Lethal Weapon: Difference between revisions

'''"Hey, that's no fair. [[I Take Offense to That Last One|The building guy lived.]]"'' |'''Murtaugh''' and '''Riggs'''}}

 

 

In ''Lethal Weapon'' (1987), Glover is playing Roger Murtaugh, the strict cop that plays by the rules, and worries about getting too old ([[Catch Phrase|for this shit]]). He is partnered with Martin Riggs, a suicidal badass despairing over the death of his wife. Riggs is well versed with both martial arts and gun play and added to his [[The Berserker|berserker]] tendencies makes him a candidate to be registered as a [[Title Drop|lethal weapon.]] They start tracking down a major drug dealer who has ties within the force.

Now has a [[Lethal Weapon/Characters|character sheet]]

 

* [[Abhorrent Admirer]]: Delores towards Rog in the 3rd movie.

* [[Action Girl]]: Lorna Cole.

* [[Addiction Displacement]]: From cigarettes to ''dog biscuits''.

** As well as the onion.

* [[The Alleged Car]]: Murtaugh's wife's station wagon turns into this over the course of the second film.

* [[All Girls Want Bad Boys]]: The first movie, when Riggs has dinner with Murtaugh's family, the oldest daughter is making eyes at Riggs, and the attraction seems to come from this, especially when Riggs sides with her in a father-daughter fight over her marijuana use.

* [[An Asskicking Christmas]]: The first movie.

* [[And This Is For]]: Riggs does this in the final scene of part 2 when he starts shooting one of the bad guys and saying the names of all the slain officers {{spoiler|and Rika.}}

* [[The Artifact]]: In the second film Leo is introduced as a key witness and much of the plot revolves around protecting him; for the rest of the series he is reduced to the [[Plucky Comic Relief]], though he still briefly helps out in both cases.

* [[Ate His Gun]]: Riggs is outright suicidal in the first film. In an early scene, he actually puts his gun in his mouth, but doesn't shoot.

* [[Bash Brothers]]: Riggs and Murtaugh don't embody this trope until the final fight against Ku in the fourth movie.

* [[Blond Guys Are Evil]]: Mr. Joshua in the first film, and the South Africans in the second.

* [[Bond One-Liner]]: From the second film: "Nailed 'em both." Also, the one in the next entry.

* [[Boom! Headshot!]]: Roger's signature maneuver, done once a film, after rolling his head from side-to-side to crack his neck.

** After Arjen claims "[[Diplomatic Impunity|Diplomatic immunity]]", Murtagh puts a bullet in his head.

{{quote|'''Murtaugh:''' [[Bond One-Liner|It's just been revoked.]]}}

* [[Call Forward]]: The musical riffs we first hear in the original film are later used in Sting and Eric Clapton's "It's Probably Me", the hit single from the third film.

* [[Career-Building Blunder]]: After the third film, where Riggs and Murtaugh were busted down to patrolmen for messing with the bomb squad's job (and blowing up a building), the fourth film has the department unable to get their insurance renewed due to the propensity of the duo causing catastrophic damage in their escapades. But since they can't be demoted off the streets, the department decides to ''promote'' them, fully ''two'' steps, bypassing Lieutenant and making them both Captains, at least until the insurance is renewed, in an attempt to get them off the streets. ''It does not work''.

* [[Catch Phrase]]: Most famously Murtaugh's "I'm too old for this shit," as well as his "Go spit, Riggs!"

** Leo has one as well: "OK, OK, OK..."

*** Ku, from the fourth film: "If this was Hong Kong, you'd be dead."

* [[The Cavalry Arrives Late]]: The end of the second film.

*** This scene was (wisely) cut from the theatrical release and reinserted for the [[Directors Cut]] DVD.

* [[Character Development]]: Riggs starts off as a suicidal, lonely man and at the end of the fourth movie is shown to be a happy member of a large family.

** [[Chekhov's Gun|Chekhov's]] [[Incredibly Lame Pun|Dog Biscuits]] for [[Angry Guard Dog]], for that matter

*** He also has to reset his shoulder twice in the third film, though not under such mortal circumstances. At one point, he slides himself into a pole to do so on the fly.

* [[Chekhov's Skill]]: Riggs ability to dislocate and reset his shoulder was used as a gag early in the second movie, only to become important to Riggs escaping a death trap. Similarly, in the third movie Riggs taught Murtaugh a basic defensive kick which was made into a prank with Murtaugh kicking over a water cooler, with Murtaugh used instinctively in the climax.

