'Lethal Weapon' on 4K isn't a Killer Purchase
I'm late to this one. That's my fault since I was on vacation for a while. That, and having to bury more of my relatives. What's a better way to get your mind off tragedy than watching one of the funnest, intentionally dumb movies ever made? Has Lethal Weapon aged well? In terms of enjoyable schlock? Absolutely. Under current-day viewpoints? No. One shining example of Lethal Weapon's outdatedness is whenever we see Amanda Hunsaker (Jackie Swanson), her breasts are exposed for no reason. Random nudity is even something Airplane! mocked, as random boob flashes were a common occurrence in the 80s. One thing that has aged remarkably well is the Riggs-Murtaugh buddy cop relationship. The chemistry between real-life crazy man, Mel Gibson, and good Samaritan Danny Glover is unbreakable. Many, many movies have tried to replicate their magic, but few can match it to this day. Enough about the film. How's the disc? Is it worth your money? Well, it's no banger, but it has its highlights.
Lethal Weapon on 4K seems like a faithful representation of the original print, at least as far as I can recall. I've never seen the movie on the big screen. My introduction to it was through a cable broadcast of the film. Or it could have been a VHS tape. More experienced veterans of the film's negative would have a better say. The 4K2160p/HDR10 transfer is a decent print of the film. It doesn't crush the colors to something hideous, unlike recent digital prints of 2001: A Space Odyssey or Star Wars, for instance. Oranges have not been replaced with yellows, nor are the night skies all blue. The hue, saturation, and black levels are evenly set. It still resembles an 80s film, retaining its grain on the screen without erasing its aged attributes. It's clean, but not overly so. There are still some grains left on the screen that make it look natural.
The default audio is presented in DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. That's only for the theatrical cut of the movie. For surround sound, Dolby TrueHD 7.1 (48 kHz, 24-bit) is available. It sounded great on my 25-year-old home 5.1 home theater setup. The score blares nice and loud; however, some of the gunfire is at times oddly soft. For recent re-releases, Lethal Weapon is one of the better examples of a proper surround sound experience.
This disc, like most recent releases, leaves much to be desired. Remember when we'd get those extended cuts of each Lord of the Rings films, packed with four discs per film? Two for the feature and two full of extras? Whatever happened to those? There are some extras here, but they're laughably limited. A legacy of Inspiration: Remembering Dick Donner is a very short video going over director Richard Donner's career. However, it's not even that. It's merely a few snippets from interviews of people praising Donner who've worked with him. The other extra is "I am Too Old for This..." - A Chemistry that Became Iconic. The extra explores the dichotomy between the film's two lead actors and its influence on subsequent buddy cop movies. And wouldn't you know it, that extra is also extremely short.
The film is available in both the theatrical cut and the director's cut. Neither cut features much of a difference at all. Unless you're a hardcore fan of Lethal Weapon, you'll hardly notice anything between the two versions. The movie might be missing extras, but its surround sound is nice, loud, and crisp, and the picture doesn't have that overly polished look to it.
Too many reprints appear to have been put through a pristine car wash, lacking the authenticity of the decade in which the movie was filmed. Mostly 4K reprints rely on a lazy color grading process used to mass-produce discs during an era that prioritizes streaming over physical media, resulting in the loss of our favorite movies when they're removed from streaming platforms month by month. If you want a movie forever, with the best presentation you can experience, then purchase the 4K disc. In terms of home video, outside of maybe a dusty DVD of the film, the newest 4K print of Lethal Weapon is the best way to view the film on modern televisions.
It's totally missing special features. And what happened to animated menus that DVDs used to have? Now, every Blu-ray and 4k has the same menu setup with nothing discernable that makes owning physical media cool. That is, outside of not having to worry about your favorite streaming service abruptly yanking the film. For keeping the movie forever alone, it's worth picking up a copy, which is available to purchase now on Amazon, Walmart, and eBay, along with other online means. If you're able to find a physical copy in the store, then you're living in the past, and I want to join you. I'm too old for this streaming s***.
