LETHAL WEAPON

US, 1987, 112 minutes, Colour.
Mel Gibson, Danny Glover, Gary Busey, Mitchell Ryan, Tom Atkins.
Directed by Richard Donner.

Lethal Weapon was one of the big box-office successes of 1987. Once again, it is a picture of police buddies. However, this film goes with considerable pace - many found it too violent. However, it shows the drug empires, especially those created by Vietnam veterans with their military expertise. Who is to confront these unscrupulous drug dealers? What is the wear and tear on the police who confront these criminals? What methods should be used? The film, quite adrenalin-pumping with its action and stunts, raises these questions.

The film is a good Hollywood vehicle for Mel Gibson who teams well with Danny Glover. The film is directed by Richard Donner (whose films include Superman the Movie and The Omen).

Very well done of its kind - but still raises questions about violence and weapons in contemporary society.

1. Interesting and enjoyable police thriller? Its impact? Style? Violence? Themes of police justice? Its box-office success in 1987?

2. The world of Los Angeles, the audience entry into the city? Jingle Bells? The high-rise building and the death? The streets, the precincts? The drug world? The domestic sequences? Action, stunts, special effects? Editing and pace? Musical score? Song? Stylish thriller?

3. The use of violence? Visual? Psychological? The world of drug dealers in the U.S.? The background of Vietnam? Conspiracies, violence, unscrupulous immorality? Madness? How is the law to cope? Ordinary citizens? The role of justice? The heroics of the law enforcers? The judgments that they have to make in tense situations? The audience and the stances on violence and its use?

4. The picture of police and their work, causes, dangers? Their relationships with their families and the involvement of families? Their having to cope, their psychological condition, depression? Action, anger, violence and justice, the law?

5. The title and its tone, focus on violence, death? In combating drugs? A lethal weapon for justice? Martin Riggs as a lethal weapon? The theme song?

6. The serious portrait of the police and their work, social situations, opinions, justice? The comic and ironic aspects? Quips, humour? The bond between the men, courage, affection? The humane background to these men?

7. The setting of the tone: Christmas, Amanda (fly, cocaine, prostitution, pornography)? Dixie and the witness ? and the explosion? Huksaker and the search, anger, information and death?

8. The portrait of Martin Riggs and Riggs at work: at home and the sleazy caravan, the drug bust ? 'Shoot me', the anguish at home, his depression, memories, relationships, wanting to shoot himself? Mel Gibson persuasive in this sequence? His new partner, referring to him as an old-timer, the psychotic behaviour, the suicide jump, his meeting his partner's family? The bond with Roger? The background of his wife's death, the visit to the cemetery? The drug sequences, shooting the man's leg? Joshua, Dixie and the boys, the death of Huksaker? The hiding, the plan and the desert, the torture and his spectacular escape, the chase, the final fight with Joshua? The cemetery and things returning to normal?

9. Danny Glover as Roger: the bath sequence, his family, turning 50, Amanda, Michael, the birthday and the men, meeting Riggs, old-timer, the suicide, anger and shooting his mouth, home, the boat, job, kids and the questions, the death, the plan and his daughter being kidnapped, the desert, the torture, McAllister's death, the end?

10. Families and their being involved in the dangers, the domestic sequences, the kidnap, the escape, torture?

11. The conspiracy: the background of the Vietnam veterans, the CIA agents, trained assassins, drug empires, the bank, tough dealings: McAllister? and his seriousness, the boss, the desert, deaths? Joshua and the burning, the execution, shooting Riggs, the desert, torture, the chase, the final fight and shooting?

12. Huksaker and his involvement, his telling and giving the information, his daughter?

13. The police and their work, deaths, psychology? Psychological pressure? The desert sequences and the set action pieces? The audience's final reaction towards justice and vengeance?