* [[Cold-Blooded Torture]]: Riggs and Murtaugh are both subjected to this in the first film, as the bad guys try to find out from them what the police know. It doesn't work, because the cops don't know much of ''anything,'' and because Riggs is able to escape from Endo and go on a rampage.

{{quote|'''Murtaugh:''' When are you gonna learn you can't solve every problem with your fists?

* [[Continuity Nod]]: Many scenes from previous films are mentioned throughout the series. Perhaps the funniest continuity nod is in ''Lethal Weapon 3'', in which Leo serves a realty agent trying to help Roger sell his house. Because of full disclosure issues, when the prospective buyers mention that they love the picture window, he says it's recently been replaced because a drug dealer crashed his car through it and shot the entire place up. (A reference to the first film, but see below). Then he has to mention the damage that happened in ''Lethal Weapon 2'':

{{quote|'''Leo Getz:''' The bathroom upstairs has been completely remodeled due to unexpected bomb damage.}}

** Granted the thing with the picture window happened before Leo knew Riggs and Murtaugh, and therefore he may have been told a different story from what really happened-- but {{spoiler|it was the ''good guys'' who actually drove the car through the window}} in the first film.

*** [[Fridge Brilliance]]: Murtaugh would probably have spun the story that way to the insurance company.

* [[Crazy Prepared]]: Not so much crazy as it was clever, but Lorna managed to survive a potentially fatal cop-killer bullet wound by wearing ''two'' [[Bulletproof Vest|Bullet Proof Vests]] just in case.

* [[The Danza]]: Delores Hall plays Delores in ''Lethal Weapon 3''.

** For extra ballsiness, at one point he does this while SHOOTING at Riggs.

*** And Murtaugh [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|revokes it a second later.]]

* [[The Dragon]]: Typically opposing Riggs. Mr. Joshua in the first, Pieter in the second.

* [[Dragon Their Feet]]: In the first film, {{spoiler|1=while General McAllister was barbecuing his nuts on Hollywood Boulevard, Mr. Joshua went to Murtaugh's house to go after Roger's family. But there was "nobody here but us good guys".}}

* [[Earn Your Happy Ending]]: Every movie but the second, which is decidedly more [[Bittersweet Ending|bittersweet.]]

* [[Evil Albino]]: Mr. Joshua.

* [[Fridge Brilliance]]: One instance actually happens in-universe, and is not trivia.

{{quote|'''Roger Murtaugh''': You ever hear of Ebony Clarke?

'''Roger Murtaugh''': No I'm not boinkin' her, Trish is Ebony Clarke.

'''Martin Riggs''': So you ''are'' boinkin' her.

* [[Evil Versus Evil]]: The Corrupt Chinese general's men vs. The Chinese Triads. As Riggs said "Let them kill each other."

* [[Follow the Leader]]: The series spawned a ''lot'' of buddy-cop films.

* [[Give Me a Sword]]: Murtaugh tosses Riggs a nightstick in the fight with Mr. Joshua near the end of the first film, in response to the latter using a pole against him.

* [[Gonna Need a Bigger Warrant]]: The crimes always end up being more complex and involved than they appear on the surface.

* [[Good Is Not Dumb]]: After Riggs is blown through a window by a shotgun in the first film (he was wearing his bulletproof vest, so he didn't die), he points out to Murtaugh that now the police have the advantage, because the bad guys think Riggs is dead. Sure enough, Mr. Joshua calls the police station for information about the shooting, claiming to be a news reporter. The officer who picks up confirms that Riggs is dead, and it never occurs to McAllister and Joshua that the police could be deceiving them.

* [[Goofy Print Underwear]]: Murtaugh from 4; when directed by Riggs to strip to his boxer shorts to distract a madman wielding a flamethrower, Riggs asks with a laugh "Are those little hearts?"

** Actually 9mm Parabellum round gives pretty high maximum pressure, so overpressurized load complete with hardened and specifically shaped (or saboted) round could easily defeat an ordinary kevlar vest. On the other hand, using such ammo in the ordinary SMG set to full auto would be extremely dangerous to the shooter.

* [[Hair-Trigger Temper]]: Averted; Joe Pesci is famous for such roles played scarily straight but his character Leo Getz is harmless. In fact, he plays a fall guy. He's still liable to fly off the handle at the slightest provocation, but everyone's more than aware it's all bluster and Riggs and Murtagh are more than willing to tell him to shut up.

