Line #153 Film/LethalWeapon2


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3	''Lethal Weapon 2'' is an {{action\|genre}} / {{buddy cop\|Show}} film and the the second instalment of the ''Film/LethalWeapon'' series, directed like the first by Creator/RichardDonner and released in 1989.
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5	Martin Riggs (Creator/MelGibson) and Roger Murtaugh (Creator/DannyGlover) receive a comedy sidekick in Leo Getz (Creator/JoePesci), who's a witness and insider to the new bad guys. The BigBad is Arjen Rudd, a South African diplomat using diplomatic immunity to hide his large-scale drug smuggling activities.
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7	Followed by ''Film/LethalWeapon3''.
8	----
9	!!''Lethal Weapon 2'' provides examples of:
10	* ActuallyPrettyFunny: Eventually, even Murtaugh can't help but chuckle at the "rubber plant" left on his desk.
11	* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: Rika ends up hooking up with Riggs, a badass and somewhat unhinged loose cannon.
12	* AmoralAfrikaner: The racist South African drug dealers, who are also the main antagonists.
13	* AndThisIsFor: Riggs does this in the climactic showdown when he starts shooting one of the bad guys and saying the names of all the slain officers [[spoiler:and Rika.]]
14	* AnvilOnHead: Played for drama with realistic results when Riggs dispatches TheDragon by dropping a shipping crate on him.
15	* ArcWelding: The first film's backstory gets directly tied into the sequel's narrative with the reveal that [[spoiler:the car crash that killed Riggs' wife Victoria ''wasn't'' an accident. It was actually an assassination attempt by Rudd and his associates to try and get Riggs (who was still with the Long Beach PD Narcotics Division at the time and who was unknowingly closing in on Rudd's operations). It was a sheer fluke that the wrong Riggs was driving the car when the assassination was executed.]]
16	* ArtisticLicenseEconomics: When Riggs and Murtaugh discover the bad guys' stash of drug money, Murtaugh exclaims: "These are thousand-dollar bills!" The Federal Reserve stopped printing large-denomination notes in 1945, and such currency was removed from circulation in 1969. While still considered legal tender, it's extremely unlikely that an entire shipping container of these bills would be available twenty years later.
17	* ArtisticLicenseLaw: Arjen Rudd's plan for using diplomatic immunity to commit crimes out in the open wouldn't have worked in real life. If a diplomat gets caught committing a crime, the police have the right to report him to his superiors, who may revoke the immunity at their discretion and leave the diplomat open to arrest and prosecution. And no matter how corrupt the regime might be, they ''would'' do that if the crime was serious enough, given the negative political consequences the country would suffer from having one of their diplomats abuse their position in a country as powerful as the United States. South Africa wasn’t exactly high on the world’s popularity list at the time, so they’d do anything to save whatever relations they had. Even if none of that had worked, the United States would've been able to declare him ''persona non grata'' and expel him from the country.
18	* BigBad: Arjen Rudd, who is using his status as a diplomat to cover up his illegal drug-dealing activities.
19	* BigNo: The {{Mook}} driving the tow truck does one of these when a surfboard crashes through his windshield, decapitating him.
20	* BombproofAppliance: A bathtub. The Series/MythBusters eventually tested this as in the scene, and aside from the detonation method (which actually took ''longer'' to go off), it all worked exactly as advertised.
21	* BondOneLiner:
22	** Played with when Murtaugh is attacked in his home by an assassin and dispatches him with a nail gun -- but he doesn't say anything. Then ''another'' assassin shows up, Murtaugh dispatches him similarly, and then he quips:
23	-->'''Murtaugh:''' Nailed 'em both.
24	** When Rudd is shooting at him:
25	-->'''Rudd:''' ''(waving his credentials)'' [[DiplomaticImpunity Diplomatic immunity]]!\
26	'''Murtaugh:''' ''(shoots him)'' It's just been revoked.
27	** He later tells Riggs that Rudd's men were "dekaffirnated."
28	* BondVillainStupidity: Invoked several times, as the villains have numerous opportunities to dispose of Riggs and Murtaugh and don't.
29	* BoomHeadshot: After Arjen claims "[[DiplomaticImpunity diplomatic immunity]]", Murtaugh puts a bullet in his head.
30	-->'''Murtaugh:''' [[BondOneLiner It's just been revoked.]]
