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| Category | Action | Theatrical Trailer(s) | Yes, 1 |
| Rating |
| Other Trailer(s) | None |
| Year Released | 1989 | Commentary Tracks | None |
| Running Time | 109 minutes | Other Extras | Cast & Crew Biographies
Featurette-Stunts & Action (4 mins) |
| RSDL/Flipper | No/No |
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| Start Up | Movie | ||
| Region | 4 | Director | Richard Donner |
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Distributor |
Warner Home Video |
Starring | Mel Gibson
Danny Glover Joe Pesci Joss Ackland Derrick O'Connor Patsy Kensit |
| Case | Snapper | ||
| RRP | $29.95 | Music | Michael Kamen
Eric Clapton David Sanborn |
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| Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None | MPEG | None |
| Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 2.35:1 | Dolby Digital | 5.1 |
| 16x9 Enhancement | Yes | Soundtrack Languages | English (Dolby Digital 5.1)
French (Dolby Digital 5.1) Italian (Dolby Digital 5.1) |
| Theatrical Aspect Ratio | 2.35:1 |
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| Macrovision | ? | ||
| Subtitles | English
Arabic Dutch French Italian Portuguese Spanish English for the Hearing Impaired Italian for the Hearing Impaired |
Smoking | Yes |
You know the formula - buddy cops Martin Riggs (Mel Gibson) and Roger Murtaugh (Danny Glover) team together to protect a mob witness, Leo Getz (Joe Pesci) from the nasty bad guys. In this case, the bad guys are South African diplomats who are smuggling drugs under the cloak of "diplomatic immunity". The quality of their South African accents varies, but is generally good, especially from chief bad guy Arjen Rudd (Joss Ackland).
As is to be expected from the Lethal Weapon series, there are lots of great action stunts, lots of great one-liners (which work in this movie, unlike those in Lethal Weapon 4) and lots of fun and mayhem.
The transfer is presented at an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, 16x9 enhanced.
There was a glitch in the video transfer at 15:42, consisting of a minor pause and skip in the image. This was not corrected by cleaning the disc.
The transfer was sharp and clear at all times. Shadow detail was a little lacking, but was satisfactory nonetheless.
The colour was well saturated throughout. There was some colour bleeding of Riggs' red shirt evident at times, but this was barely discernible.
No MPEG artefacts were seen. Film-to-video artefacts consisted of a moderate amount of aliasing, and of frequent image wobble. Chapter 6 is particularly notable for this artefact. Film artefacts were noticeable, but never distracting.
Dialogue was always clear and audible.
There were no audio sync problems with this disc.
The musical score was by Michael Kamen, Eric Clapton and David Sanborn. It suited the feel of the movie admirably.
The surround channels were aggressively used by the soundtrack for special effects and music. There appeared to be no use of split surround effects, which is consistent with the original Dolby surround soundtrack of this movie.
The .1 channel received a fair amount of signal at times to support the special effects.
This shows the creation of a number of key stunts scenes in the movie. It is worth watching even though it is very short.
The video quality is good.
The audio quality is good.
The extras present are limited.
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© Michael Demtschyna
21st May 1999
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| DVD | Pioneer DV-505, using S-Video output |
| Display | Loewe Art-95 95cm direct view CRT in 16:9 mode, via the S-Video input. Calibrated with the NTSC DVD version of Video Essentials. |
| Audio Decoder | Denon AVD-2000 Dolby Digital AddOn Decoder, used as a standalone processor. Calibrated with the NTSC DVD version of Video Essentials. |
| Amplification | 2 x EA Playmaster 100W per channel stereo amplifiers for Left, Right, Left Rear and Right Rear; Philips 360 50W per channel stereo amplifier for Centre and Subwoofer |
| Speakers | Philips S2000 speakers for Left, Right; Polk Audio CS-100 Centre Speaker; Apex AS-123 speakers for Left Rear and Right Rear; Yamaha B100-115SE subwoofer |