LETHAL WEAPON 4 (1998) A Film Review by Ted Prigge Copyright 1998 Ted Prigge
Director: Richard Donner Writer: Channing Gibson (story by Jonathan Lemkin, Alfred Gough, and Miles Millar) Starring: Mel Gibson, Danny Glover, Joe Pesci, Rene Russo, Chris Rock, Jet Li, Darlene Love, Traci Wolf, Ebonie Smith, Damon Hines
We have reached that stage called comfort. Those of you who've seen the other three "Lethal Weapon" films, that is, like me or my dad or a couple other people I know. We saw the first one on video or TV and we adored it so much that when the second one came out, we were there on opening night. We saw the third one opening night as well, and we've seen them all numerous times on tape and TV and whatnot. And judging by everything that has gone down in those films, there's honestly very little you can do with the series anymore. Sure, you could, I dunno, make Rene Russo and Mel Gibson's characters, who discovered an attraction between themselves in the previous episode, get married and have kids. Or continue the odyssey of Danny Glover's character's daughter from baby to wife and mother. But would those really hold an entire movie.
So why don't we just give them a throwaway plot that we cut to every now and then, introduce those elements that are there just to make the characters change a bit, and then just let the characters...live. Watching "Lethal Weapon 4" is almost like a really relaxing reunion for everyone who's been watching these films for the past decade, and who's just gotten used to the constant bickering of the two protagonists, and the numerous deadly follies they get into. I saw this film on opening night, filled with a crowd of people who no doubtedly had seen the other three and were just returning not because the movie's previews looked nice, but because it's yet another misadventure for a bunch of really likable characters that have grown on us.
Henceforth, "Lethal Weapon 4" is not so much a continuation of the series as it is a present for the fans, just to keep them smiling and laughing along with the characters. It's as if they all knew that the series would be pretty stale if they tried to make things fresh, so they gave up and just had fun with it. And watching this film is like watching flawless chemistry between actors and between the audience and what's on the screen. Those of us who've come to see this film because it's just another chance to see Riggs and Murtaugh (Mel Gibson and Danny Glover, still sharing flawless chemistry) laugh with eachother and their supporting character friends will most likely laugh right along with them.
The plot itself, as I said, is pretty thin, and seems to be a slight recycling from the sorta-forgettable anti-Asian Crichton novel and it's later film adaptation, "Rising Sun." It's something or other with Chinese Triad members, some people sold into a kind of modern slavery so they can live in America, and one really bad-ass guy named Wah Sing Ku, played by a guy named Jet Li, who acts with a cool distance and is able to do any acrobatic fight sequence that he reminds us of a wannabe Bruce Lee crossed with Jackie Chan. Anyways, it's basically just there to fill time, and, with the exception of promises of big, fun, over-the-top action sequences as well as some cool moves from Jet Li (or both), it's pretty much distracting from the real reason we've come to see this...
...and that's for the characters and what's going on with them. Things are constantly changing in their lives, and the film takes the time to show that Riggs and his now-pregnant girlfriend from the last film, Lorna Cole (Rene Russo) are actually considering marriage, and that Murtaugh's oldest daughter is really growing up as she's pregnant and actually hiding her marriage to a cocky police officer named Lee Butters (Chris Rock) a secret because Murtaugh doesn't want her marrying a cop. And Leo Getz is still there, although now he's a P.I. And, as an added bonus which is rarely revisited, Riggs and Murtaugh, out of desperation by the department to get them out of the streets without firing them, are promoted to Captain. The main new addition, taking in accordance with the others which added a member each installment (number 2 it was Pesci, number 3 it was Russo), is Butters, although he's unfortunately not really a major character, at least not as major a character as Getz and Cole were when they were introduced. He's mainly there to give the film a new area of attraction since he's mighty hot right now (and with good reason - he's hilarious, though he's only allowed to use his hilarious style a couple times).
But we also come to see the action sequences, which in this film are numerous and always crazy. This is where the films always differ, and what makes this film a bit inferior to the other three. Those films took their action sequenes rather seriously, and their plots were handled as a kind of contrast to the hilarity the film had in the downtime. Sure, they were witty and over-the-top, but the ones in this movie, at least some of them, are almost annoyingly campy. The finale, a huge silent fight between Riggs, Murtaugh, and Li is a long, totally proposterous sequence that ends satisfyingly...sorta. And after awhile, they get a bit tiresome. The only sequence which really becomes memorable is one in the middle involving a car chase and a truck dragging Riggs on a table across a highway that is so over-the-top that it's brilliantly enigmatic. It's also so goofy and hilarious that when it was over, the entire audience, who was in stitches by the last crash, gave it a hearty applaud.
If anything, this film is disappointing in that it's plot is weak, flimsy, and basically just there to kill time, something that the plots in the other films weren't. We were able to really get a big kick out of the action sequences, and were always in awe of the plots and their numerous villains. Remember how amazingly tense the first one got then how it could effortlessly shift to comedy (same for the second)? None of that here - it's all on autopilot. But with a nice sugar coating of lots of character comedy that is basically only humerous to those who've lived with the characters for so long, this film actually comes off as being sucessful. It's all because this film comes as the fourth in the series, and we've found them at a point when it's not even about the plot or the money: it's about just getting back together and making a movie they can have fun with. And it's about us just coming back because we feel like we're all part of their extended family. And basically we are.
MY RATING (out of 4): ***
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