LETHAL WEAPON 3
(Minor Spoilers)
A film review by Mark Santora
Copyright 1992 Mark Santora
***-1/2* out of *****
It has been a couple of years since we last saw Riggs and Murtaugh battle the forces of evil. And now they are back to battle them once again. Sounds like fun, don't it?
First off, it is refreshing to see the two actors, Mel Gibson and Danny Glover, back at work in my favorite roles of theirs. The two always look like they are having fun in these rolls. Even as the characters progress, it is easy to see how the relationship between the two actors and characters has developed.
As for the characters in the third installment of the "Lethal Weapon" films, they face their most difficult challenge yet, Murtaugh's retirement.
Yes, sports fans, the film opens with Murtaugh being only eight days from retirement. But there is one great adventure left for them. In LETHAL WEAPON 3 they face an ex-cop who has stolen confiscated guns and is selling them back to the streets. Let's also not forget that there are armor-piercing bullets to be had throughout this movie.
As required, Mel Gibson has a love interest in this film, played by Rene Russo. She plays an internal affairs cop who is the female version of Riggs. She loves the Three Stooges, is well versed in martial arts, and can go body scar for body scar with Riggs. This leads to the required love-making scene.
Joe Pesci is back as Leo Getz. Now he is a real estate broker trying to sell Murtaugh's house so they can move after his retirement. He is also the source of information about yet another bad guy. This leads to a great scene during a King's hockey game and hospital scene. Joe Pesci is not in the film a lot, but does play a principal part in the storyline.
What LETHAL WEAPON 3 lacks, however, is an interesting bad guy. In both the first and second film, the bad guys were forces to contend with. In LETHAL WEAPON 3, he is little more than a pain in the ass with a gun. He is not a real challenge for the two and in fact is found a little too easy. I would have preferred a little more challenge to him.
Also what the film misses is the dark look of the first two. They had a dark feel to them that added to the excitement and suspense. Now they play the film for laughs and gags while having a lot of things blowing up around them. I am not saying this is bad--watch for a great scene when they are busted down to patrolmen and catch a jaywalker. This is a classic scene.
[Spoiler follows.]
LETHAL WEAPON 3 also attempts to undertake the children with guns theme. Murtaugh kills a 15-year-old boy, who happens to be a friend of his son's, in self defense. There is drama. In fact until the glasses and hat are removed from the body people believe it to be his own son. This would have seriously crippled the film.
The action is there. The gags are there. It is just the overall feel of the first two that is not. There is something different, and it is entertaining, but not great. The film is good entertainment. Too bad it is nothing more.
ALSO STAY THROUGH THE CREDITS AT THE END OF THE FILM. There is a sight gag at the end worth hanging around for.
.
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews