LETHAL WEAPON 2 - HD DVD review

I have begun to appreciate the "Lethal Weapon" movies more and more over the years, especially the first two, and this second installment in the series is probably the best one all the way around. Not only is it funnier, more exciting, and more action-packed than the others, it is among the best looking, made all the better in its new 1080-resolution HD-DVD transfer. Welcome back, Sergeants Martin Riggs (Mel Gibson) and Roger Murtaugh (Danny Glover) of the Los Angeles Police Department. The only thing I missed about this release was the extra minutes provided on the standard-edition Director's Cut. However, the sharper HD picture more than makes up the difference.

This time we find the "odd couple" of police work involved in a story just as thrilling as the first venture if a tad more cartoonish in execution. The pair have a better adversary, though. He's a racist South African villain named Arjen Rudd (Joss Ackland), a Minister of Diplomatic Affairs who hides behinds his diplomatic immunity to smuggle gold and launder money. And his chief henchman, Pieter Vorstedt (Derrick O'Conner), turns out to be even more evil than we initially believe, a plot twist I won't reveal. Riggs's love interest is the Minister's secretary, the lovely Rika van den Haas (Patsy Kensit). Sometimes, it doesn't pay to be this hero's girlfriend.

In the event your memory is a little fuzzy on the various movies in the series (there were four of them, all directed by Richard Donner), this is the one where Murtaugh's house and his wife's car get destroyed. This is the one that introduced to everybody's favorite creep, Leo Getz (Joe Pesci), a character who made such a positive impact on audiences that the filmmakers brought him back for the third and fourth episodes. Getz is a crooked bookkeeper that the police are keeping in the government's witness protection program until he can testify against some hoods. Riggs and Murtaugh get assigned to protect him, and, wouldn't you know it, they discover he is somehow connected to the evil South African diplomat. This is the one where Murtaugh's daughter, Rianne (Traci Wolfe), debuts on a television commercial for condoms, totally discombobulating old dad. This is also the one that has Murtaugh sitting on an exploding toilet seat.

Richard Donner again directs with a frenetic pace, this time leavened by even more funny business. Riggs is still the maniac he always was, but he's not quite so self-destructive as before. How crazy is he? The department takes bets on how quickly he can escape from a straightjacket.

Things start right out with a snippet of WB's Looney Tunes theme, followed by Riggs acting nuts as he and Murtaugh get caught up in a wild, high-speed pursuit of baddies. At one point, he is actually chasing a speeding BMW on foot, and almost catching it! A routine drug bust turns into helicopters, automatic weapons, and Krugerrands.

One last thing: "Lethal Weapon 2" is more unnecessarily harsh in terms of people dying, more brutal than the other entries in the series. Although a person may find this a turnoff in what is otherwise a lighthearted adventure, it isn't enough to dampen one's enthusiasm for the film in general. You may find the movie overdone, to be sure, but you'll have to admit the lead characters are endearing.

Video:
The most obvious difference between this second adventure and the first one in the series is the improvement in picture and sound of the original prints. Whereas the filmmakers shot the first "Lethal Weapon" in a 1.85:1 ratio, they made "Lethal Weapon 2" in a much wider 2.35:1 ratio Panavision. In terms of their HD-DVD transfers, this accounts for the 1.78:1 screen size of the first film and the 2.18:1 size of the second. Trust me, wider is better because it presents a much broader vision of the action. More important, however, the colors in "Lethal Weapon 2" are brighter, cleaner, crisper, and better defined in than in the first film. This was the case in the standard-definition DVD, and it's even more pronounced in the HD-DVD. The hues are brilliant and alive, very deep against the blackest possible black levels. One notices a touch of soft grain, no doubt inherent to the film stock and providing a realistic texture to the image. If I have any minor reservation, it's that the picture is slightly on the dark side, with facial tones suffering the most, especially during indoor shots. Otherwise, this is a fine, vibrant high-definition transfer.

Audio:
The Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 sound is well focused and wide ranging, with extremely wide dynamics and a well-extended high end. Bass could probably be deeper and carry more impact though. The Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 sonics outshine their regular DD 5.1 counterparts in terms of overall clarity, and they even point out a few things I hadn't noticed before, like more than few hints of Gibson's Australian accent peeping through the American (the actor was born in New York but raised in down under). The DD+ provides excellent front-channel width and a decent, if not entirely up-to-date surround field. However, do expect some musical ambience enhancement and bullets flying in all directions.

Extras:
Unfortunately, Warner Brothers provide no more extras on this HD-DVD edition than they did on the standard-definition "Lethal Weapon" disc, and that is not much. Moreover, to repeat, this is not the Director's Cut they offered on the SD disc. That said, we have a brief, three-minute making-of featurette called "Stunts and Action," made at the time of the film's release and presented in a 1.33:1 ratio. Next is a sequence of deleted scenes, presented in a single, four-minute clip. Lastly, there is a non-anamorphic widescreen theatrical trailer that looks pretty shabby compared to the high-def feature film.

The bonuses wrap up with thirty-nine scene selections (but no chapter insert); English and French spoken languages; and English, French, and Spanish subtitles, with English captions for the hearing impaired. As always, Warner Bros. also include pop-up menus; a zoom-and-pan option; an indicator of elapsed time; and an Elite Red HD case.

Parting Thoughts:
Overall, I found the exaggerated thrills of the series became a bit tiring after this second installment, but this one is the best balanced in terms of excitement and humor. It is also the better of the two now released in high definition, and much of the movie is a pleasure to watch because of the improved picture quality.