drbloodscoffinblog

Loaded with the routine elements, Deadly Weapon 2 benefits from a consistency of tone that was lacking in the first membrane. This one of these days, screenwriter Jeffrey Boam [working from a romance by Shane Black and Warren Murphy] and commander Richard Donner hold wisely trained their sights on humor and the considerable charm of Mel Gibson and Danny Glover’s onscreen sympathy.

They’ve also dreamed up particularly nasty villains and incorporated enough chases and shootouts to hold the attention of a hyperactive nine-year-old.

Plot sets the duo after South African diplomats using their shield of immunity to smuggle drugs. Tagging along for the ride in a hilarious comic turn is Joe Pesci as an unctuous accountant who laundered the baddies’ money and now needs witness protection to stay out of the washing machine himself.

There’s also a fleeting entanglement between Riggs (Mel Gibson) and the lead villain’s secretary (the sparkling Patsy Kensit) that adds some welcome sex appeal.