Lethal Weapon 2 Revisited

Last Updated on February 8, 2023

Lethal Weapon was an unexpected smash when it came out in March of 1987. The film was such a sensation that it revitalized the buddy cop genre and made Mel Gibson a legitimate superstar. For the follow-up, Warner Bros would boost the budget, injecting more comedy into the mix and toning down the pathos and darkness of the original to deliver a sequel that was such a blast they threw it into the summer movie marketplace. It would become an even bigger hit than the original and one of the top-grossing movies of 1989. In this episode of Revisited (written by Cody Hamman, edited by Juan Jimenez, and narrated by Travis Hopson), we dig into the making of what’s considered one of the best sequels ever made: Lethal Weapon 2!

Directed by Richard Donner from a screenplay by Jeffrey Boam (working from a story by Shane Black and Warren Murphy), Lethal Weapon 2 has the following synopsis: South African smugglers find themselves being hounded and harassed by Riggs and Murtaugh, two mismatched Los Angeles police officers. However, the South Africans are protected by diplomatic immunity, and so the two are assigned to witness-protection duty in an attempt by their captain to keep his job. It is only when this witness reveals to them that he has already dealt with the smugglers that the trouble really starts.

Gibson is joined in the cast by Danny Glover, Joe Pesci, Joss Ackland, Derrick O’Connor, Patsy Kensit, Darlene Love, Steve Kahan, Mark Rolston, Jenette Goldstein, Dean Norris, Nestor Serrano, Grand L. Bush, Mary Ellen Trainor, and Traci Wolfe.