31	* BottomlessMagazines: Inverted with the [=MP5A3=] Murtaugh takes from one of the {{Mooks}} which only fires five rounds before running dry, forcing him to switch to his revolver.
32	* BrickJoke: After Murtaugh's daughter appears in a condom advertisement, Murtaugh bemoans how his police colleagues will be planting condoms wherever he goes. [[spoiler:That night Murtaugh and his family are attacked in their home and no-one is interested in playing jokes on him...until later on in the movie when Murtaugh shoos away some cops crowding around his desk only to find they've planted a 'rubber tree' there. [[ActuallyPrettyFunny Even Murtaugh can't help breaking down in laughter]].]] Also, later, while Murtaugh is trying to figure out what is meant by Alba Varden, the same advert comes on TV. Leo gets very excited (obviously not knowing that she is Roger's daughter). Roger turns off the TV and warns Leo that he'll pretend he didn't hear him say that. Leo also happens to repeat what the carpenter said earlier about her making him want to buy rubbers.
33	* BulletproofHumanShield: Riggs takes out one of Rudd's men by spinning him into the line of gunfire by another.
34	%%* TheCavalryArrivesLate: At the end of the film
35	* CementShoes: Vorstedt tries to dispose of Riggs by throwing him off a dock while chained to a weight. It doesn't work. [[spoiler: It did work with Rika, though, much to Riggs' anguish.]]
36	* ChekhovsGun:
37	** The nailgun that the construction worker working on Murtaugh's house had comes in handy when an assassin tries to kill Murtaugh while he was searching through old VHS tapes.
38	** The switch to the cargo container that [[spoiler:Riggs drops on Vorstedt]] is shown rather obviously after Riggs rappels down and subsequently lingers in background shots throughout their fight.
39	* ChekhovsHobby: In an early scene, Riggs bets another cop that he can escape from a straightjacket in under five minutes. After he wins the bet, he explains that the reason he can do that is because of an accident years ago where he dislocated his shoulder, enabling him to dislocate it purposely to slip out of such a restraint. This talent naturally comes in ''very'' useful much later when his life depends on escaping from a straightjacket when the villain tries to drown him while restraining him with one.
40	* ChekhovsSkill: Early in the movie Riggs demonstrates at the police station as part of a bet his ability to get out of a straitjacket by deliberately dislocating his shoulder. This comes in handy when the bad guys try the above CementShoes while he is in a straitjacket.
41	* ComplexityAddiction: The South African villains send two helicopters full of machine-gun toting mooks to kill Riggs which fail conspicuously, only to later get the drop on him by just hitting Riggs over the head as he walks to his car.
42	* ConnectedAllAlong: It turns out that the BigBad's henchmen were the ones that [[spoiler:caused the death of Riggs' wife before the events of [[Film/LethalWeapon1987 the first film]].]]
43	* ContrivedCoincidence: Wouldn't you know it, TheDragon just happens to be [[spoiler:the very assassin who murdered Riggs' wife]].
44	* ConvenientlyPlacedSharpThing: Riggs is chained up and thrown into the sea. He dislocates his arm at the shoulder to get out. This is actually a ChekhovsGun, as he does this to escape a straitjacket earlier in the film, on a bet.
45	* CopKillerManhunt: The South African government drug dealers assassinate several LAPD police officers to make them back off their investigation. Of course this just makes Riggs and Murtaugh more determined to defeat them. [[spoiler:Riggs kills the assassin who killed them, and Murtaugh murders the government official who ordered the hit.]]
46	* CreateYourOwnHero: A variation with the reveal that the South Africans [[spoiler:were responsible for the car crash that killed Victoria Lynn Riggs before the first movie. While Riggs was already an established cop, his wife's death set off the chain of events that brought him to the LAPD and put him in a position to stop their operations in this film (and gave him the motivation to end them upon learning of their role in Victoria's death).]]
47	* DarkerAndEdgier: Easily the darkest and most violent entry in the series, particularly during the third act.
48	* DeathByLookingUp: TheDragon gets a face full of shipping container.
49	* DeliberateInjuryGambit: Riggs uses his ChekhovsSkill of dislocating his shoulder to escape his bonds.
50	* DidNotDieThatWay: In the first film, Riggs' wife was said to have been killed in a car accident. Turns out that the "accident" in question was a deliberate hit-and-run by Pieter that was meant to kill Riggs himself but got her instead.