** In the third film, Murtaugh [[Drowning My Sorrows|goes on a drinking binge]] after he was forced to kill a teenager (who was a friend of his son's). In a [[Role Reversal]], Riggs has to play the sane man in the entire episode.

** [[He's Back]]: And when he recovers from it, and is told by said teenager's mourning parents to "get the man who put the gun in [their] son's hands" ... [[The Atoner|oh boy, is he back.]]

* [[Heterosexual Life Partners]]: Riggs & Murtaugh. But bordering on [[Ho Yay]]; arguably, ''deep'' within [[Ho Yay]] territory.

* [[Hoist by His Own Petard]]:

** The fact that {{spoiler|General Mc Allister has explosives in his car enables Roger to kill him (by killing his driver, causing an overturned-vehicle crash)}} in the first film.

** Riggs {{spoiler|stabs [[The Dragon|Vorstedt]] with his own knife}} in the second film.

*** And it is in fact the ''very same gun'' used by the boy Murtaugh shot. Which Travis stole from LAPD impound and sold to the boy in the first place.

* [[Hot Amazon]]: Lorna Cole.

** The "have-a-nice-day" moment in the first film. Murtaugh [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshades]] Riggs' improbable aiming skills perfectly:

{{quote|'''Murtaugh''' ''[re: Riggs' gun]:'' You sleep with that thing under your ''pillow'' or something?

** When Roger rolls his head from side-to-side and cracks his neck, watch out.

** As for Murtaugh, he pulls off an excellent shot to kill the [[Big Bad]] of both parts 1 and 2. In part 1, he shoots the driver of a car coming right at him, and then gets out of the way as the out-of-control car goes flying onto Hollywood Boulevard and smashes into a bus. And in part 2, he revokes Rudd's diplomatic immunity with a damned impressive head shot.

* [[It's Personal]]: Each movie eventually turns into this. Riggs even says the trope by name in part 2.

* [[Kicked Upstairs]]: Riggs and Murtaugh are both promoted to Captain in the fourth film, in the hopes that giving them desk jobs will cut down on the destruction they cause in the city. It doesn't work.

* [[Lethal Chef]]: Trish Murtaugh.

* [[Lightning Bruiser]]: Riggs of the hard hitting fast guy type.

** Pretty [[Deconstructed Trope|deconstructed]] in the fourth movie, when his age takes away the 'lightning part'. He's still faster and a better fighter than Murtaugh, but his age showing in his fighting prowess is a major plot-point.

* [[Make It Look Like an Accident]]: Parodied in the third film. After Riggs and Murtaugh are busted down to patrolmen, they catch a guy jaywalking; when they say they're gonna cite him for it, the jaywalker is apoplectic. "You've got people actually committing crimes in this city, and you're busting me for crossing the street?" Eventually, he gets on Riggs' nerves to the point where he's about to pull his gun on him. "Lemme shoot him, Roger! We can make it look like suicide!" After the jaywalker takes off on Roger's advice ("Get out of here before my partner kills you! No, not ''that'' way, the ''other'' way!"), Riggs and Murtaugh both laugh their asses off-- they were only having a little fun with the guy, apparently.

* [[Mauve Shirt]]: All the new detectives introduced in the second movie.

** The 22-year-old cop, Edwards, who's the butt of jokes at his expense about his age and height throughout the third film, and takes it all with good-natured, innocent charm. He ends up dead at the hands of Jack Travis.

{{quote|'''Leo Getz:''' My name's Leo Getz. Whatever you want, Leo gets. Get it?!}}

* [[Mood Dissonance]]: There's a tense scene in the first film in which Riggs prepares to blow his own head off-- while a ''Looney Tunes'' Christmas special is playing.

* [[Nail'Em]]: Murtaugh is attacked by South African agents and defends himself with a nail gun in ''Lethal Weapon 2''.

{{quote|'''Riggs:''' Roger?

'''Murtaugh:''' Yeah?

** Possibly literally in the second film, when Murtaugh realizes that {{spoiler|the toilet he is sitting on is rigged to explode with a dead man's switch}}.

* [[Old Cop, Young Cop]]

** Also in the fourth film with Wah Sing Ku who is younger than both Riggs and Murtaugh and very skilled in a deadly form of martial arts.

* [[One-Scene Wonder]]: The pyromaniac in the beginning of the fourth film.

* [[Overly Long Gag]]: The target takes a ''long'' time to get to the end of the range, and a ''long'' time to come back.

