Lethal Weapon 2 (ENGLISH)

Lethal Weapon 2 (Michael Kamen, Eric Clapton and David Sanborn). After the success of the first part, Lethal Weapon 2 repeats formula with the same characters, the same director and the same musicians. This time, saxophonist David Sanborn was also credited as co-author of the music along with Michael Kamen and Eric Clapton.

On this occasion, the corrupt minister of South Africa Arjen Rudd, who launders money in the United States, is the bad guy, raising a point the level of malevolence from the first film, while the funny Leo Getz becomes the protected witness by the police due to have robbed South Africans themselves in their money laundering business. For the cinematographic history will remain so visual scenes like the jump to the pool from the hotel room through the window of Riggs, Getz and South African hit man, or the bomb in the toilet of Murtaugh that activates when he sits. On the contrary, the part of the plot in which Riggs discovers that the car accident of his wife (an event previous to the story of the first Lethal Weapon film) was provoked by South Africans themselves when trying to kill Riggs is perhaps little exploited.

As in the first Lethal Weapon, Clapton's guitars are used to describe Riggs, while Sanborn's sax does the same with Murtaugh. And are added the marimba as the distinctive sound of the dangerous South African minister and his henchmen, and muted trumpet for the dear Leo Getz. The orchestration of the music is still the Kamen’s brand for this type of action and humor movies, and that he could exploit so much in the Lethal Weapon saga, Die Hard or The Last Boy Scout.

The soundtrack consists in a sober orchestration, in which strings and wind metal carry the weight of the score, entwined with wild Clapton's guitars and Sanborn's sax to describe the risky chases of Riggs and Murtaugh behind the Minister Rudd. Special mention deserves the track Knockin' On Heaven's Door, the Bob Dylan's theme adapted by Kamen and Clapton for the final scene and sung by Clapton himself.

The original soundtrack was released in 1989 and included 3 songs and 7 tracks from the score. It was not until the 2013 8-disc multi-edition when an expanded edition of the score was published in addition to a remastered reissue of the 1989 album.