51	* DiplomaticImpunity: Arjen Rudd is using his diplomatic immunity to hide his smuggling empire, which infuriates our heroes to no end. However, when he tries to use it to freely gun down cops, he learns the hard way that it protects from an arrest or prosecution, not from being killed in self-defense (given how he was mocking them with his badge, it's hard to sympathize). However, he was only a consular officer, and they get a lower grade of immunity--unless he had some other official status as well, he could have been searched, provided proper procedures were followed. Also, they could have deported him to South Africa at the very least, who likely would extradite to keep the US happy.
52	* DisneyDeath: Arjen Rudd shoots Riggs, who falls into a pit. In response, Murtaugh shoots him. Then he goes down into the pit to check on Riggs. And guess what? He's fine! Well, mostly fine, anyway.
53	* DisposableWoman: [[spoiler:Rika's]] entire role in the plot is to [[spoiler:fall in love with Riggs]], then get murdered to make sure that ItsPersonal. The original plan for her was for her to survive [[spoiler:and attend the Thanksgiving party at Murtaugh's house with Riggs]], but the script was changed.
54	* DisposingOfABody: Rudd invites one of his hapless henchmen into his office which is covered in plastic for an apparent renovation. Pieter then shoots him in the head and wraps him up in the plastic. This becomes a BrickJoke when he's being chewed out later by the boss and keeps looking down at his feet. "I'm checking to see I'm not standing on plastic."
55	* TheDragon: Pieter Vorstedt is a highly skilled martial artist and top enforcer to the mostly NonActionBigBad, Arjen Rudd.
56	* DramaticIrony: The reveal that [[spoiler:Vorstedt and Rudd were responsible for the car accident that killed Victoria Lynn Riggs before the first film. They killed the wrong Riggs, but they still nearly succeeded in their goal in a roundabout way. His wife's death left Riggs emotionally destroyed and self-destructive. By the time of the first film, Riggs was well on the road to doing their job for them (i.e. killing himself) before Roger and the Murtaughs saved him.]]
57	* DragonInChief: Pieter Vorstedt to Arjen Rudd. In fact, Riggs' hatred for Vorstedt is because he was responsible for the death of Riggs' wife.
58	* ExplodingFishTanks: Martin Riggs breaks into the office of Arjen Rudd, Minister of Diplomatic Affairs for the South African Consulate. While waving his gun at Rudd and his goons, Riggs pretends to be debating who to shoot, but shoots the fishtank instead and strolls off while Rudd's goons are struggling to pick up the slippery fish.
59	%%* EverybodyLaughsEnding: Riggs and Murtaugh at the end.
60	* ForeignMoneyIsProofOfGuilt: Riggs and Murtaugh get on the case of the Afrikaner villains after foiling an attempted "theft" (read: money laundering) and discovering that the money stolen was gold Krugerrands, which on top of everything else were illegal to import in the US at the time (in response to the apartheid government).
61	* GilliganCut: Murtaugh, stuck on the toilet, begs Riggs to keep his call to the bomb squad discreet. Guess what happens instead?
62	* GoodCopBadCop: Almost immediately after meeting Leo Getz, Riggs tells him to shut up. Getz says, "Oh, I get it-- good cop, bad cop." Then Murtaugh ''also'' tells him to shut up. "Okay... ''bad'' cop, bad cop."
63	* GoryDiscretionShot: A mook is killed when a surfboard flies into his windshield and hits him in the face. Not much is shown but Rigg's squicked out facial expression says it all. It's also lampshaded by Captain Murphy later. "All I know is there is a guy in the morgue and he's got a surfboard where his face used to be..."
64	* GreaterScopeVillain: [[spoiler:Pieter Vorstedt, as he revealed himself to the man responsible for Riggs' wife's death, therefore he's indirectly responsible for making Riggs suicidal and a danger towards himself and others in the first film.]]
65	* HeroicPet: Riggs' dog Sam alerts him to an attack by barking.
66	* HighDiveHijinks: One of the police officers took a dive and a swim regularly. This habit was used to set a bomb on the diving board.
67	* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Riggs [[spoiler:stabs [[TheDragon Vorstedt]] with his own knife]].