* [[Papa Wolf]]: Murtaugh is ''fiercely'' protective of his family, but particularly his daughter Rianne. He even punches Riggs right in the face (and overboard) after Riggs says "I think I may have slept with someone I shouldn't have," leading Murtaugh to assume he was talking about Rianne. {{spoiler|He was talking about Lorna.}} Granted, he was drunk at the time.

{{quote|'''Joshua:''' ''[while jacking a car]'' Mind if I test-drive your Audi?}}

* [[Pre-Mortem One-Liner]]: Non-verbal version; after putting a bomb in Murtaugh's [[Refuge in Audacity|toilet]], the bad guys wrote "boom" on the toiler paper.

* [[Psycho for Hire]]: Mr Joshua.

* [[Refuge in Audacity]]: Riggs with the suicide jumper in the first film. He was crazier than the jumper.

{{quote|'''Murtaugh:''' Hey... what's your signal?

'''Riggs:''' You'll know it when it happens.

** In the third film, Riggs follows Travis out of the subway station by ''riding on the front of the subway car.''

* [[Retirony]]: Subverted. Early on in ''Lethal Weapon 3'', Murtaugh's wife shoves a bulletproof vest on him, to make sure he always wears it.

{{quote|'''Roger Murtaugh:''' She loves me.}}

** Not quite as vicious, but when Murtaugh returns after Darryl's funeral in the third movie, he goes person-to-person shaking people down to trace his gun. At the first one's house, the home of one of Darryl's homeys, he rants about how gang-banging is tantamount to self-genocide for their race.

* [[Running Gag]]: Getz's various "They fuck you with/at ___" rants, which even sparked a bizarre bonding moment between him and Butters, who previously had met in very bad terms. [[Crowning Moment of Funny|Butters was confused after their cooperative rant]].

** Trish's [[Cordon Bleugh Chef|bad cooking]] is frequently referenced throughout the series, including a great exchange where Roger wishes the toilet-bomb had instead been put in the kitchen stove. Riggs responds with [[Crowning Moment of Funny|"All the needless suffering could've been ended right there."]]

** "Hey guys, can I have a gun this time?" "''No''."

** Arjen Rudd and the South African mobsters in the second one.

* [[Sarcastic Clapping]]: The bomb squad in the third (see [[The Cavalry Arrives Late]]).

* [[Shoot Everything That Moves]]: Riggs tells Murtaugh the plan for rescuing Leo in the second movie:

{{quote|'''Murtaugh:''' What's the plan?

* [[Shooting Gallery]]: In the first movie, recently-teamed partners Riggs and Murtaugh are trying to one-up each other on the range. Murtaugh, annoyed at Rigg's tight bullethole group, sends a target further down the range and puts a single bullet through its 'head'. Riggs then sends his target all the way downrange, and shoots a smiley face in the head zone.

{{quote|'''Riggs:''' Have a nice day.}}

{{quote|'''Riggs:''' Besides, I'm here, and I have no plans on going right now.}}

* [[Stuffed in The Fridge]]: The original plan for Rika in the second movie was for her to survive and attend the Thanksgiving party at Murtaugh's house with Riggs. Instead, she was killed off just so Riggs would be properly "motivated" for the rest of the movie.

* [[Survival Mantra]]: "We're not too old for this shit... we're not too old for this shit..."

* [[Take That]]: ''Lethal Weapon 4'' contains some shockingly unsubtle jabs against the NRA. A bit hypocritical coming from a series that elevated [[I Just Shot Marvin in the Face|dangerous and irresponsible gunplay]] to an art form.

* [[Tempting Fate]]: In the first film. "There's no more heroes left in the world." Cue Riggs' [[Big Damn Heroes]] moment.

** Earlier in the first film, this is averted when Hunsacker screams at Murtaugh to ''"KILL THEM! JUST KILL THEM!"'' Several people in the background briefly look in his direction.

* [[Vapor Trail]]

* [[Visual Pun]]: The "rubber" tree in ''Lethal Weapon 2''.

* [[Wire Dilemma]]: Occurs in the third movie... and the bomb goes off.

** He would've just killed the entire South African government, and [[Diplomatic Impunity|gotten away with it because of diplomatic immunity]].

** Echoed in a scene later on, when [[The Dragon|Pieter Vorstedt]] meets Rudd in his office. Rudd notices he seems to be looking at the floor, and then asks him what he's doing.

[[Category:Films of the 1990s]]

[[Category:Buddy Cop Show]]

[[Category:Film]]