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(source:tmdb.org)

In 1988 Bahrudin Bijedić, Yugoslav Consul General in Chicago, was arrested by US authorities and charged for money laundering. Due to specific circumstances of his arrest, he was denied diplomatic immunity and had to go through trial. Few months later Bijedić's defence team noticed that certain details in plot of Lethal Weapon 2, 1989 action thriller directed by Richard Donner, had incredible similarity to their defendant's case. They asked the court to prevent jury from seeing the film, fearing that it could tilt them towards guilty verdict. The request was granted and it apparently worked - Bijedić was acquitted and in 1990 unsuccessfully tried to exploit his moment of fame by running as independent candidate on the elections for Bosnian Presidency.

The film that bothered Bijedić's attorneys is a sequel to popular 1987 action hit Lethal Weapon. Two of its protagonists – LAPD detectives Roger Murtaugh (played by Danny Glover) and Martin Riggs (played by Mel Gibson) - are again drawn into the case that seems beyond their ability to cope. Their drug investigation leads to the money-laundering and smuggling ring led by Arjen Rudd (played by Joss Ackland), high-ranking official of South African consulate in Los Angeles. Since Murtaugh's and Riggs' methods of investigation don't mix very well with political sensitivities of their superiors, two detectives are reassigned to seemingly routine task of protecting Leo Getz (played by Joe Pesci), tax-evading wizard and important witness in federal case. When it turns out that Getz has provided services to Rudd and his people both policemen are back on collision course with South African official. Although Rudd enjoys diplomatic immunity and has little to fear from Murtaugh and Riggs, he still thinks that two detectives should be eliminated.

Jeffrey Boam's script for Lethal Weapon 2 was obviously inferior to Shane Black's script for Lethal Weapon. With two main characters already established and developed, Boam could have concentrated on plot. Director Richard Donner, on the other hand, paid more attention to making sequel more bombastic and spectacular than its predecessor. Lethal Weapon 2 features plenty of car chases, explosions, gunfights and any conceivable scene that should require services of stunt people and pyrotechnics experts. All that is really impressive, and some of the scenes – characters falling to hotel swimming pool from seventh floor balcony or destruction of Murtaugh's home - are going to be remembered long time after some newer CGI aided efforts are forgotten.

On the other hand, makers of Lethal Weapon 2 obviously thought about previous film being too dark and too serious for long-running movie franchise. Next instalment was, therefore, to be lightened up. It was done partly by having Glover and Gibson almost making parody of their characters and partly by introducing new characters. Leo Getz, played by Joe Pesci, stops short of having words "comic relief" tattooed on his forehead. Character of Rudd's assistant Rika van den Haas, played by Patsy Kensit, is introduced for the sole purpose of being romantic/sexual partner for Riggs and thus making Gibson's character more "normal" than in previous film. This effort fails spectacularly because Gibson and Patsy lack chemistry and Boam's script makes even worse with utterly unconvincing addition to Riggs' past.

Lethal Weapon 2 in many ways is a product of its times. This is best seen in villains. Sinister looking, evil, arrogant, sadistic, racist and Nazi-like South Africans not only remind audience of the oppression that went on in their part of the world before Mandela's release (Danny Glover, actor known for anti-apartheid activism, also reminds audience of that in the consulate protest scene). Another, more problematic, aspect is the way script implies that foreign diplomats, especially those belonging to "problematic" countries, commonly engage in abuse of diplomatic privileges. Paradoxically, the film, which is supposed to be anti-racist, actually panders to American audience's xenophobia (in the same way Die Hard does).

However, despite problems with poor characterisation and weak plot, Lethal Weapon 2 nevertheless provides satisfying combination of male bonding, action and humour, showing that the success and longevity of the Lethal Weapon wasn't an accident.

RATING: 6/10 (++)

(Note: The text in its original form was posted in Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.films.reviews on March 9th 2004)