Lethal Weapon Part 2: "Free South Africa you dumb son of a bitch!!"

Right OK so now onto part 2 of my posts on the Lethal Weapon films and this one will of course cover the sequel to the original, which for some reason was called Lethal Weapon 2 (can't imagine why!).  But anyway enough silly sarcasm its time to give this sequel a look.....

So the story is set a year after the events of the first film and starts with Murtaugh (Glover) and Riggs (Gibson) chasing unidentified suspects who are transporting illegal shipments of gold krugerrands.  The South African government then has its local counsul-general Arjen Rudd (Joss Ackland) and his security agent, Pieter Vorstedt (Derek O'Connor) warn Riggs and Murtaugh off the case, which they do by invading Mutaugh's house and typing up him and his wife.  The next day Murtaugh and Riggs are reassigned by their superior officer, Captain McCluskey (Steven Kahan) to look after a federal state witness, Leo Getz (Joe Pesci).  On arriving at Leo's hotel room, one of Rudd's associates is sent to kill Leo, who is saved by Riggs as they dive out the window together into a swimming pool below, but the associate flees and Leo reveals that he formerly was a money launderer for smugglers.  Together with Leo's help, Riggs and Murtaugh track the South Africans to a large stilt house, where Riggs gives chase to the associate who made an attempt on Leo's life and the associate is killed during the pursuit.  After this Riggs and Murtaugh turn up at the South African consulate with backup, however Rudd confronts them and tells them that he has diplomatic immunity and therefore can't be prosecuted, so Riggs and Murtaugh and the others leave, not before Riggs bumps into Rudd's attractive secretary, Rika van den Haas (Patsy Kensit) who is a libreral Afrikkan who disapproves of her boss.

Back at the police department, McCluskey tells Riggs and Murtaugh to back off on Rudd, given his diplomatic immunity.  However this only inspires Riggs to harrass Rudd even more publicly as he follows him around and even confronts him back at the consulate headquarters.  At this time the South Africans start to put more heat on the cops as they rig Murtaugh's toilet seat with explosives, which leaves him on the can all night and in the end Riggs saves Murtaugh's life by calling in the bomb squad and helping him off the seat into a bomb resistant bath tub.  Riggs later meets up with Rika again and the two of them go back to Riggs's place and get more acquainted and end up having sex.  Roger meanwhile is stuck with looking after Leo and follows up on lead from which Riggs found a piece of paper in Rudd's office, which says "Alba Varden, Thursday".  Roger returns to his home (from which he has evacuated his family due to the South African threats) and searches through his video collection to find that the Alba Varden (which he seems to remember seeing somewhere) is in fact the name of a freighter.  At this point one of the Rudd's men makes an attempt on Roger's life, however Roger manages to kill the man and escape only to find the South Africans have taken Leo. 

In the meantime Rudd has declared war on the police and has his men kill some of Riggs and Murtaugh's fellow police officers.  Rudd also has his men ambush Riggs's trailer, however Riggs manages to kill them and escapes with Rika, as he drops her off at her place, he is knocked out by Pieter.  Pieter later tells Riggs, who he has chained up in a straight jacket, that he was the one that was responsible for his wife's death, as there was a contract put out on Riggs's life, as they sabotaged his car but instead his wife was driving that night instead.  Pieter then has his men throws Riggs into the water, however Riggs manages to escape, given his talent to dislocate his shoulder whenever he needs, but he soon finds Rika drowned underwater.  Riggs in a rage kills Pieter's men and heads after Pieter, calling Roger he tells him he's going to go after Rudd and Murtaugh soon joins him.  Riggs and Murtaugh then rescue Leo from Rudd's men, who have him held at the stilt house and Riggs destroys the stilt house, using his truck and cables which he attaches to one of the stilts however Pieter escapes.  And from here Riggs and Murtaugh head off to find Rudd and Pieter and put an end to their schemes once and for all.....

