Lethal Weapon 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		0.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		4.0

Lethal Weapon 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

♫ Ebony and ivory... ♫

Reviewed by Randy Miller III June 24, 2025

Richard Donner's massively influential Lethal Weapon ignited the box office in 1987, becoming the rare film to gain traction after its second week in theaters. This likable "reluctant partner" action-comedy was fueled by a script from then-newcomer Shane Black (who would direct his first film 18 years later with Kiss Kiss Bang Bang) and outstanding chemistry from Mel Gibson and Danny Glover, then primarily known for the Mad Max franchise and The Color Purple, respectively. Lethal Weapon has earned quite a few home video releases over the years including this brand-new 4K disc from Warner Bros.'; it's not quite a definitive effort, but the film's modest technical merits have been bolstered thanks to a recent restoration and two audio options, including the original theatrical 2.0 mix.

As a trivial side note, this long-awaited 4K release shrewdly avoids WB's typical trend of "milestone" anniversaries as Lethal Weapon just turned 38 this year... which was coincidentally Danny Glover's age when he was first considered for the role of 50 year-old Roger Murtaugh, believe it or not. Perhaps he wasn't too old for this shit after all?

For a synopsis and appreciation of Lethal Weapon, please see Kenneth Brown's review of Warner Bros.' 2006 Blu-ray edition, a supremely disappointing early-format release that was later eclipsed by one included with the studio's 2012 Blu-ray collection. As expected, WB's new UHD edition easily zooms past both previous releases in the A/V department but, unlike their recent 4K catalog efforts, jettisons all of the legacy extras. It does, however, include both remastered cuts of the film: the original theatrical cut, as well as the so-called "Director's Cut" created for DVD (which certainly wasn't Donner's preferred version, but is worth a look). The differences between both are detailed here.

Lethal Weapon 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

NOTE: This review's screenshots are sourced from two new retrospective featurettes detailed below, both of which feature clips from the newly-restored film rendered in 1080p/SDR. Therefore, they should not be considered a 100% accurate representation of the 4K picture in terms of HDR color, fine detail, or brightness levels.

Arriving long after two progressively better Blu-ray editions mentioned above, this new 4K edition of Lethal Weapon sports an attractive new restoration that serves as the foundation of Warner Bros.' 2160p/HDR10 transfer. It's a solid effort indeed and plays to the film's modest visual strengths, which certainly aren't as flashy and colorful as the more visually interesting productions that writer Shane Black would eventually direct. That's my roundabout way of saying that Lethal Weapon, as occasionally over-the-top as it can be, still looks very much like a cop drama shot during the 1980s. Fine detail and textures are extremely impressive in the right conditions, black levels run true, density is excellent, and all noticeable signs of age-related wear-and-tear have been carefully removed.

My only two personal sticking points -- three, if you count the lack of Dolby Vision -- are related to color intensity and grain. The grading of Warner Bros.' restoration certainly doesn't look like obvious revisionism to any real degree... yet at the same time, the saturation of warmer tones -- especially bright reds -- tends to vary from shot to shot in specific scenes. (By the same token, certain cooler tones like blue skies and green grass are tamped down almost randomly as well.) Perhaps these are part of the cinematography or ever-so-slightly exacerbated by HDR, but these temperatures come through as notably uneven at specific moments. As for the grain, it's overwhelmingly present yet there's clearly been a slight amount of management applied and trace amounts of frozen grain could also be spotted on various nighttime scenes, which is probably more a byproduct of occasionally iffy encoding than anything else.

These aren't major quibbles when you consider how much this presentation improves upon earlier ones, not to mention that it's as close to a theatrical-grade presentation as we've ever gotten on home video and perhaps ever will get. For those hung up on ratings, I'd probably rate this a 4.25/5 if possible... but it's closer to a 4 than a 4.5.

Lethal Weapon 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

In keeping with Warner Bros.' recent change in audio policy, this 4K presentation of Lethal Weapon comes equipped with a default new Dolby Atmos remix (both cuts) in addition to the original theatrical mix presented in DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio (theatrical cut only). Bear in mind that this is the kind of Atmos remix not fully built from original audio elements and features noticeable changes to certain gunshots and explosions; basically, you get added sonic weight, more directionality, and even several well-placed uses of the height channel at the expense of accuracy. It's kind of fun in spots and much more enveloping than its theatrical counterpart, of course, but die-hard fans of the film likely won't consider it to be a fair trade-off, all things considered. They might switch over a few times out of curiosity of maybe even try the whole thing... but they'll likely eventually run back the 2.0 mix and be perfectly happy with it, as it is indeed the genuine article and much more fully representative of what Lethal Weapon's sonic origins.

Despite those glaring revisions present the Atmos mix (which at least earns a few points for trying), I'm still awarding this disc a full five stars for audio since the original mix is still present and sounds great.

Optional subtitles, including English (SDH), are offered during the main feature and both extras below.

Lethal Weapon 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This one-disc release ships in a keepcase with a matching slipcover and a Digital Copy redemption slip.

The bonus features are a bit of a disappointment, lacking the legacy content found on the 2012 Blu-ray collection but instead serving up a pair of new retrospective featurettes in their place. Both run much too short for their own good but are still worth a look since they feature recent comments from a handful of prominent cast and crew members including Danny Glover, actor Traci Wolfe (Rianne Murtaugh, Roger's daughter), writer Shane Black, associate producer Jennie Lew Tugend, and others, as well as a nice collection of behind-the-scenes photos like the one above.

• NEW! A Legacy of Inspiration: Remembering Dick Donner (7:00) - Richard Donner's contemporaries pay tribute to the late director, who passed away in 2021 at the age of 91.

• NEW! "I'm Too Old for This...": A Chemistry That Became Iconic (6:06) - Several of the same participants speak about the lightning-in-a-bottle chemistry of its two lead actors.

Lethal Weapon 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Despite being eclipsed by its 1989 follow-up (in my opinion, at least), Richard Donner's Lethal Weapon remains a likeable and, for its time, groundbreaking effort that helped to popularize the "reluctant partner" subgenre of action-comedy films. Spawning three sequels, a three-season TV series, and a fourth film that's been stuck in development hell for almost two decades, it's still an easy film to love even without being a five-star classic in my book. WB's new UHD edition -- which will hopefully be followed by the other films soon enough -- has solid A/V merits (including the original theatrical 2.0 audio) but somewhat fumbles the bonus features, leaving off all the Blu-ray legacy extras but at least offering two new ones in their place. Even so, it's firmly Recommended to fans and first-timers alike.