My Review of "Lethal Weapon 2"

Lethal Weapon 2 came out back in 1989, a mere 2 years from the original. This is kind of a movie that I would have expected from a sequel. It's bigger and louder but it's not exactly better either. Those of you that are wondering if it still captured that duo magic that the previous movie did, I would say yes. A lot of this movie is held up by the charisma of it's lead characters.

The movie starts out with a new mystery. This time it seems to be more international as it deals with diplomat from South Africa. The previous movie played more like a mystery but this movie kind of showed its hand right away. We already know who the main bad guys are rather then it be slowly revealed to us. I guess the reason for this is to make this movie different from the previous movie. It doesn't quite follow the same formula but it kind of does.

The big bad guys are basically a corrupt business utilizing their diplomatic immunity to help them do whatever they want. At times this movie can come off as a bit of a propaganda movie but some issues really were bad. They were able to exacerbate certain things and really make the bad guys look bad.

This movie also plays off a major political situation back in those times. As the diplomat was from South Africa there are strong messages against apartheid which was happening back in those times. They make the villains off as if they were Nazi members. It's not even subtle it's quite in your face.

This movie also introduces us to a new character named Leo. He's an annoying twerp that's pretty much the comic relief sidekick. I think this was really big back in those times. In a way they still follow this formula today.

When I say this movie is a product of its time it really is. They talk about political situations at the time. It also goes into some weird logical thinking and scenarios that were kind of the norm in movies of the era. At times it can seem a bit cartoonish at times. You kind of have to understand the era to understand some of the logic behind some of these scenes.

There is a scene where Riggs picks up the diplomatic secretary, Rika, for a date. If you watch it with today's norms in mind it looks absolutely frightening. He tells her he's been following her from work to the grocery store. Then he demands that he goes out with her despite her refusal. He even goes on to threaten her and in the end he takes her home to have sexual relations. It's utterly crazy but again, back in those days that happened in movies and you wouldn't bat an eye.

Even more strange the new couple gets out of an all out war with terrorists with Riggs casually walking her back to her apartment as if everything is all great and dandy. It's utterly insane, but these things happened in movies back then. Watching it now these scenes seem quite cartoonish and in some ways comedic knowing that they thought these scenes were meant to be serious.

They even have a fist fight on top of millions of dollars in cash. This movie is utterly bonkers but I kind of wouldn't want it any other way. It's on brand for the franchise and kind of where the fun comes from.

Overall, I had fun with this movie but I inadvertently found this movie way funnier than I expected. There were some good jokes in this movie but there were a lot more jokes that weren't meant to be jokes. It isn't a movie for everyone but I grew up in this era so I can understand where this stuff comes from. I have to give this movie a 6.5 out of 10.