Lethal Weapon II

Whoops! Another sequel! What a surprise! Actually this picture reminded me of the later “Star Trek” films, not because of the subject matter, but because of the way the picture ignores its genre and comes out a comedy. There are some very funny lines here, and Joe Pesci is rightly acclaimed for his scene-stealing comic turn. But the plot (such as it is) is mindless, the action more James Bondian than ruthless (like in the original) and they have sort of scuttled the ship by turning Riggs into a typical nice guy tough guy (remember, it was the psychotic twist that kept things interesting in the first picture). Murtaugh's fear of Riggs is now more comic than scary, and of course the boys get to destroy the bad guys and avenge the deaths of loved ones more or less with impunity. I hear that Shane Black (who wrote the original and was reportedly paid half a mil for this sequel) had his script scrapped because he wanted Riggs to die at the end. As it is Riggs is badly wounded, but Murtaugh ends up holding his very-much-alive (and ready for number III no doubt) buddy in his arms, and the two of them fade out trading quips and chuckling. It's just as well they didn't kill Riggs; would have put a downer note on an otherwise giggly picture.