Lethal Weapon

In this classy all-action thriller, Mel Gibson oozes charm the way his victims ooze blood. As a Vietvet-turned-cop, his only talent is for killing: since his wife's death in a road accident, he's known to his LAPD colleagues as a man with a death wish. After a Kim Basinger lookalike walks off the top of a multi-storey block, investigating detective Glover - a family man, just turned 50 and keen to see 51 - is given the dubious pleasure of having Gibson as his new partner. However, he soon comes to appreciate the virtues of having this 'lethal weapon' at his side when the two unlikely buddies are faced with a murderous gang of ex-CIA trained killers running a massive drugs syndicate. Stylish and brutally violent, the film escapes the usual clichés of the ex-soldier fighting a war back home by virtue of Gibson's blue-eyed smile.