In Los Angeles, Billie York is murdered by a man known as Mr Jigsaw because she possesses a microfilm that can turn cocaine into cookies. Her former partner, Wes Luger, who is about to retire, is assigned the case by the reluctant captain Doyle, who dismisses it as a suicide but gives Luger the case. The catch is that Luger will have to be partnered with Jack Colt, a burned out cop who recently lost his dog, Claire. The two visit Harold Leacher, who tells them that Colt's former general in the Vietnam War, Mortars, is heading the operation. Meanwhile, Jigsaw and Mortars visit Mike McCraken, whom Jigsaw murders after he loses the microfilm. After finding the body, Colt and Luger go toRick Becker, who claims that he laundered money with York, but Rick is shot multiple times by unknown assailants, forcing Colt and Luger to go to the Wilderness Girls factory. The head, Destiny Demeanor, claims no knowledge of the operation during the trial, but she is revealed to be working for Mortars and his gang. Destiny and Colt hang out at Colt's house, while Mortars sends a helicopter to destroy Colt's house, but they accidentally destroy John McClane's house. Due to lack of evidence, Doyle dismisses the case, but Colt still decides to stop the operation, much to the dismay of Luger. Luger is a by-the-book cop after, he took an unscheduled break from his crossing guard duties, which led to an old lady being run over by a car and killed. Colt breaks in and Destiny, now having fallen in love with Colt, attempts to stop Mortars, but Mortars shows that he was the one who kidnapped Claire, and shows him Rick and Claire chained to a wall. Mortars shoots Destiny, who clings to life long enough to confess her feelings for him. Colt manages to catch up with Mortars, but then Luger shows up, having considered what Colt said to him earlier. He shoots and kills Mortars, and Colt kills Jigsaw, but starts a fire that destroys the whole factory. Doyle shows up, and asks Luger to stay in the force. Luger agrees, but as long as Colt is his partner. In the end, Destiny, having survived, shows up with Rick and Claire, and the team dances to "Bohemian Rhapsody".
Cast
Cameos
Release
Box office
Loaded Weapon 1 opened No. 1 at the box office and grossed almost $28 million domestically in total.
Critical reception
The film received a negative reception. Roger Ebert of The Chicago Sun-Times said the film's main failure was that the Lethal Weapon movies already contained sly spoofs of the police film genre: "The send-up doesn't feel much different than the real thing." Loaded Weapon 1 earned 17% positive reviews on the film-critic aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, based on 29 reviews with the consensus: "Loaded Weapon 1 hits all the routine targets with soft squibs, yielding a tired parody that cycles through its laundry list of references with little comedic verve."
