Lethal Weapon
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Lethal Weapon is a series of American movies that were released in 1987, 1989, 1992, and 1998, all starring Mel Gibson and Danny Glover as a mismatched pair of Los Angeles police officers. These movies fall into the action-comedy genre, and are generally considered to typify the "Buddy Cop" cliché.
The storyline of the first movie begins in December of 1987. A veteran cop of 20 years, Roger Murtaugh gets stuck with a new partner on his 50th birthday. That partner is 37-year-old Martin Riggs, whose wife of eleven years was killed just a few months earlier. As a result Riggs is considering suicide, has become a borderline alcoholic, and his methods of catching criminals has become so reckless that he is listed in police files as a lethal weapon. Sergeant Murtaugh is not happy about having a partner 'on the ragged edge', but is soon indebted to the younger man for saving his life. The two uncover a drug-smuggling operation organised by Vietnam War veteran special force troops, known as 'Shadow Company' through the war-era CIA contacts of Air America - a front-company used for drug smuggling from the Golden Triangle. Murtaugh and Riggs are both Vietnam War veterans, and the former's life was saved by a man named Michael Hunsacker - a man whose daughter is murdered to keep him from confessing all he knows about the heroin-smuggling ring of which he is a part of. The movie starts with the death of Amanda Hunsacker, Michael's daughter and the resulting investigation Sgt. Murtaugh heads up. Towards the end, the increasingly desperate Shadow Company kidnap Murtaugh's daughter Rianne to pressure the Sergeant into giving up all he knows about the groups dealings. Murtaugh and Riggs liberate Rianne and leave the drug-smugglers mostly dead or dying. Murtaugh and Riggs are now solid friends, and spends Christmas Day at the Murtaugh Family House with Roger's wife Trish and three children; Riggs brings his dog Sam to be a friend to the Murtaugh Family Cat, Burbank.
Although the first film is not without a sense of humor, its heavy subjects (grief, suicidal wishes, torture, etc.) make it more of an action drama than its sequels, which became increasingly comedic, as Riggs quickly evolved from a disturbed widower whose recklessness stemmed from a wish to die, to a wise-cracking hero whose recklessness now stemmed from a gleeful delight in risk-taking.
The four films also starred notable actors such as Joe Pesci, Rene Russo, Chris Rock, and Jet Li.