AJ Jorge March 25th, 2006
They started as Seargent Riggs (Mel Gibson) and Seargent Murtaugh (Danny Glover) and ended up as Captain Riggs and Captain Murtaugh. It was a blast watching the movie series again - this time consecutively and the Director’s Cut version. The classic scenes were relived once again during my marathon session. Unsurprisingly, the first movie gave me goosebumps while watching it. The first installment was released last ‘87 and I remember watching it in our trusty old betamax player. I can’t distinctly recall the plot of the story but I know the general twists and turns of the story. The Do you really wanna jump? scene is one of the highlights for me. But do you know the scene directly after that scene? Murtaugh confronted Riggs and condemned on how he handled the situation. Murtaugh gave his gun to Riggs and told him if he wanted to end his life, do it now. Now that scene was intense. You could almost sense that Riggs would never hesitate to pull the trigger and end his life just like that.
Roger Murtaugh: Okay, clown, no bullshit! You wanna kill yourself?
Martin Riggs: Oh, for Chriss-…
Roger Murtaugh: Shut up! Yes or no - you wanna die?
Martin Riggs: Oh, I got the job done! What the hell do you want?
Roger Murtaugh: JUST ANSWER THE QUESTION!
Martin Riggs: Well, what do you wanna hear, man? Do you wanna hear that sometimes I think about eatin’ a bullet? Huh? Well, I do! I even got a special bullet for the occasion with a hollow point, look! Make sure it blows the back of my goddamned head out and do the job right! Every single day I wake up and I think of a reason not to do it! Every single day! You know why I don’t do it? This is gonna make you laugh! You know why I don’t do it? The job! Doin’ the job! Now that’s the reason!
Part 2 introduced Joe Pesci as Leo Getz, the annoying whistler blower of a big time money laundering South African diplomats. The duo were assigned to protect Leo at all costs which of course was translated to baby sitting the poor guy. This is the movie where Murtaugh was stuck in the toilet while taking a poo when he found out that there is a bomb beneath him. The “on three” dialogues was also first used here.
Martin Riggs: On 3, what do ya say?
Roger Murtaugh: Okay.
Martin Riggs: One… two…
Roger Murtaugh: Wait, wait, wait!
Martin Riggs: What?
Roger Murtaugh: Do we do it on three? Or one, two, three, then do it?
Martin Riggs: It’s your ass, Cochise!
Roger Murtaugh: My ass, yeah. On three.
Martin Riggs: We go on three?
Roger Murtaugh: Yeah.
Part 3 introduced Rene Russo as Lorna Cole, the love interest of Riggs. There were two memorable scenes here. One was when Riggs and Lorna are bragging about their scars acquired from the line of duty. They showed one after the other the wounds in their bodies and ended up having an intimate scene. The other scene for me was the way the big boss goon died. The big boss was driving a bulldozer towards a fallen Riggs and Riggs can’t get a clear shot of him. Murtaugh threw him a gun with a ‘cop killer’ bullet. Riggs shot through the bulldozer and killed the big boss on the process. It was probably a lame scene but somehow it was etched in my mind.
Part 4 introduced Chris Rock as Sgt. Butters and Jet Li as Wah Sing Ku. Jet Li is part of the Chinese triad and is trying to set free his four fathers. Easily, the most memorable scene here is when Leo and Butters were into a conversation regarding telephone companies trying to extort the consumers.
Lee Butters: Somebody took my phone number and called Afghanistan. Afghanistan. I’ve never talked to anyone in Afghanistan, I don’t know nobody in Afghanistan, and even if did know anyone, I wouldn’t talk to that Afghan ass for three hours. I won’t talk to my daddy for three hours.
The other is the hand to hand fight scene between Riggs, Murtaugh and Wah Sing Ku. Probably one of the best fight sequences in the whole series. The two policemen even contemplated on just walking away than facing a pissed off Jet Li. Jet Li’s performance is awesome. He said in one interview that it was the first time he played a bad guy in a movie and was very glad to have been part of the Lethal Weapon series.
All in all, after watching the whole series again, I would say that the best among the four is a toss up between one and four. It has been said time and again that nothing beats the original, but in this case, part 4 comes in so close. The franchise lived up to it’s expectation of action movie filled with comedy and witty one-liners. Danny Glover and Mel Gibson’s on screen chemistry is one of the best in the entire Hollywood films.
I love these Disney classics. Most of the time I have the ‘101 Dalmatians’ cartoon playing in the background, now I have an alternative. Though I don’t fancy felines as much as I do canines, watching ‘Aristocats’ is the one time I love them.
