Lethal Weapon - 4K Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Lethal Weapon

Movie:
4K Video:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:


​

Movie
"I'm too old for this...."

Lethal Weapon may not have been the first buddy cop movie, nor is it the best, but it revolutionized the genre and became one of the first mega blockbusters in the genre. Richard Donner was the golden child of the 80s (Superman, The Goonies) and he created one of the most iconic and well loved action movies of the 80s, only to follow it up with a sequel that MOST people think to be superior to this one just two years later (I’m not one of those people. I like Lethal Weapon 2, but I still find the first superior). While Gibson had gotten popular with his Mad Max franchise in more niche audiences, this is the film that made him a household name overnight. An action movie with buddy cop elements that just thrived off of Donner’s overexuberance for things blowing up. And who can blame him? The more things that went boom in the 80s, the better they did.

Sergeant Roger Murtaugh (Danny Glover) is a 50-year LAPD veteran who does things by the book. He’s noticing his age a bit more, his wife and kids want him to retire, and the job is getting a bit old chasing down crack heads and murderers. But today is his lucky day, as he’s assigned a partner in the form of Martin Riggs (Mel Gibson), a burnout who’s on the ragged edge after his wife of 11 years passed away in a car accident a year or so prior. Partnered up to run down a murder case that involves the daughter of a war buddy of Murtaugh leads them down a path of blood, revenge, and cold, calculated manipulation as the two unlikely cops have to actually work together and kill the bad guys, not each other.

I can’t describe just how much I love Lethal Weapon. I can still remember being 16 years old and my older brother believing I was old enough to watch R-rated films (even though I had been sneaking them into my room for years to watch) and introducing me to one of his favorite movies. Years later, I still watch this at least once a year around Christmas time (as a companion piece to Die Hard), and to see it finally come to 4K UHD is a dream come true. The film lives and dies on Gibson’s and Glover’s chemistry, as both actors manage to play the odd couple dynamic extremely well. Gibson is the unhinged cop with a death wish, willing to do just about anything to get the job done. Even if it means putting himself in undue harm's way in the process. On the flip side, Glover plays straight-laced Roger Murtaugh perfectly, acting as the foil for Gibson’s devil-may-care take on police work. Add in a couple of mustache-twirling villains in the form of Gary Busey (pre “off his rocker” era) and Michell Ryan (who will forever be Greg’s dad in Dharma & Greg to me) and you have one of the most memorable 80s action movies ever made.

For me personally, while I love Gibson and Glover to death in the film, I find that it was Gibson’s moment to shine. Unlike most of these “good cop, bad cop” buddy cop films, Gibson’s Riggs isn’t a bad character at all. He’s not on the take, he’s not a wild drunk who doesn’t care about innocent bystanders. He’s a GOOD cop who simply is grieving the loss of his wife to the point where he’s lost himself. He’s not there to be redeemed, but rather slowly helped out of that dark hole that he’s got himself into with the help of Roger Murtaugh’s friendship. Watching Gibson does an amazing job balancing the manic depressive nature of Riggs with his internal nature as a good cop quite well. And while it may seem at first that he’s reckless, it becomes extremely obvious as the film goes on that it’s not recklessness, but rather a cry for help (or a cry to end it all) as he throws himself into his job.

Whether you look at it as a straight-up buddy cop movie or look into the psyche of a tortured cop, Lethal Weapon still stands as one of the tippy top peaks of 80s action movie filmmaking. Gibson and Glover are firing on all 4 cylinders, they have a wonderful supporting cast who happens to be half the cast of Die Hard (seriously, I counted at least 5 characters in the movie that was in the previous year’s Die Hard), and it was the movie that made me fall in love with the Beretta 92FS (Yes, I know that the Beretta in this film was the original 92F and not the FS, but they use the 92FS in all 3 subsequent films….also, nerdy point #2. The Beretta prop gun that Mel uses throughout the entire film is the SAME prop gun that Bruce Willis used in Die Hard.




Rating:

Rated R by the MPAA




4K Video: Video

Oh wow, this is what we’ve been waiting for. Lethal Weapon has been one of those films that Warner released at the very, VERY start of the Blu-ray/HD-DVD format war, and was notorious for looking awful in 1080p. It was crammed onto a single BD-25 with the inefficient VC-1 Codec, not to mention the fact that it was sourced from an aging DVD era master that definitely could have used some TLC. Back in 2012, the first two films got remastered, and the results were pretty solid. Maybe not jaw-dropping, but certainly leagues better than the 2006 disc by a goodly margin. Its only downside was that it was still using the VC-1 codec instead of AVC. But now, we get a brand new restoration by Warner, and the differences are pretty staggering.

