Mel Gibsonas Sergeant Martin RiggsThe story
About Lethal Weapon
In the weeks before Christmas, a steady family-man detective on the brink of retirement is partnered with a reckless younger officer who is grieving his wife and flirting with death. A suspicious fall from a balcony pulls them into a heroin-smuggling ring run by former special-forces soldiers. By Christmas Day the odd couple have become friends, and the loner has somewhere to go for dinner.
The CineClaus verdict
A cop thriller that happens to be set at Christmas, and it wears the season more lightly than Die Hard does.
The festive touches are mostly background: Jingle Bell Rock over the opening titles, a tree lot. What earns its place is the ending, where a man with nowhere to go gets asked round for dinner, and that small kindness lands harder than any of the shootouts.
Gibson is raw and properly unsettling, with Glover as the steady heart of it. Worth a late slot for any adult who thinks Die Hard owns the Christmas action film outright.
The family desk
Can the kids watch?
Our take: realistically one for adults, since the BBFC's own advice flags strong language, violence, drug use and sexualised nudity, and there is a torture scene and plenty of bloody gunfire on top.
BBFC advice: Contains strong language, violence, drug use and sexualised nudity.
Content advice & accessibility
- Where the advice comes from
- The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC).
- Our age guidance
- Editorial, separate from the official 15 certificate, and never looser than it.
