Review Detail

9.3 6 10
Extended Edition January 17, 2016 5964
Overall rating
 
8.6
Audio/Video Quality
 
9.0
Audio Editing
 
9.0
Visual Editing
 
9.0
Narrative
 
8.0
Enjoyment
 
8.0
Lethal Weapon is one of my favorite movies and I've watched it countless times. I was disappointed that the Blu-ray only contained the Theatrical Cut as I love the additions to the Director's Cut (which technically isn't a real Director's Cut as that was just a label Warner Bros. added to the DVD). So I was happy to hear that an Extended Edition was being made to add back in all the DC footage, along with the extra deleted scenes on the BD.

A/V Quality – 9
This is DVD quality but seems to be sourced from the Blu-ray. I wish it were edited in HD (I know, that's a funny statement coming from me, as I've railed against HD-bias in the forums) but I understand why it's 480p. Some of the deleted scenes look clean (the ones used in the DC) and some look a bit scratchy, and the Bar Fight deleted scene and the alternate ending look really bad, as they are only available on the Lethal Weapon 4 DVD and weren't included in the BD set. The quality itself is fine with some noticeable drops during some deleted scenes.

Editing – 9
Solid editing throughout, with only a couple minor blips when transitioning to deleted scenes. Nothing too distracting but it wasn't perfect.

Narrative – 8
Some of the added scenes were put back in incorrectly, or at least incorrectly from my point of view. The Bar Fight scene was originally supposed to be the introduction to Riggs, therefore it should have been placed as the second scene, after the opening balcony death and before we meet Murtaugh. As it's placed now it creates a bit of a continuity error as we see Riggs wearing a specific shirt in a couple scenes, then a different shirt when he's at the bar, then back to his original shirt when he comes home in the next scene.

Then, the scene with Riggs taking on the school sniper is put in the wrong place. In the “Director's Cut” it comes right after the short extra scene of Murtaugh at the shooting range and before we see Murtaugh arriving at the scene of the crime. In this edit it comes after we see Riggs' encounter with the drug dealers and after Murtaugh arrives at the crime scene. In theory the two Riggs scenes are interchangeable and the sniper scene can come after the drug bust. BUT, at the end of the drug bust scene we see that Riggs is heavily shaken up and in the sniper scene he's cool and shows no emotions whatsoever. It is more logical for the character to be so shaken up after the second time risking his life that afternoon.

All the other deleted scenes were placed nicely.

Enjoyment – 8
Despite my criticisms about the placement of some scenes, I still enjoyed this. I mean after all, it's Lethal Frickin' Weapon. But I would like to see an improved V2 that fixes the placement of those opening scenes. As for now, I'll stick with the “Director's Cut” DVD as my preferred version.

User Review

Format Watched?
Digital
Owner's reply January 29, 2016

Thanks for the review. To address some of the points:

the bar room fight: it was placed there as I couldn't get the scene to work where it originally was. Also, it does kind of call on a sense of suspending belief about the shirt. He could have bought it before going to the bar, got blood on it from the fight, then changed back into it when he got back into his truck

The school sniper scene: again, I tried to put this scene as it was in the directors cut, but it put too much time on just Riggs. I wanted the time to equal between the characters, eg: scene with martin,m scene with roger, martin, roger, etc. Also, it could be surmised that between the scenes, Riggs composed himself before driving off, and he gets the sniper call ten minutes after, but thats just what I think

Other than that though, I'm glad you liked it

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Comments

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Ordering
(Updated: May 21, 2017) May 21, 2017
hey buddy check out my edit i think i got it just right... free link too
Lethal Weapon, The Ragged Edge Edition BR 2017

https://mega.nz/#!pOgEWJKZ!tmile3lG34O48qeO7-93xmS2uggKEDuhe8RraYS6wjA
W
workprintsfanedits
April 07, 2022
Yes can you send me a link to this cut please?
S
sludgefoot
2 results - showing 1 - 2