68	* HollywoodLaw: This movie is the one that insinuates that diplomatic immunity is a license to commit crimes with impunity. In reality, once the LAPD found out that the South African diplomats were running a drug ring, they could have just notified the State Department, who would have them deported. Since South Africa is a United States ally, it's probable they would then be extradited, or at least tried in their home country. Once Rudd's men started assassinating police officers, diplomatic immunity would have gone out the window and Pretoria would disavow him in an instant, since his actions could be considered terrorism--and the entire situation an ''act of war''--against the United States. In any case, [[spoiler:the South African government wouldn't dare raise a fuss about Rudd's death under those circumstances. Murtaugh would sell it as "a man shot my partner, I returned fire," which would clear IA easily, and the South African government would have a ''very'' hard time explaining why their consular officer died holding a gun that LAPD Forensics could easily match to bullets pulled out of an American police officer.]] It's possible that the whole thing is just a ploy by Rudd to scare the LAPD into leaving him alone (technically, they ''can't'' do anything until his diplomatic status is revoked, and in theory, they didn't have enough solid evidence to tie Rudd to criminal acts to get him deported immediately). It's clear that Rudd ''is'' planning to wrap things up and head back home (that's why he's on the boat back to South Africa), so he didn't need things to work forever, just long enough for him to cash in and get out of the country.
69	* HopeSpot: A tiny window for Riggs. He and Roger survive ThePurge, Riggs and Rika barely make it out of his trailer before they're blown to bits, he drops Rika off at her apartment, telling her to call in sick the next day, both looking forward to a life together. Then, Pieter and company arrive, knocking Riggs unconscious...
70	* IconicSequelCharacter: Creator/JoePesci's Leo Getz character first appears as a federal witness in this film, and manages to show up in the rest of the series' films.
71	* IdiotBall:
72	** No one thinks that Miss Van den Haas will need protection from her evil employers that she just betrayed and who just tried to murder both her and Riggs. They simply drop her off alone at her home, where the villains already know she lives. Rika herself grabs hold of the ball by not recognizing the fatal flaw in this plan, and it gets her a one-way trip to [[StuffedInTheFridge the fridge.]][[note]]Since the original plan was to have Rika survive, presumably the rewrites were done too hastily to bring Logic in to help out with the script.[[/note]]
73	** Also Arjen Rudd. Near the end of the movie he starts to shoot at the policemen and claims [[DiplomaticImpunity diplomatic immunity]] that can protect one from being arrested but not, you know, from being shot in self defense. Had he refrained from shooting, the protagonists could have done nothing without provoking a major international incident.
74	* ImprobableAimingSkills:
75	** Riggs fatally shoots a pilot of a helicopter in the dark from about 100 yards away. With a pistol.
76	** Arjen Rudd manages to shoot Riggs several times with a pistol from what looks to be about 100 yards away.
77	** Murtaugh then shoots him back, in his iconic, OncePerEpisode well-aimed shot. And in the process, he also ''intentionally'' shoots through Rudd's diplomatic passport.
78	* ItsPersonal: It becomes this the moment the South Africans liquidate Rika. Riggs lampshades it when he calls Murtaugh afterward, on his way to extract revenge, with a side quest of rescuing Leo
79	-->'''Riggs:''' I'm not a cop tonight, Rog. This is personal.
80	* ItsPersonalWithTheDragon: And during the climactic battle, it's revealed that Vorstedt was the one who actually [[spoiler:killed Riggs' wife]].
81	* IUhYouToo: During the infamous toilet scene, [[HeterosexualLifePartners Riggs and Murtaugh]] share a moment, the dialogue follows thus.
82	-->'''Murtaugh:''' Riggs?...\
83	''[long Pause]''\
84	'''Riggs:''' I know. Come on.
85	* JumpScare: In universe. The the first use of the nail gun mentioned in ChekhovsGun above results in Riggs and Murtaugh diving for cover and pulling their weapons on the carpenter.
86	* LandMineGoesClick: There's one such moment, only it's not a land mine, but a toilet mine. Murtaugh sits on his toilet, only to find out the seat's been wired to a bomb that will blow if he gets up. Murtaugh and Riggs survive through the assistance of a BombproofAppliance (in this case, the bathtub).
87	* LethalChef: Trish's culinary skills haven't improved since the first film. Murtaugh and Riggs both lament (half jokingly and half seriously) that the South Africans didn't plant the toilet bomb in her stove instead.
88	* LodgedBladeRecycling: Vorstedt opens up the final fight with Riggs by throwing a long knife which impales Riggs through the thigh. Riggs ends up stabbing Vorstedt in the gut with it before crushing him under a shipping container. Riggs is extremely lucky his femoral artery wasn't severed, as he would have bled out in moments.
