Police officers take Joshua into custody, but he breaks free, takes an officer's gun, and attempts to shoot Riggs and Murtaugh the pair return fire and kill Joshua.Ī short time later, after visiting his wife's grave, Riggs shares a Christmas Day meal with Murtaugh and his family. Riggs defeats Joshua in a brawl, but chooses not to kill him. Deducing Joshua will seek revenge at Murtaugh's home, Riggs and Murtaugh ambush him. Although Joshua escapes, Murtaugh kills McAllister. Riggs and Murtaugh are tortured for information until Riggs escapes, kills several Shadow Company members, and frees Murtaugh and Rianne. Riggs provides sniper support to help Murtaugh and Rianne escape, but all three are captured and recovered to a nightclub basement, a Shadow Company front. He later attempts to kill Riggs in a drive-by shooting, but the latter is saved by his bulletproof vest Riggs's death is faked to give the pair an advantage.Ĭoncerned Murtaugh knows too much, Shadow Company kidnaps his daughter Rianne and forces Murtaugh to meet them at El Mirage Lake.

Joshua arrives in a helicopter and kills Hunsaker before escaping. He initially called Murtaugh to confess and turn witness against Shadow Company, and McAllister had Amanda killed in retaliation. Hunsaker's role as a banker allowed him to make the illicit funds seem legitimate. Following the war, the ex-CIA agents, mercenaries, and soldiers involved reformed Shadow Company as a criminal organization and began shipping large quantities of heroin from Asia to the United States, under the leadership of retired General Peter McAllister and his right-hand man Mr. He reveals that during the Vietnam War he worked for 'Shadow Company', a defunct CIA paramilitary unit tasked with destabilizing the local heroin trade. Suspecting Hunsaker is withholding information, Riggs and Murtaugh visit him at Amanda's funeral. The suspect is detailed by neighborhood children, who noticed he had an elite special forces tattoo similar to Riggs's. Riggs locates components of a mercury switch explosive among the debris, a specialty explosive he recalls being used by Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) mercenaries in Vietnam. Dixie's home explodes as they arrive and her corpse is later recovered. Their final lead is Dixie, a prostitute who witnessed Amanda's death, and whom the pair believe may have poisoned her.

Riggs and Murtaugh attempt to question her pimp, but are assaulted after finding drugs on the premises, forcing Riggs to kill the pimp to save Murtaugh's life. Her autopsy shows she was fatally poisoned with tainted drugs, indicating she was potentially murdered. Murtaugh is contacted by a former Vietnam War friend, Michael Hunsaker, ostensibly to help his daughter Amanda escape her life of prostitution and pornography, but Amanda kills herself by jumping from an apartment balcony before she and Murtaugh meet. Riggs and Murtaugh do not get along well at first as Murtaugh is equally dismissive of Riggs's mental state, but is eventually convinced Riggs is truly suicidal. Despite the protests of the police therapist, the captain believes Riggs is faking his psychosis to be forcibly retired with a generous pension and partners him with fellow war veteran and seasoned Homicide Sergeant Roger Murtaugh. It spawned a franchise that includes three sequels and a television series, with a fourth sequel in development.įollowing the recent death of his wife, Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) narcotics Sergeant Martin Riggs, a former Special Forces soldier, has become suicidal and erratic. Upon its release, Lethal Weapon grossed over $120 million (against a production budget of $15 million) and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Sound. In Lethal Weapon, a pair of mismatched LAPD detectives – Martin Riggs (Gibson), a former Green Beret who has become suicidal following the death of his wife, and veteran officer and family man Roger Murtaugh (Glover) – work together as partners. It stars Mel Gibson and Danny Glover alongside Gary Busey, Tom Atkins, Darlene Love, and Mitchell Ryan.

Lethal Weapon is a 1987 American buddy cop action comedy film directed and co-produced by Richard Donner, written by Shane Black, and co-produced by Joel Silver.

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