The first Lethal Weapon movie was never that amazing with its visual aesthetics, instead focusing on that sort of dusty brown tinged look that a lot of 80s cop movies utilized. But still, this is a rather large improvement over both the 2006 Blu-ray and the later 2012 remaster (which was released in the U.K. back in 2010). Outside of that soft and fuzzy-looking opening shot of Mandy Hunsacker diving off a balcony, the film has never looked better. Gone are those soft and DNR’d facial features, replaced instead with amazingly sharp and clean-looking textures. You can see every bit of 5 O’clock shadow on Riggs' face when he gets up in the morning, as well as every fiber and scrap of dirt on his jacket.

The HDR10 application is very solid, though it does have a few quirks. Black levels and colors really pop here, but I noticed some strange inconsistencies from the Blu-ray. Reds in particular can vary from shot to shot, looking normal red in some scenes, while looking almost luminescent orangey/red in others (such as Alfred’s jacket when he’s being questioned after the explosion at Dixie’s place). I also noticed a few instances of frozen grain. BUT these are fairly minor and not something that I’m going to throw a fit over. Outside of those little weird quirks, I’d say this disc is downright amazing for a late 80s buddy cop action film, and I can only hope the remaining 3 look this good when/if they come out on 4K.







Audio:

Warner Bro’s new Atmos track (found on both the theatrical and director’s cut) is a bit of a revisionist take on the original 2.0 mix (found on the theatrical cut only in DTS-HD MA lossless) rather than an upmix of the 5.1 track that we’ve had for years. Supposedly, it is its own creation, taking the ambiance of the original theatrical mixing and amping it up for home theater usage. Normally, I’m a HUGE stickler for original theatrical audio, but this new Atmos track is really, REALLY good in its own right. The basics of the audio are still the same, but Warner has crafted his new mix to have a bit more low-end weight, adding directionality in the surrounds (and of course the overheads). Bass is punchier and heavier, changing the default sounds of gunfire to be a bit weightier and dynamic, while the overheads get some nice use with the sounds of the Shadow Company helicopter.

Now, purists are definitely going to take issue with the new Atmos mixing as it’s a fairly noticeable change to the original audio instead of a slight enhancement of it. It’s not going to be as obviously egregious as the 7.1 Blu-ray mix of Se7en, but purists will almost certainly choose the 2.0 DTS-HD MA mix as it is the actual theatrical mix in lossless. Both are great in their own right, and including both should satisfy most users in that regard.






Extras:

• NEW! A Legacy of Inspiration: Remembering Dick Donner
• NEW! "I'm Too Old for This...": A Chemistry That Became Iconic

Final Score: ​

Lethal Weapon is just one of those iconic 1980s action films that will never get old. I’ve seen the film nearly as much as I have Die Hard, and it still remains a staple of my yearly “Christmas action movie rotation”. Whether it’s the best or the 2nd best (depending on your opinion), Lethal Weapon is one of the best 80s action movies ever made, and the one that made Mel Gibson a household name. Warner’s 4K UHD release is really good, bordering on great, with great video and audio. Sadly, the legacy extras found on the 2012 box set are missing, replaced instead with two retrospective features. Meaning you’ll want to keep the Blu-ray set for those features. But all in all, this is an awesome film with awesome specs where it counts. Highly recommended as a purchase for action fans.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Mel Gibson, Danny Glover, Gary Busey
Directed by: Richard Donner
Written by: Shane Black, Jeffrey Boam
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 HEVC
Audio: English Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 Core), English DTS-HD MA 2.0, French, Spanish DD 5.1
Subtitles: English SDH, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Spanish, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish
Studio: Warner Bros
Rated: R
Runtime: 110 Minutes (Theatrical Cut) / 117 Minutes (Director's Cut)
Blu-ray Release Date: June 24th, 2025

Recommendation: Great Buy

 

[Michael Scott]

Apologies about this being slightly later than street week. Reviewers received their discs this week due to a small shipping delay, and we got to work on them as soon as we could.