Lethal Weapon: Director's Cut

There are multiple versions of this new 4K ultra-HD remaster of Lethal Weapon, and while things like reproduction posters in the parallel steelbook release are tempting what makes it worthwhile is the quality of this version of the film. There are more reasonable options out, the 'standard' Blu-Ray Ultra-HD doesn't have many bells and whistles but that's not the partnership you're after here.

Having both the theatrical and director's cuts in this quality is a treat. While Richard Donner had disavowed the alleged Director's Cut it's great to see restored scenes in restored quality. While another introductory scene for Mel Gibson's Martin Riggs has been available for a few years it's never been as crisply presented. Though 4K Ultra-HD can be a pain to watch as it's only supported by dedicated players (including some versions of the Sony Playstation5) if your setup supports it the quality difference is astonishing. The kind of thing that TV and VHS (and even DVD) obfuscate come back. Some of them are minor, things like product placement and otherwise, but some like anti-apartheid stickers on refrigerators add depth of detail.

There are two additional features, Remembering Dick Donner and "I'm Too Old For This...". The latter is notable for being about the chemistry between Gibson and Glover but not featuring any input from Mel. His co-star in the chemistry that carried a franchise does appear, and while it's nice to hear from him and writer Shane Black it is five minutes that don't really shed any light. There's something hinted at in terms of Glover taking Gibson "under his wing". Gibson had been in 12 feature films by then, three of them as the eponymous protagonist, Glover just nine and across a similar span of time. It may have been that this was a production in Los Angeles for an American director, that'd have been somewhat of a novelty to the younger man, but eight years wasn't as large a gap as Lethal Weapon pretended to. The 4K restoration really makes that a harder sell, Glover is 'up-aged' by 12 years and Gibson by a bit less than a decade, but between Eighties skin-care and smoking and without the rose-tint of nostalgia it's really hard to tell.

The extras are nice enough, but pointing out that one of the film's explosions takes place with a Delta Airlines L-1011 in the background and asking how it was done does leave one wondering. Although a similar landing is shown in Lethal Weapon 3 and there's a whole tale in how it was done for Bonfire Of The Vanities, it'd be nice to know how purposeful its presence was.

There's no 'making of' here. The best of those probably remains Pure Lethal! which has been bundled with releases of Lethal Weapon 4. Remembering Dick Donner shows a clear fondness from its interviewees, but it's a lightweight piece that mentions The Goonies and little else. That's despite Donner being involved in the prototypical superhero movie, meaning that one could make the case for him having laid the foundations for three movie genres. Donner was a veteran, his first feature was 1961's X-15 about the rocketplane whose aerial antics was groundwork for putting the first man on the moon. Not going back further than a couple of years seems a disservice, if not a lack of ambition.

It too is about five minutes long, meaning that the most significant single 'extra' is the seven minutes added back in by the Director's Cut. Even without those salvaged scenes the 4K Ultra-HD makes this a definitive version of Lethal Weapon, a crispness that most who've seen the film will never have had. For existing fans this represents the best iteration of a film they've already a fondness for, and as such it's also the best introduction for those not familiar with it. While I was watching this for the umpteenth time my viewing companion had never seen it before, and noted that it was a film that lived or died by its chemistry. 4K Ultra-HD is about as close as is practical to an original print, which makes that chemistry as visible (if not palpable) in ways other versions can't quite touch.

It's not quite clear what's been restored here, some of these restorations have gone back to original cans of film rather than what was sent to cinemas. With the lack of additional additions it seems that this is more retouch than recreation. A couple of scenes could have benefited from being regraded, bits of blown-out lighting are less abundant than Gibson's hair but they're still visible.

Reviewed on: 29 Jun 2025