You know the drill: A movie with a huge financial success gets the inevitable sequel. This time around it’s not entirely bad news as most of the key players from the first movie were willing to participate, with some beefed up payroll no doubt. The big investment paid of as Lethal Weapon 2 netted a whopping $147M total gross, making it the third biggest box office hit of the year.

In addition to the amped up action sequences there’s also lots of additional humour and one liners this time around. Much of the credit is due to the Joe Pesci’s hilarious man child sidekick character, who successfully walks the tightrope of being annoying but still likeable, and does deliver some good laughs along the way.

Lethal Weapon 2 is in many ways more well rounded and mature action movie than its predecessor, but also a bit more calculative which shines through every now and then, making the end result feel less organic than the first iteration.

Still, most people who loved the first movie will feel right at home here – and that’s what really counts.

80s-o-meter: 94%

Total: 88%