89	* MakeItLookLikeAnAccident: Vorstedt reveals that Riggs' wife's death was not an accident as it appeared and was ruled; Vorstedt sabotaged the brakes to make her car go off the road, as he was trying to kill Riggs himself (who was not in the car).
90	* MauveShirt: [[spoiler:All but one of the new detectives introduced in the movie end up dead when the South African gangsters start covering their tracks]] after receiving some nice rapport and characterization.
91	* MeaningfulName: Leo tries to make this work for him (and mostly just ends up annoying people).
92	--> '''Leo Getz:''' My name's Leo Getz. Whatever you want, Leo gets. Get it?!
93	* MinorCrimeRevealsMajorPlot: A traffic stop (of a car with a trunk full of Krugerrands) → an international drug smuggling conspiracy by South African government officials.
94	* MistakenForDying: Riggs is shot multiple times. After taking care of the BigBad, Murtaugh goes to where Riggs is lying in a pool of his own blood, complete with "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" playing in the background. The following conversation ensues:
95	-->'''Murtaugh:''' You are not dead until I tell you! You got that, Riggs?\
96	'''Riggs:''' Hey, Rog, cough could you reach into my pocket there?\
97	'''Murtaugh:''' ''pulls out a pack of cigarrettes and offers one to Riggs'' Here you go.\
98	'''Riggs:''' I... I want you to throw those things away; those things will kill you.
99	* NailEm: Murtaugh is attacked by South African agents and defends himself with a nail gun.
100	-->'''Murtaugh:''' [[BondOneLiner Nailed them both]].
101	* NeckSnap: After returning from the dip in the water that was supposed kill him, a ''very'' pissed-off Riggs attacks a mook with [[ChainPain a chain]] and twists his neck around. And then, Riggs ''slamming a car door'' multiple times on the mook's partner, which seems to damage his neck as well.
102	* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Riggs should have told Rika to ''RUN LIKE HELL'' instead of dropping her off at her apartment.
103	* NonActionBigBad: The only time Rudd takes direct action is at the very end when he empties a clip into Riggs.
104	* OffWithHisHead: One ChaseScene ends with an [[GoryDiscretionShot off-screen]] example -- caused by a [[ItMakesSenseInContext flying surfboard]].
105	--> '''Captain Murphy:''' All I know is, there's a guy in the morgue; he's got a surfboard where his face used to be.
106	* OhCrap: Possibly literally when Murtaugh realizes that [[spoiler:the toilet he is sitting on is rigged to explode with a dead man's switch]].
107	* OneLastSmoke: Defied. [[spoiler: Not only does Riggs tell him to throw them away, but he survives.]]
108	--> [[spoiler: '''Riggs:''' I want you to... [[BaitAndSwitch throw them away]]. Those things will kill you. Really.]]
109	* OneNoteCook: Riggs, according to this movie, only knows how to make chili.
110	-->'''Riggs:''' Do you like your chili with or without crushed Oreos?
111	-->'''Rika:''' With, of course!
112	-->'''Riggs:''' Heh heh. Woman after my own heart.
113	* OohMeAccentsSlipping: Mel Gibson, a couple of times. He seems to have the most problems when he's with the South Africans, perhaps because it's a similar accent to his Australian one.
114	* PeopleOfHairColor: The South Africans, with the exception of [[WhiteHairBlackHeart Arjen]] [[BigBad Rudd]], are mostly blond.
115	* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: The South Africans. What else would you expect from diplomats of the country that named Apartheid? {{Lampshaded}} by Riggs, who constantly calls Rudd "[[ThoseWackyNazis Aryan]]" and Vorstedt "[[UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler Adolf]]".
116	* PreMortemOneLiner: Non-verbal version; after putting a bomb in Murtaugh's toilet, the bad guys wrote "BOOM YOU'RE DEAD" on the toilet paper. [[NiceJobFixingItVillain If they hadn't, Roger probably would have stood up and been killed as planned.]] Heck, just eliminating "BOOM" would have been enough, changing a blatant "there's a bomb involved" warning into a generic threat that they can get into his house and get him anytime.
117	* PrettyLittleHeadshots: Rudd's death is pretty clean when Murtaugh puts a bullet hole in his temple.
118	* ThePurge: The villain Arjen Rudd does this [[spoiler:to the LAPD detectives investigating him,]] with Riggs, Murtaugh, captain Murphy and MauveShirt detective [[spoiler:Eddie Esteban]] (the later two of whom weren't actually attacked due to being in the police station at the time) as the only survivors.
119	* RealityIsUnrealistic: The Series/{{Mythbusters}} tested the scene where Riggs and Murtaugh survive the toilet bomb by diving into the tub with a bomb blanket. The method would have worked, however, it was found that spraying the bomb with nitrogen would have given the characters a full fifteen minutes of time.
120	* RefugeInAudacity: Riggs' signal [[spoiler:for Murtaugh to go into the stilt house and start shooting the bad guys]] is to use his pickup truck to [[spoiler:start bringing the whole ''place'' down, by repeatedly full-throttle yanking a foundation column lassoed to a tow cable.]]
121	--> '''Murtaugh:''' Hey... what's your signal?\
122	'''Riggs:''' You'll know it when it happens.\
123	'''Murtaugh:''' ''[sighs]'' Somehow, I think I ''will'' know.
124	* {{Retcon}}: TheReveal towards the end the movie that [[spoiler:the death of Riggs' wife was no accident but rather a botched attempt by the villains to kill Riggs himself back when he was with Narcotics working at Long Beach]].
125	* ReverseGrip: One of Arjen's mooks brandishes a knife this way when fighting with Murtaugh in his home.
126	* RevisedEnding: The film originally ended with Riggs dying from his wounds. An alternate ending featured a Thanksgiving dinner at the Murtaugh house which is attended by both Riggs and Rika Van Dan Haas. Creator/RichardDonner later decided that Rika [[spoiler:should be killed to further fuel Riggs' hatred of the South African diplomats. With Rika dead, this entire ending had to be scrapped. This ending was filmed prior to filming some of the other scenes from the film, including most of the second half where Riggs and Murtaugh go into final showdown with South Africans]]. Another reason why this ending was not used is because filmmakers weren't sure about whether Riggs should die or live at the end of the film.
127	* RhetoricalQuestionBlunder: Leo is explaining that the reason he's marked for death is that he was skimming money from the accounts of the drug dealers he was laundering money for.
128	--> '''Leo:''' It was easy! Millions of dollars in small bills changing hands - [[TemptingFate who's going to miss ten thousand here, twenty thousand there?]]\
129	'''Murtaugh:''' Drug dealers.\
130	'''Leo:''' ... yeah, that's right, they did...
131	* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: Riggs goes on one after he [[spoiler: finds out the South Africans killed his wife and his new girlfriend.]] Good thing Murtaugh was there...
132	* RougeAnglesOfSatin: Riggs is standing outside the South African embassy (he can do little else to the movie's BigBad at this point, [[DiplomaticImpunity because of his diplomatic immunity]]) with a sign that says "End Aparth''ie''d". Riggs certainly made a point of making sure the villain knew he was there.
133	* RunningGag:
134	** Riggs and Murtaugh are always telling Leo to stay in the car, which he almost always ignores. [[spoiler: The one time he does what he's told, two bad guys commandeer the vehicle and kidnap him.]]
135	** Murtaugh's wife's new car gets more and more damaged as the film goes on. Among the damage it suffers is losing its front bumper, having its front windscreen shot (and then removed by Riggs), having its paint-work scrapped, having one of its doors smashed off, and having its hood smashed by a toilet.
136	* RuthlessForeignGangsters: Arjen Rudd and the South African mobsters.
137	* SarcasmMode: After Riggs confirms that Murtaugh's toilet is in fact boobytrapped:
138	--> '''Riggs:''' Uhhh....you'll be OK as long as you don't stand up.\
139	'''Murtaugh:''' Oh, well ''that's'' a relief...!
140	* SexSignalsDeath: [[spoiler: Rika dies soon after having sex with Riggs.]]
141	* ShootEverythingThatMoves: Riggs telling Murtaugh the plan for rescuing Leo:
142	-->'''Murtaugh:''' What's the plan?\
143	'''Riggs:''' Wait for my signal, then just go in and shoot those fuckers.
144	* SpannerInTheWorks: The reveal that [[spoiler:the car accident that killed Victoria Lynn Riggs before the first film was actually an assassination attempt. Riggs was the target, but it was a fluke that his wife was driving it instead.]]
145	* SoftWater: Done by Riggs when he falls out of a window and lands in a pool. To make matters worse, he gets mad at his partner for not following him out the window. Again, distance is important. 10 stories is plausible: 20 isn't.[[note]]For the record, it's explicitly a 7 story drop in the film[[/note]]
146	* StealthPun:
147	** When Murtaugh and Riggs are sitting in the bathroom and Roger is worried he's going to die on the toilet. After Riggs tells him that guys like him don't die on toilets, he adds:
148	-->'''Riggs:''' Besides, I'm here, and I have no plans on going right now.
149	** When Murtaugh is "revoking" Rudd's diplomatic immunity, the bullet goes ''through his diplomatic passport'' first, punching a hole in the photo. You know, the way how those things get invalidated after they expire.
150	* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome:
151	** Arjen Rudd flaunts his DiplomaticImpunity in the faces of the heroes. In the climax, said diplomat is trying to actively gun down cops, saying that his diplomatic immunity will protect him. Murtaugh [[BoomHeadshot just revokes it]], and suffers no consequences for it. No sane government would harbor a criminal with such a long rap sheet, especially one that includes attempted murder of police officers; doing so could be considered an ''act of war''. Plus, diplomatic immunity only prevents people from being ''prosecuted''. They can still be shot dead in self-defense. Even though Arjen threw down the gun, he ''did'' fire it, ballistics will match the bullets that hit Riggs, and there's no one to say that Murtaugh didn't shoot him ''while'' he was firing.
152	** Murtaugh, after sitting motionless on the toilet all night, can't stand on his own, and needs Riggs to help yank him off to escape the bomb.
153	* TaeKwonDoor: After a couple of thugs try to drown him, Riggs repeatedly slams a car door on the head of one of them.
154	* {{Tagline}}: "The magic is back"
155	* UnbuiltTrope: This was the movie that popularized the DiplomaticImpunity trope in Hollywood action movies as an example of the RuleOfDrama for why the heroes can't [[JustShootHim kill off the bad guy immediately]]. It provides the BigBad with a few scant ''seconds'' of protection before Murtaugh guns him down, since no sensible government is going to protect a diplomat who is ''shooting at foreign police officers''.
156	* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: The South Africans are retroactively, if indirectly, revealed to be this for [[spoiler:General [=McCallister=], Mr. Joshua, and Shadow Company in the first film because of their attempted assassination of Riggs. If they had succeeded and not killed his wife by mistake, the now-suicidal and self-destructive Riggs would never have ended up with the LAPD and partnered with Murtaugh. Without Riggs' involvement in the Amanda Hunsaker investigation, it's debatable if Murtaugh would have been able to crack the case on his own (or even made it out alive if the General viewed him as a threat.]]
157	* VisualPun: The "rubber" tree that's left on Murtaugh's desk by his co-workers.
158	* WeNeedADistraction: [[spoiler:Riggs and Murtaugh somehow activate Rudd's car and drive it, unmanned, out the shipping container.]]
159	* WhatYouAreInTheDark: Towards the end, Riggs and Murtaugh are trapped in a container with a car and millions upon millions of dollars in untraceable cash. Riggs plays DevilsAdvocate and advises Murtaugh to take some of the cash for himself, as no one will ever know. Murtaugh seriously considers it, but then calls it "blood money" and throws it away. Notably, despite being the voice of temptation, Riggs never touches the money.
160	* WitnessProtection: Cops have to watch and protect a guy who ripped millions off from the mob before he testifies, then gets to disappear into Witness Protection with the money he swiped.
161	* WouldYouLikeToHearHowTheyDied: Martin Riggs, the protagonist with a dead wife issue is about to be killed, and Pieter Vorstedt sits down to tell him a couple of things.
162	-->'''Peter:''' I'm the bloke who changed the course of your life, mate. When you was a narc back at Long Beach you were getting too close to us, so we put a contract out on you. I handled it myself. Ran your car right off the road, '''bam!''' But of course it wasn't you, was it? I pulled back this mop of blood-soaked hair to see this woman's face. Your wife, right? ''(pause)'' She didn't die right away. Took a bit of time.
163	* YouHaveFailedMe: After Rudd's henchman Hans loses a million dollars worth of gold Krugerrands. Rudd summons him to a room with plastic sheeting over the floor and has him executed. Echoed in a scene later on, when [[TheDragon Pieter Vorstedt]] meets Rudd in his office after a failure. Pieter looks down at his feet during the conversation and comments, "I am just checking to make sure I am not standing on plastic."

Context Film / LethalWeapon2