There are very few movies that deserved a sequel as much as Richard Donner’s Lethal Weapon; not because it was set up that way, but because of the potential of the movie’s narrative and the ever-burgeoning relationship of its characters.

Although sequels had long been established, it was the 1980’s that saw them grow into an essential component of the marketing beast. The 1970’s had witnessed the dawn of the numbered sequel, but those movies were few and far between, productions such as The French Connection II and The Godfather Part II hardly the products of premeditated money-spinning campaigns […]