Lethal Weapon Collection

Lethal Weapon (1987) introduced America to Riggs and Murtaugh, who became the country's favorite cop team of the 1980s and '90s. Mel Gibson is suicidal firecracker Martin Riggs, a Vietnam vet whose recklessness earns him a reputation as the LAPD's least desirable partner, and Danny Glover is aging family man Roger Murtaugh, a veteran detective who wants nothing more than to live long enough to collect his pension. Richard Donner's smash hit about the duo's attempt to uncover a drug-smuggling gang is sleek and stylish, serving up practically non-stop action, but it's the synergy between Gibson's combustible energy and Glover's paternal reserve that makes it work. Lethal Weapon 2 (1989) sends Riggs and Murtaugh after a South African drug syndicate and tosses Joe Pesci into the mix as a comic foil. Kung-fu-kicking Rene Russo joins Lethal Weapon 3 (1992), the series' sloppiest, silliest entry, as the team tracks down a former cop who's become an arms dealer. And the cast balloons for 1998's Lethal Weapon 4, with Chris Rock joining Gibson, Glover, Russo, and Pesci to take on a Chinese counterfeiting and slavery ring led by Hong Kong martial arts superstar Jet Li. Donner helms every installment, increasing the frenzied pyrotechnics and property damage with each new feature. Watching the arc of the Lethal Weapon franchise is like a crash course in American action cinema of the past decade: bigger, faster, louder. While it's hard to call them classics, these are icons in the buddy movie genre. The new Blu-ray set features all four films on separate discs (including the Blu-ray debuts of numbers 3 and 4), with extras including audio commentaries by Donner, vintage featurettes, additional scenes, and music videos, along with a fifth disc containing four new retrospective featurettes. Recommended. (S. Axmaker)