As a sequel, Lethal Weapon 2 is a very enjoyable and credible sequel, which does see a more comedic tone present itself than what we had before in the original.  Shane Black himself had made the script more harsh and violent in tone as it originally was supposed to end with Riggs being brutally tortured and killed, however after his draft was re-written he chose to leave the series and the screenwriting duties were taken over by Jeffrey Boam (who wrote the screenplay for Indian Jones the last crusade).  However film still manages to largely keep its feet on the ground and we also get a bit of back story over the events of how Riggs's wife died and we later on find out that it was Pieter that was behind it.  The film also dealt with the timely issues of Apartheid government in South Africa, as at that time of course the country was in great political turmoil and that is mirrrored here in the film as Rudd and his men are harrassed by the police and the public given they are against the South African government's politics and racial segregation.

Getting to the performances they are all pretty good, starting with Mel Gibson who reprises his role of Riggs with aplomb and he adds a lighter dimension to his character than before as Riggs is now on a more even keel as he has a solid friendship with Murtaugh and his character has become more a joker although we still get shades of Riggs's sadness over his wife's death as he reveals the circumstances of her death early on in the film.  Gibson has a fair few highlights in the film such as the scene where he turns up at Rudd's office and he pulls his gun on him and his men and says "I'll make a deal with your, Arjen, or whatever the fuck your name is.  You fold up your tents and get the fuck out of my country, and I won't do anything to you, I'll leave you alone.  Because if you stick around here I'm gonna fuck your ass!  I'm gonna send you home with your balls in a sling, you got that?!".  Another good scene is where Riggs meets Rika at the grocery store and he flirts with her and tells "hey come back to my place, I'll cook you dinner, I've got a new view of the beach.  I'm a gourmet cook, come on!" and as Rika says no, he continues to charm her and says "Come on, be original!  Say yes, everyone else says no!" and he empties the contents of her shopping cart all over the floor and he says "Lady let go off my bag, somebody call a cop!" before they leave together. 

Gibson also get's some glib one liners as well from Boam's script such as when Riggs and Murtaugh first turn up to babysit Leo at his hotel room, and they knock the door and Riggs says "Police open up!" and Leo asks how does he know its the police and Riggs replies "When I shoot you through the door you can examine the bullet.  Open up!".  Also he has another where McCluskey (who keeps saying "I don't give a fuck!" all the time) throws a "No smoking" sign at him as he has a lit cigarette in his mouth and McCluskey asks "You know what that says?" and Riggs says "Yeah same thing as that, but I don't give a fuck!".  Another good scene Gibson has is with Glover where Riggs stays behind to help Murtaugh off his toilet, which is rigged with an explosive and the two of them joke about why didn't they put the bomb in Roger's wife's stove and Riggs says "Yeah think of all the needless suffering that could have ended right then and there!" (as Rog's wife is a terrible cook!).  Gibson however also some good dramatic moments as well such as the scene where he finds Rika has been drowned underwater and he takes her body up to the surface and after he kills Pieter's men, he sorrowfully carries her in his arms, as he walks in circles.  Which is then followed by his phone call to Roger where he expresses his desire for revenge and says "I'm not a cop tonight, Rog, this is personal!  I'm gonna get those bastards, Rog, I'm gonna get em and fuck em!  You don't undertstand, Rog, they killed them both, Rika and Vicki!".  But of course the film ends on a lighter note where after all the fighting is done, and Riggs lies on the floor with a few bullet wounds, he says to Rog "I want you to reach into my pocket" and Rog takes out his cigarettes and Riggs says "I want you to throw away those things, they'll kill you, really!".

