethal weapon, duh, but truly an unstable danger. It's hard to remember that this collection of what would become laughable tropes was itself a response to same. It's like if someone with a DSM-IV and… more
Josh Lewis (4★) · 649 likes
"God hates me, that's what it is."
"Hate him back. It works for me."
SilentDawn (4★) · 490 likes
78
Two forces, diametrically opposed, stumbling through their own baggage while trying not to fuck shit up, whether that be personally or professionally. Full of classic action set-pieces and iconic dialogue - it's nonetheless the details that reinforce the dramatic strength of the modern buddy-cop template. Maybe I'm just nostalgic around the holidays but the ending had me tearing up.
Jade talks too much🎅🏻🎄 (5★) · 379 likes
Actually a perfect action movie.🎬🙌
The loudest soundtrack of all time.🎶‼️Aggressively blasts the Murtaugh Saxophone🎷& the Riggs guitar🎸 And that ‘Honeymoon Suite’ Title Track. Best song ever written.🤘
Really just a tribute to people who are sooo dramatic and also need therapy ASAP.Everyone should see this movie. It’s so good.👌
comrade_yui (5★) · 374 likes
really one of the most life-affirming films made in the hollywood system; so much of this is looking at suicide from a complex and empathic standpoint that doesn't simplify it into a cliché or an 'issue', but an aspect that exists right next to hotdog stands, christmas trees, and suburban bliss. gibson's a miracle-maker, suspending our emotions on a high-wire, but none of his punchlines would land if it wasn't for glover, whose soft dignity grounds the story amidst the… more really one of the most life-affirming films made in the hollywood system; so much of this is looking at suicide from a complex and empathic standpoint that doesn't simplify it into a cliché or an 'issue', but an aspect that exists right next to hotdog stands, christmas trees, and suburban bliss. gibson's a miracle-maker, suspending our emotions on a high-wire, but none of his punchlines would land if it wasn't for glover, whose soft dignity grounds the story amidst the… more