Lethal Weapon - 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray

Seeing as we’ve already done a couple of reviews of this film on Blu-ray, I’ll leave it to Mr. Duarte and Mr. Bracke to go into detail, as we all seem to share the same views of this one. In short, Lethal Weapon was a lightning-in-a-bottle feature. It’s a film where everything clicked. You had an up-and-coming screenwriter with Shane Black delivering an exceptional script (with uncredited rewrites by Jeffry Boam), and you had Mel Gibson and Danny Glover - two actors with rising star status ready to roll - and genre veteran Richard Donner to helm the boat. The result was one of the funniest, most exhilarating cop thrillers ever made. A formula that would be squeezed to death and imitated endlessly, but never quite as exciting as this franchise's first film. With three sequels in the can (and maybe, someday, but unlikely, a fifth film), this is by far the best of the pack. 

Read Mr. Duarte’s Blu-ray Review

Read Mr. Bracke’s Blu-ray Review

Vital Disc Stats: The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray 
Thanks to Warner Bros. and SDS, the Lethal Weapon franchise starter takes its first shot at 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray with a single-disc 4K UHD + Digital release. With both cuts available via seamless branching, the film is pressed on a BD100 disc and housed in a standard black case with identical slipcover artwork, that is at least damned close to prefectly recreating the original theatrical poster art and a damned sight better looking that the SteelBook that’s out there.

Of the four Lethal Weapon films, this first entry is probably best described as the least glamorous looking. As far back as I can remember, the film has always had a sort of drab quality to it compared to the following films. DVD had the same vibe, Blu-ray wasn’t as lively as the others, and I’m guessing that’s going to be the case here on 4K if/when the sequels reach the format. While this is certainly a notable improvement over the old Blu-rays, it’s not exactly a showstopper either. The issue I feel that hangs up a bit is the coloring. While primaries are well represented, they don’t exactly “pop” either. I’ve always wondered if that was a choice with cinematographer Stephen Goldblatt, given the Christmas in L.A. timing. Also there are some odd shifts in red and blue on a few outdoor scenes that I just can't square. So I guess if I’m going to fault this HDR10 transfer for anything, it’s having a subdued, slightly inconsistent color appearance.

Where this disc picks up a lot of credit is for image clarity, details are sharp and clean, letting us fully appreciate Gibson’s mullet or Glover’s tweed suit. Film grain is apparent and, most of the time, well-rendered and nicely cinematic-looking. However, there are a couple of moments in low-light or dark shadows, like when Riggs and Murtaugh are standing in the dark only lit by the red Christmas lights, where I thought the grain could look a bit gauzy and smeary. Not overly distracting, but there are a few moments like that. The nice thing to see is how well the new footage of the Director’s Cut integrates into the feature. I worried that it’d be a generation or two removed and stand out badly, but those few extra minutes blend seamlessly. Overall, this is the best I’ve seen this film look on home video, but it might not stand up to a number of films of the same era or even within the franchise. Time will tell about those sequels.

Lethal Weapon offers fans an all around excellent audio experience for this disc. The Theatrical Cut sports an original DTS-HD MA 2.0 track with a newly remastered Dolby Atmos mix. The Director’s Cut sports only a Dolby Atmos track. And speaking of the Atmos experience, color me impressed, it’s pretty damn good. It’s a fairly Front/Center channel-focused experience, but the baseline surround channels offer some subtle and purposeful activity. The more active and busy a scene is, like the initial jumper crime scene or the school shooting in the Director’s Cut, the side and rear activity is nicely prioritized. Likewise, the height channels get some specific uses, and audio elements aren’t arbitrarily punched into those spaces to give them an “Atmos” effect. Helicopter blades, rain storms, and a few specific gun shots all fill that space very effectively. Sound effects seem to be a bit hybridized, trying to sound the same as or at least similar to the original theatrical mix, but there’s still something off and slightly revisionist about them. Certainly not the worst I’ve ever heard in that arena, I wasn’t immediately distracted by them, but when listening to the original 2.0 option for the Theatrical Cut, the differences are there. 

And speaking to the 2.0 track, it’s a pretty damned terrific track. There’s appreciable weight to the mix, like I hadn’t really experienced on home video before. Dialog is clean without issue. The Kamen & Clapton score sounds excellent. More to the point, it sounds like what this movie should sound like. The Atmos is fine, it’s good, but I also don’t think Atmos as a format is for every film, and I can’t say much was gained by it in the case of Lethal Weapon.

On the bonus features front, we’re getting a pair of new retrospective featurettes, but considering the franchise legacy, the talent involved on screen and behind the typewriter, let alone the late Richard Donner, this is a pretty paltry pair of pointless programming. Like, where the hell is the Donner commentary track? Sure, it’s great to see a new retrospective dedicated to the man, but there’s nothing quite like hearing that gravely sardonic voice talking about the film - even if it’s not his best commentary. The lack of legacy extras is a misfire given there's several gigs of leftover space on this BD100 disc. Barely 13 minutes of puff fluff when the real meat is on a disc that’s over a decade old now.

• A Legacy of Inspiration - Remembering Richard Donner (7:00)
• I’m Too Old For this… - A Chemestry That Became Iconic (HD 6:06)

Lethal Weapon is one of the best action films of any generation, of any decade, full stop. It just is. From the writing to the casting to the directing, it’s a film that set the mold for countless imitations to follow. As the film creeps up to its 40th Anniversary, it still feels fresh and new and exciting, even after three sequels and a television series reboot. The first adventure of Riggs and Murtaugh storms onto 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray with overall solid results, but it’s also a release that’s difficult to get too excited about. The HDR10 transfer is strong but not a format standout. The new Atmos mix is decent, but the original theatrical audio is better. It’s great to get both cuts on one disc, but the lack of legacy extras is a kick in the nuts for collectors. Then there’s the whole aspect of whether we’re getting the sequels later on in a more elaborate and worthwhile box set. I’m calling this the first 4K of Lethal Weapon  - Recommended*