Lethal Weapon 2 is a 1989 American buddy cop action comedy film directed by Richard Donner, and starring Mel Gibson, Danny Glover, Joe Pesci, Joss Ackland, Derrick O'Connor and Patsy Kensit.

Gibson and Glover respectively reprise their roles as LAPD officers Martin Riggs and Roger Murtaugh, who protect an irritating federal witness (Pesci), while taking on a gang of South African drug dealers hiding behind diplomatic immunity.

Later, consul-general Arjen Rudd and security agent Pieter Vorstedt kill Hans, their man who lost the shipment of Krugerrands, and debate how to stir the police away from their activities.

It soon becomes clear that both cases are related; after an attempt on Leo's life, Riggs and Murtaugh learn of the former's murky past laundering funds for vengeful drug smugglers.

Leo provides them with information about how the laundering works and leads them to the gang, but upon dispatching his would-be assassin and returning with backup they are confronted by Rudd, who invokes diplomatic immunity on behalf of his "associates", leaving the LAPD powerless to take action against them.

Though instructed to leave the case alone, Riggs begins openly harassing Rudd and romances his secretary, Rika van den Haas, a liberal-minded Afrikaner who despises her boss and his racial philosophy.

Vorstedt is dispatched to murder all of the officers investigating them while Murtaugh deduces that Rudd is attempting to ship funds from his smuggling ring in the United States to Cape Town via Los Angeles Harbor.

Rudd retaliates by shooting Riggs in the back multiple times and again invokes diplomatic immunity when Murtaugh aims his gun at him.

In addition, series regulars – who appear in minor roles in all four films of the franchise – include: Damon Hines and Ebonie Smith as Murtaugh children Nick and Carrie, respectively; and Mary Ellen Trainor as psychologist Stephanie Woods.

[3] Although he was struggling with personal issues, Black still managed to write the first draft along with his friend, novelist Warren Murphy, co-creator of Remo Williams (the lead character of The Destroyer novels).

The final version of the script written by Jeffrey Boam that was used for filming was completely different from Black's draft, other than the scene where the stilt house is destroyed.

The film was the debut of Leo Getz (Joe Pesci), a crooked but whistle-blowing CPA who is placed in protective custody by Riggs and Murtaugh, and makes the detectives' more difficult due to his neurotic behavior.

The website's consensus reads: "Lethal Weapon 2 may sport a thin plot typical of action fare, but its combination of humor and adrenaline, along with the chemistry between its leads, make this a playful, entertaining sequel.

[24] The New York Times stated, "Though it includes a smashed car full of Krugerrands, a hillside house blown off its stilts and a bomb set under a toilet, the point of Lethal Weapon 2 is that Mel Gibson and Danny Glover get to race around in all that chaos, acting crazy.

Before it skids out of control in the final sequence, the film is so careful to preserve its successful comic-action formula that it follows the most basic law of sequels.

"[25] Los Angeles Times reviewer Michael Wilmington stated that "though it's nice to have a big-audience action movie attacking apartheid and the slaughter of sea mammals, instead of acting as an enlistment poster for the Army Air Corps, local vigilante groups or the reopening of the Vietnam War, the sentiments don't really transcend the car crashes.