Coming at the tail end of the 80’s action boom, this sequel suffered at the box office thanks to the absence of it’s predecessor’s leading man, but is in pretty much every conceivable way the superior film. I’m not about to pretend this is any sort of masterpiece, but it’s a tightly constructed, likeable thriller that gets the best from a staunchly Z- list but consistently memorable cast: any film which casts Danny Glover as an action hero gets my vote, and he’s ably backed up by Bill Paxton in full shiteating Hudson mode, a super slimy Gary Busey, not to mention a raft of DTV faces like Robert Davi, Ruben Blades and Morton Downey. Hopkins holds the whole thing together with a surprising amount of panache- the strobe- lit subway attack sequence is a minor classic.
by Tom Huddleston | Source: Film 4
22 Jan 2007 12:19 PM | Comments (1)
While I can’t at all agree that this is a superior film to the original (which, aside from being a wonderfully concise, hypermasculine, and almost wordless action film, precisely establishes the formula for its sequel), I do think it’s puzzlingly underrated. Perhaps Danny Glover’s star-turn was too confusing amidst the Lethal Weapon sequels, but I, for one, think Glover’s relentless pursuit works better here than any of Murtaugh’s analogous, “too-old-for-this-shit”-muttering exploits in Donner’s films. Also, this film offers a judiciously tantalizing bit of Predator backstory, soon to be completely overblown by AVP, a movie notable for effectively ruining two otherwise respectable franchises in one shot.
leo
23 January 2007
8:31 AM
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