Danny Glover is also great again as Murtaugh, Riggs's long suffering partner who at the start of the film has bought his wife a brand new station wagon, but it then takes a serious beating during their car chase and as the film goes it becomes more and more damaged!  Glover also has his share of good moments in the film, such as the scene where Riggs and Murtaugh turn up at the stilt house and try to arrest Rudd's men.  Rudd turns up and announces who he is and that he is a South African diplomat and Riggs says to Rog "South Africa, Rog.  The home of the Krugerrand" and Rog says "Yeah among other things!".  Another funny moment is when Roger puts on the TV at night for the premiere of his eldest daughter, Rianne's debut TV advert, which turns out to be an add for condoms (which Rog was naturally unaware of!).  And after Roger sees the advert he shuts off the TV in shock and quietly says to his wife "Trish, take the kids upstairs!" and his youngest daughter says "But daddy we learn about this everyday in human development!" and Roger is outraged and says "Human development???? Human what????!!".  And afterward he moans to Riggs about how he told his fellow police officers about the commercial and no doubt they would be watchin and Roger says "Cops never let up you see!  Now I'll have rubbers on my desk, rubbers in the coffee, rubbers rubbers rubbers!  If only you kept your mouth shut!" which Riggs follows up by saying "But you know what the boys are like, in one ear and out the rubber!".  Which brings onto another funny scene where Roger and Leo are in hotel room where Leo looks at Roger's taxes and all of a sudden, Rianne's commercial comes on again and Leo says "Look the body on this girl!  She is so hot!" and Roger turns off the TV and grabs his hand and says "I'm gonna make believe I didn't hear you say that!".  Also there is of course the scene where he is sitting on the toilet and as Riggs looks under the toilet seat he sees the explosives attached to it Roger says "Tell me I'm not fucked!" and Riggs says quietly "He's fucked!" which leads Rog to say "I'm gonna die on the toilet aren't I?".  But my favourite scene of Glover's in the whole film comes when Roger turns up at the South african consulate headquarters pretending to be someone who wants to emigrate to South Africa.  And the South African employee at the consulate looks surprised and says "I don't think you want to emigrate to South Africa" and Rog asks why not and the man says "Well... because your black!".  And Rog says "Of course I'm black.  That's why I want to go to South Africa, to help my oppressed brothers take up the tyranny against the fascist white minority regime!  One man, one vote!  Free South Africa, you dumb son of a bitch!!" after which he is kicked out by security and rouses the support of the protesters outside!

Joe Pesci is also pretty good and funny in his role as the irritating federal witness, accountant and former money launderer, Leo Getz, who's catchphrase is "Whatever you want, Leo Getz!".  Pesci also has some good moments in the film such as the scene where he is incensed at being stiffed at a drive thru where he was given the wrong sandwich.  And he says to Riggs and Roger "Can I give you guys a friendly piece of advice?  Don't ever go to the window, always go up to the counter!  You know why?  I'll tell you.  The FUCK you at the drive-thru OK?  They fuck you at the drive-thru!  They know you're gonna be miles away before you find out you got fucked!  They know you're not gonna turn around and go back, they don't care.  So who get's fucked?!  Ol' Leo Getz!  I don't give a fuck, and I'm not eatin this tuna, ok???!!!".  Then there is the scene where Leo first meets Riggs and Murtaugh and they are both abrupt and rude to him and Riggs tells him to shut up "I get it, bad cop, good cop!" and Rog then tells him to shut up and Leo says "Oh I get it!  Bad cop, bad cop!  I know all the routines".  And after the South Africans make an attempt on Leo's life, and they land in a swimming pool below, Riggs unwittingly punches Leo in the face, thinking it to be the would be assassin.  And Riggs asks what Leo did and he says "Nothing, nothing honest!  OK I laundered half a billion dollars in drug money, OK?!  Give or take a few, there was so much money!  Can I please have some cotton balls for my nose?!"  and Riggs says "Can you please shut the fuck up!".  Also there is the scene where Leo clocks the TV advert Rianne, Rog's daughter is in, and Leo says "Look at the body on this girl, she is so hot!" and as Roger sharply turns off the TV set, Leo protests and says "What are you doin???  What are you doin???!  She's got a great body!  She wants to make me buy rubbers!".

As for the supporting cast and the villains, Joss Ackland is excellent in his role as the rather creepy and cool headed main villain, Arjen Rudd, who eventually declares open war on the police after so much harrassment.  Ackland has some good moments in the film as well, such as the scene where he drops off Rika at her apartment and he explains to her "You see my dear, the politics of our government are not very popular in this country.  And the police force in this city is overrun with blacks.  They have badges and guns and they hate us.  Our consulate staff, particularly myself, will always be victims of their harrassment".  Ackland also get's one of the film's best line as well in the scene where Rog and Riggs turn up at the stilt house and try to arrest Rudd and his men, but he reveals his diplomatic credentials to them.  And as Riggs swears to bring Rudd down, Rudd cooly says "My dear officer, you couldn't even give me a parking ticket!  Who is the dickhead now, eh?!".  And later when Riggs invades Rudd's office and warns him to leave the country, Rudd says "Just get out of here.  Kaffir lover!".

