The first Lethal Weapon is a satisfying cop caper, directed with a sure, slick hand by that old studio pro Richard Donner. In case anyone needs a refresher: Martin Riggs (Mel Gibson) and Roger Murtaugh (Danny Glover) are Vietnam vets turned L.A. cops who have to figure out how to work together as they take on a heroin-smuggling ring run by ex-Special Forces (including a lean, mean Gary Busey).
Buy Lethal Weapon 4K UHDI’m not sure Lethal Weapon invented the buddy-cop movie (plenty of movies flirted—or more than flirted—with the formula before this), but it crystallized it.
Riggs is the wild card—an unstable, haunted guy with a mullet, a beach trailer, a dog, and not much holding him together. Oh, and he’s a one-man killing machine, too. Murtaugh’s the opposite: a by-the-book suburban dad who’s (in his words) “too old for this shit”—namely, his live-wire new partner and the violent situations into which they’re thrown. The arc of their partnership—mistrust that gives way to hard-earned loyalty—is the movie’s spine. And the chemistry between the two leads is magical. Nothing about their dynamic feels forced or cute. They’re just two guys, shaped by different lives, learning how to work side by side.
Shane Black’s script—sharpened by an uncredited polish from Jeffrey Boam—gives them plenty to chew on: crackling dialogue, real stakes, and characters that are internally consistent. Even Murtaugh’s family—usually an afterthought in a movie like this—is drawn with surprising warmth and texture. That grounding gives the movie its staying power. We care.
Donner keeps the action moving, but he’s never showy about it. He knows when to let a moment breathe, how to stage a shootout without losing the thread. The set pieces lean on practical stunts, and there’s always a clear sense of physical geography—you know where people are, what they’re reacting to. The chaos is clean.
What stands out now, watching the movie in 2025, is how unfussy it all feels. It’s fast, but not frantic. Flashy, but not smug. The L.A. locations seem lived-in—thanks in large part to Stephen Goldblatt’s saturated cinematography. And the tone stays just grounded enough for the emotional beats to land.
Not that Lethal Weapon isn’t a cartoonish ride—it is. But it’s a sharp, character-driven one. It’s got a heart. And it respects the viewer enough to slow down when it counts. Its aim (as with the rest of the Lethal Weapon franchise) is to entertain—and it does that just about perfectly.
A quick nod to the Michael Kamen, Eric Clapton and David Sanborn score, which bounces between yacht-slick noir (moody sax, jazzy guitar) and moody orchestral bursts. If a bag of coke scored a crime movie, it might sound like this.
The new 4K UHD Blu-ray from Warner Bros. includes both the theatrical and director’s cuts, but just two—count ‘em, two—special features: A Legacy of Inspiration: Remembering Dick Donner, and “I’m Too Old for This…”: A Chemistry That Became Iconic. That’s it. No Donner commentary track. No vintage extras. Pretty underwhelming for a movie this iconic.
Still, the image is cleaner than it’s ever been—especially compared to my drab old 1997 DVD—and while the 4K transfer doesn’t send a tingle up my leg, the audio delivers. The theatrical cut comes with a DTS-HD MA 2.0 track plus a new Dolby Atmos mix that packs a wallop; the director’s cut has Atmos only.
