Lethal Weapon 2

Lethal Weapon 2 (1989) brings the pair back and permanently shifts the series toward comedy. Riggs and Murtaugh follow a smuggling operation. Behind it is the South African consulate, and the entire crew hides behind diplomatic immunity; the police cannot legally touch them. The film was made in 1989, while apartheid was still in place, so the choice of villain was a direct political position. The first film was a dark police story. Here Riggs's suicidal state recedes and jokes take its place. From this point the series continued as action comedy. Joe Pesci joins here. Leo Getz, a witness under state protection, stayed for every subsequent film. The most remembered scene is the bomb under the toilet: it will detonate the moment Murtaugh stands, and the film gets both tension and comedy out of it. There is also a house being pulled off its foundation by a cable, which was actually filmed. Richard Donner directed. The final section returns to the first film's darkness and the tonal shift is abrupt. It works without the first film. It runs 114 minutes. Good for: eighties action, double act comedy, and police films. Less good for: the violence is harsh, the humour belongs to its period, and the plot is simple.