Patsy Kensit who is arguably the weak link in the cast, also does well enough with her role, but she is largely underused in the film and obviously just serves as nothing more than the romantic interest for Riggs, which we plainly see in Kensit and Gibson's sex scene.  Kensit admitted though that she felt uncomfortable filming the sex scene with Gibson (as did he) given that they were both in marriages and Kensit at that time was married to Simple Minds lead singer, Jim Kerr (and later she went out with that twat Liam Gallagher, and she must have been taking some serious mind altering substances back then!). 

And lastly Derrick O'Connor is excellent in his role as Pieter Vorstedt, Rudd's security enforcer, who later rages war with the police and tells Riggs of his involvement in his wife's death.  O'Connor has some good scenes in the film, such as his first scene where he shoots one of Rudd's men in head (actually played by Mark Rolston from Aliens), as a result of his failure and Pieter says "You give a whole new meaning to the word dropcloth, Mr Rudd!" and he proceeds to wrap the man's body in plastic covers.  And later as Rudd berates Pieter in his office for letting Leo escape, Pieter looks around the floor and Rudd asks what he is doing and Pieter says "Oh I was just making sure to see I wasn't standing on plastic!".  And lastly O'Connor shares a good scene with Gibson where he has captured him and tied him in a straight jacket and tells him "I'm the guy who changed the course of your life, man!  You were working as a narc and you were getting too close to us, so you had a contract put out on you.  I handled it myself.  Drove your car right off the fucking road, remember?  Oh of course you weren't driving.  I pushed back this mop of blood soaked hair and I saw a face... your wife right?  She didn't die straight away.  It took a bit a of time" and as he is about to leave he says "You don't have much luck with woman do you, Riggs!".

Moving finally onto Richard Donner, who once again does a fine job with the film and he stages the action scenes really well and ups the tempo and the pace from the original and despite the shift to a more comedic tone he also still manages to retain a fair balance of drama as well in the sequel.  Music wise, Michael Kamen once again provides a fine score for the film and is backed up very well once more by Eric Clapton on guitar and David Sanbourne on the sax.  The film also makes good use of George Harrison's song "Cheer down" which was in fact recorded for the film to promote it, which he recorded along with the American rock artist, Tom Petty.

So as for flaws.... how does Lethal Weapon 2 favour???  OK well its not quite perfect of course and perhaps part of the problem lies partly with the film's more comedic tone, which serves to undercut the effectiveness of the characters a bit more than in the original film.  It still does have some good dramatic moments and its good that Weapon 2 has its funny moments but on the other hand it started to show signs of the main characters one day would become a parody of themselves, which by Lethal Weapon 4 they certainly did!  Perhaps also you could argue that while the film certainly aimed to cover relevant issues of the time with the Apartheid in South Africa, it feels somewhat superficial next to all the action and despite Ackland and O'Connor's excellent performances, the other cast members performing as South africans sound a bit feeble and almost like they have a slapped on accent (although perhaps some of them are South African!).  Another thing is the film has a pretty silly over the top ending where (OK PLOT SPOILER!!!!!) Riggs and Murtaugh disregard all police procedure, despite being under strict orders not to interfere, they both go and create havoc, kill all Rudd's men, with Riggs flattening (literally!) Pieter and Rog "revoking" Rudd's diplomatic immunity!  Yet at the end of course I'm sure given Hollywood's so-called (or rather non-existant as I made this bit up!) policing policies that the LAPD will be willing to sweep this whole mess under the carpet with no repurcussions whatsoever for Riggs or Murtaugh for a blatant disregard to following direct orders!  And that is something that Riggs continually does particularly with Rudd where he is ordered to back off him, yet he far from subtly pesters him in public and even goes to his office, assaults Rudd's men and shoots his fish tank!  And nothing will be done, cos its Riggs and he can do what he wants!  Again its Hollywood.

But apart from all that Lethal Weapon 2 is a very entertaining sequel to the original and its still worth a watch now and then.  So that's it for 2, next up Lethal Weapon 3.....

Bye for now!