When it comes to iconic action movie franchises, Lethal Weapon ranks alongside Die Hard, Rambo, and Terminator as one of the all-time greatest. The “buddy cop” subgenre had been invented a few years earlier with movies like 48 Hrs., but Lethal Weapon was the movie that brought the formula into the mainstream and invited Hollywood to copy its template over and over again.

Over the course of four Lethal Weapon movies, Mel Gibson and Danny Glover’s mismatched detectives Riggs and Murtaugh got into all kinds of spectacular action set pieces and butted heads with a bunch of interesting supporting characters.

10 Character: Lee Butters

After Leo Getz became a third member of the Riggs-Murtaugh partnership in Lethal Weapon 2, Detective Lee Butters successfully joined as the fourth member in Lethal Weapon 4, thanks to Chris Rock’s hilarious performance.

Butters has an interesting role in Lethal Weapon 4. Murtaugh’s daughter is pregnant and Butters is the father, which goes against Murtaugh’s staunch rule that his daughter can’t get involved with a cop. Of course, by the end of the movie, he’s become endeared to his new son-in-law. With any luck, if the fifth movie ever gets made, Rock will be back.

9 Action Sequence: The Opening Explosion (Lethal Weapon 3)

The opening set piece of the third Lethal Weapon movie sees Riggs and Murtaugh trying to defuse a bomb in an empty office building before the bomb squad arrives. They fail to defuse it in time and end up being demoted to uniformed officers.

The producers blew up a whole building to start the threequel in spectacular style. This sequence even has its own “Save the cat!” moment, as there’s a cat in the building that Murtaugh grabs on the way out.

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8 Character: Arjen Rudd

In the first Lethal Weapon sequel, the apartheid era is used as a poignant backdrop. Riggs and Murtaugh’s latest foe is Arjen Rudd, a Los Angeles consul-general played by Joss Ackland who’s been smuggling drugs into the United States.

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Given that he’s in L.A. on behalf of the South African government, Rudd has diplomatic immunity, which presents an interesting hurdle for Riggs and Murtaugh in building a case against him.

7 Action Sequence: Riggs Destroys Rudd’s House (Lethal Weapon 2)

When Rudd starts picking off Riggs’ fellow cops, he decides to disregard his diplomatic immunity and operates outside the law to bring him to justice. For starters, he goes to Rudd’s house, which is propped up on a hill by stilts, and destroys it.

Riggs hooks one of the stilts to the back of his truck and pulls it out from under the property, letting the house slide down the hill to its doom.

6 Character: Leo Getz

“Whatever you want, Leo Getz.” Early in Lethal Weapon 2, Riggs and Murtaugh are assigned to protect a motormouth federal witness played by Joe Pesci. Pesci debuted this role a year before he won an Oscar for his incredible performance in Goodfellas.

Pesci proved to be so great in the role of Leo – sharing terrific chemistry with Gibson and especially Glover and delivering every line hysterically – that he was kept around for the next two movies.

5 Action Sequence: Riggs & Murtaugh’s Final Showdown With Wah Sing Ku (Lethal Weapon 4)

The toughest opponent that Riggs and Murtaugh ever faced was Triad badass Wah Sing Ku in Lethal Weapon 4. The character was played by Jet Li in his international screen debut.

The intense final fight between Wah Sing Ku and the two cops toward the end of the movie is a visceral masterclass in action filmmaking. Even together, they’re no match for Ku.

4 Character: Martin Riggs

Martin Riggs is a hotshot renegade young detective who suffers from suicidal thoughts following his wife’s death. In true buddy cop movie fashion, he’s partnered up with a straight-laced veteran cop who does things by the book.

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The whole success of the Lethal Weapon franchise can arguably be attributed to the incredible on-screen chemistry shared by Mel Gibson and Danny Glover in the mismatched roles of Riggs and Murtaugh.

3 Action Sequence: The Toilet Bomb (Lethal Weapon 2)

Murtaugh gets quite a surprise when he sits down on his toilet in Lethal Weapon 2 and learns he’s just triggered a bomb under the seat. Before too long, the house is flooded with first responders – and he’s still sitting on the toilet, because the bomb will go off if he moves.

The sequence has a hilarious punchline as Riggs pulls Murtaugh off the toilet and into the bathtub and the ensuing explosion sends the toilet flying into Murtaugh’s car.

2 Character: Roger Murtaugh

Along with Riggs, Roger Murtaugh is a part of arguably the most iconic buddy cop pairing in the history of the formulaic subgenre. In sharp contrast to Riggs’ unpredictability, Murtaugh is a loving husband and father, and a sort of everyman.

Murtaugh is, of course, best known by his iconic catchphrase, “I’m getting too old for this sh*t.” He spent four whole movies on the brink of retirement and never got to enjoy the end of his long working life.

1 Action Sequence: The Climactic Fight (Lethal Weapon)

In the climactic sequence of the first Lethal Weapon movie, after Mr. Joshua escapes, Riggs and Murtaugh anticipate that he’ll head to Murtaugh’s house to exact vengeance against his family, so they race down there and manage to arrive in time to stop him.

Riggs and Joshua engage in a brutal final fight on the front lawn in which Riggs narrowly manages to emerge as the victor. When the cops taking Joshua away fail to keep him under control, Riggs and Murtaugh shoot him dead.

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Ben Sherlock
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Ben Sherlock is a writer, comedian, independent filmmaker, and Burt Reynolds enthusiast. He writes lists for Screen Rant and features and reviews for Game Rant. He’s currently in pre-production on his first feature (and has been for a while, because filmmaking is expensive). You can catch him performing standup at odd pubs around the UK that will give him stage time. Previously, he wrote for Taste of Cinema, Comic Book Resources, and BabbleTop.

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