MovieChat Forums > Lethal Weapon 2 (1989) Discussion > A sequence I never undestand....

A sequence I never undestand....

posted 13 years ago by fernyperez
4 replies | jump to latest

I love LW2 albeit a little less than the brilliant first movie. As many times as I´ve seen it, there is one scene that I just cannot get, or it is lazy editing. When Riggs and Murtaugh are at the harbour near the end and Riggs gets the knife thrown at his leg, he´s walking with his Beretta armed and in a "closed" position, that is, ready to fire. What follows is he hears a noise but suddenly turns around to reach for his pocket for what I presumed is a fresh mag for the gun. But why the heck would he be walking with his Beretta armed and not know it was empty?? Or do I miss something there? He half turns with his legs open, reaches desperately for a mag in his pocket but his gun is in firing position, just a couple of seconds before he gets the knife stuck to his leg from behind. That always troubled me, why a pro cop wouldn´t know his gun is empty if it´s not in the "open slide" position... (?!) I dunno if someone could explain that little glitch coz it has ALWAYS bugged me with this sequel.
Cheers!

[–] humberto_hm43 13 years ago

1)when you are constantly exchanging gunfire it is easy to lose a bullet count, and having one bullet left is pretty much the same as having three, basically useless.

2)it doesn't matter if the gun is in the closed position, it may be near empty. It is not recommended to have a near empty magazine in your weapon when you are exchanging gunfire.

3) there are "speed reloads", which you do when your gun is completely empty and locked back... you drop the empty magazine, insert a loaded one and close the slide; and "tactical reload", which you do when your gun has been discharged and magazine is more empty than full... you drop the near empty magazine (yes, "wasting" two or three rounds) and insert a fully loaded one (in Riggs case, a 15 round fully loaded magazine, for a Beretta pistol).

[–] 13 years ago

[deleted]

[–] fernyperez 13 years ago

Just recently watched the scene again and, although what you say makes a lot of sense Humberto, this scene just doesn´t. He´s walking and ready to fire (pointing his gun in front of him) and suddenly he hears a noise and turns quickly and hastily reaches his pocket for what I presume is a fresh mag while thinking *beep*
The scene whichever way you look at it, just does not make sense. If at least we saw him pull the trigger and realize his gun was empty... and even that would´ve been implausible as semiautos always lock back when firing the last bullet. So no, imo, Rigg´s actions do not make sense at all.

[–] jporter-6 12 years ago

Riggs is seriously confused and in pain. You can see that in the head movements as he looks at the switch that he eventually uses to drop the container on Vorstedt.