The 1980s action classic Lethal Weapon — the template for all buddy cop movies to come after it — will be celebrating its 40th birthday in a couple years, but this year, fans of the landmark movie and the sequels that followed got a Christmas-in-July gift. Lethal Weapon (1987) finally got a 4K upgrade and was released in an awesome-looking steelbook that matches the incredible new Ultra-HD transfer. More important than the excellent update to the film (which looks better than it ever has) is the fact that this release includes the nearly lost extended director’s cut of the movie. And it’s not some bonus feature on the accompanying Blu Ray disc — it’s a viewing option on the 4K disc! That means you can see the epic deleted Lethal Weapon sniper scene as part of the movie in Ultra-HD.
Normally, a director’s cut, or extended cut, or whatever it’s being marketed as isn’t that big of a deal. It was something that was introduced when DVDs suddenly had more room on them than a movie could fill, so they started adding bonus features like deleted scenes or extended cuts to help entice people to switch from VHS.
Typically such a cut has a few deleted scenes added back into the theatrical version, often showing audiences why they were left on the editing room floor in the first place, along with a few alternate or extended scenes that were cut for time, and maybe an alternate ending.
Every once in a while, the extended cut of a film makes a big difference, especially when the new scenes plug pesky plot holes and serve to restore a movie after meddling from studio execs made too many changes during post production (Ridley Scott’s Crusades epic Kingdom of Heaven (2005) is a good example, as is the star-studded Cop Land (1997).
There was nothing wrong, per say, that had to be fixed with the original Lethal Weapon, but one added scene in particular makes the Director’s Cut objectively better, and gives what was then a fairly new pistol from Beretta a hell of an introductory scene. But it has been lost to most viewers for a long time. After initially hitting streaming services and the DVD release, the director’s cut vanished from the streamers and was somehow not included on the film’s Blu Ray release. But now, it’s back.
The Epic Sniper Scene: Beretta 92F vs. M14
In the original cut, the audience first meets the damaged, self-destructing LAPD Sgt. Martin Riggs (Mel Gibson) as he wakes up with a beer and a Winston in his beachfront trailer before executing a drug bust that results in a few dead bad guys and every cop on the scene thinking Riggs is a maniac.
The director’s cut gives us a new intro to Riggs. We still have be exposed to Gibson’s bare ass as he gets out of bed, but in the extended version, before he leaves for work, he loads and chambers his Beretta 92F, stuffs it in his belt, grabs a spare magazine, and pauses to finish a beer on the way out the door. Little known movie gun fact: that 9mm Beretta is the very same pistol used by Bruce Willis as John McClane in the original Die Hard, released the following year in 1988.
The banality of the commercial on his small TV causes him to shatter the screen with the beer bottle in a flash of rage followed by immediate regret. Throwing the bottle knocked the wedding photo of his late wife to the floor, which he replaces with care, ashamed of his outburst. In this version, we know more about Riggs' inner turmoil, and that it’s likely justified, right off the bat and he's instantly a more complex character.
After that, Riggs gets into some intense action on the way to the drug bust at the Christmas tree farm. He catches a call on the radio reporting an active sniper at a nearby school. When he shows up, the situation isn’t great. A shooter with an M14 (it's only ever fired in semi-auto so it could be a Springfield M1A rifle) is barricaded in a second-floor room with a wide field of fire over the large lot and playground behind the school. When Riggs arrives, they tell him he’s shooting kids and one officer is down. They also tell him there’s no ETA for SWAT support.
Riggs is about to leave and let them do their job while waiting for SWAT, until another cop carries a wounded child past him.
You can see the "f*ck it" come across his eyes and Riggs starts asking questions as he sticks a cancer stick in the corner of his mouth.
“How good of a shot is this guy?” “Does he shoot at random, does he shoot specific kids, does he miss, what?” They tell him he’s shooting at random and doesn’t have any hostages that they know about.
Riggs removes his jacket, draws his Beretta, clicks the safety off, and does a press check. He strolls out into the open yard, pistol drawn, as a fellow officer taking cover tries to pull him back by the pant leg, his eyes completely focused on the window.
What follows is one of the most pure moments of action-movie badassery that has ever been shot — it’s a true wonder why it was ever cut in the first place.
Riggs picks a spot, stands still, with his Beretta 92F at low ready, and yells, “Excuse me, Mr. Sniper, sir.”
The guy instantly yells, “Get away!” as he pops up and fires a few shots that hit the blacktop around Riggs’ boots. He doesn't move. When the volley stops, Riggs takes a few steps forward, raises his pistol, and cocks the hammer on his DA/SA pistol, drawing a bead on the window.
“I’m still here, asshole! Or do you only do kids?”
The sniper pops up again, and Riggs dumps his mag at the window in rapid fire, all 15 rounds until the slide locks back. He scores multiple hits, the sniper goes down, and Riggs smoothly reloads with the spare mag in his waistband. He holds a beat, and then the rest of the police rush in from cover. Riggs runs a hand through his glorious mullet and bends down to retrieve his empty magazine. The detective he first talked to walks past, “You’re a psycho son-of-a-bitch, but you’re good.”
Riggs begins walking back to where he left his jacket, snaps out of the moment, and tosses away the cigarette in his mouth that he never lit.
The Lethal Weapon Sniper Scene's Impact
Only later, during the still powerful near-suicide scene, do we realize that the wildly reckless sniper scene wasn’t Riggs being an action-movie badass — he was hoping he would lose that fight, that the sniper would have taken him out.
I, and many other fans, feel this scene only serves to enhance the movie and, for one additional scene, dramatically fleshes out the character of Martin Riggs. Personally, I like the pacing of the director’s cut far better that the theatrical version, which feels rushed and a little cheap in comparison.
If you want in on this definitive edition of Lethal Weapon as you eagerly await the release of Lethal Weapon 5 (that was sarcasm, but yeah, that sequel is apparently happening), you can now get it with the 4K release, on several streaming platforms, or even the old DVD release, which is still available.
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