I've been wanting to revisit Lethal Weapon for the last couple of months, but I decided that I would save it for Xmas Day. Why? Well, most people immediately run to A Christmas Story or National Lampoon's Vacation for their Xmas fix. Me, I head straight to the best "Christmas" movie (along with Die Hard) of all time. I remember the first time I saw Lethal Weapon back when it came out and it literally blew me away. It was and still is one of the greatest action movies ever made and still holds up incredibly well 25 years later. Sheesh, has it really been that long? Good God, that's insane!!

So, what makes Lethal Weapon so great? It's one of the tighest scripts ever, written by Shane Black. There isn't any wasted scenes to be found anywhere and the story itself, as "basic" as it may appear to be is just downright good. But what really makes LW hit top speed are the characters of Martin Riggs (Mel Gibson) and Roger Murtaugh (Danny Glover). They make a great team and set the bar so high that all other Buddy Cop movies since then are measured and judged by LW and rightly so. But it's the chemistry between Gibson and Glover that puts this up with some of the best films of all time. I have yet to see any pairing come close to what these two cats had.

The film also had even more things going for as well. The Murtaugh Family was very likable with a great cast and you do care about them in a way that you just don't for most families in action films. It's all about casting the right actors. And they did a great job getting Gary Busey for the role of Joshua. Think about how long he has been in the business. Now name two of his movies. The Buddy Holly Story and Lethal Weapon. He made a fantastic villain and for all intents and purposes this was his last great role.

How influential was Lethal Weapon back then? So much so that Die Hard (the other greatest Christmas movie of all time) basically swiped the ending and used it to great effect in how to kill off a bad guy. Go watch the two and see for yourself if you don't remember.

I've owned a couple of versions of LW on DVD and it's permanently part of my personal DVD Library. It will stay in my collection forever. It shouldn't be any surprise that I'd recommend this as a Buy. Duh!

It's been years since I've seen this. I do remember liking it.. A lot.

I was planning on watching this one again today on Christmas, but I just wasn't in the mood to watch this or any movie. Just kind of channel surfing most of the day. Watching random stuff.

Can't you return it? It's damage and they (whoever it is you ordered from) have to replace it. Sh*t man, I would send it back and if they don't give you a replacement, just get your money back and buy it elsewhere. I love the Director's Cut, especially the scenes that never made it into the final cut.

Definitely return it. If you paid for with credit card, it's in the system as to when you bought it and will be covered. So, you're good to go.