Right now we get onto the third and final part of my look at the Lethal Weapon films, which will cover Lethal Weapon 3 and 4 as I can't really be bothered doing a whole post on 4 as its easily the weakest entry in the series. But we'll get to that later, let's start with 3 first....
So the film begins with Riggs and Murtaugh (Gibson and Glover again) making the very unwise decision to try and defuse a bomb, which has been placed in a building, which has been evacuated and it end in disaster as Riggs triggers the bomb and escapes with Murtaugh just in time as blows up. As a result both men are demoted to carrying out uniform patrolman duties, which annoys Murtaugh who has only seven days left before he is due to retire. During their first day on the beat they thwart a robbery involving an armoured car, but they only catch one of the suspects as the other escapes. As a result of their effort to stop the robbery, their superior officer Captain Murphy (Steve Kahan) reinstates Riggs and Murtaugh. Riggs and Murtaugh are then introduced to an Internal affairs officer, Sergant Lorna Cole (Rene Russo) who tells them the suspect they have captured is in fact an associate of former LAPD Lieutenant Jack Travis (Stuart Wilson) who is now an arms dealer.
Meanwhile Travis deals with the other man who escaped the armoured car crime scene by having his men throw him into cement and uses it to show to a mobster Tyrone (Gregory Millar) that he isn't to be messed with. Travis then manages to access the police lock-up and kills the other associate who the police have captured. However Travis was caught on camera carrying out the execution and as Leo Getz (Joe Pesci) arrives at the station, paying visit to his two police buddies and he recognises Travis and he tells him where they can find him. This leads Riggs, Murtaugh and Leo to an ice rink where a ice hockey match is in progress and right enough Travis is there in the crowd, however he manages to escape before they can get to him. Later on Riggs and Murtaugh make a stop off at a burger van, run by an old friend of Murtaugh's, however nearby Riggs eyes a drug deal in process, which he breaks up, but he is attacked by one of the suspects, and Murtaugh chases after him and kills one of them, which turns out to be a young boy named Darryl, who was a friend of his son, Nick (Damon Hines). Roger is wracked with guilt as a result and becomes withdrawn and hides out on his boat.
In the meantime Riggs teams up with Cole and they head to Travis's warehouse where they are caught by Travis's henchmen but they manage to fight them off and escape with most of the guns shipment. Riggs heads back to Cole's apartment where they begin to flirt with one another, showing off their wounds from being in the line of duty to one another, they begin to fall for one another and sleep together. Riggs later learns that Roger has not returned home and he goes to confront Roger on his boat, who is drunk, but Riggs helps him face his guilty and get over it. The next day Riggs and Roger attend Darryl's funeral who's parents insist that Roger find the man who put the gun in their son's hand. Riggs and Roger than start trying to track down who was responsible and they trace it to Travis. Travis meanwhile kidnaps Murphy and uses him to access the police's arms dumps concealed in the lower basements of the police department. Cole during her investigations realises this is what Travis is up to and they track Travis and soon give chase and rescue Murphy, however Travis once again escapes. However Leo soon turns up on the scene and as he has been helping them try and track down info on Travis, he tells them where Travis's construction site is and Riggs and Murtaugh head off to put a stop to Travis's plans once and for all.....
Lethal Weapon 3 for me is probably the second best entry in the series as it has good mix of humour, action and a bit of drama as well thrown in. The tone of the film is however is actually more overtly comedic than the first two films and this time we practically have Riggs living in Roger's house (at the start of the film he even brings his laundry over!). It also sees the situations get even more proposeterous with Riggs at the start of the film convincing Roger to go into an evacuated building to try and defuse a bomb which goes badly wrong as the building is razed to the ground (but they manage to save a cat at least!). The dynamic between Riggs and Murtaugh is still strong as ever and the chemistry between Gibson and Glover works as well as it ever has.
Performance wise things are again pretty good here, beginning with Gibson is in fine form again as Riggs and this time he comes across like he is some sort of amateur comedian, cracking gags and being a bit of a practical joker with Murtaugh. This is demonstrated in the scene where Riggs displays a roundhouse kick to Murtaugh at the station and he deliberately has Murtaugh back up near a plastic water holder, which Murtaugh ends kicking over! Gibson also get's some funny lines such as in the scene where he stops a pedestrian for jaywalking and loses his temper with him and says to Rog "Get out of the way, Rog! I wanna drill him! We can make it look like suicide!". Also there is the ridiculous scene where Gibson and Russo flirt with one another and show off their wounds as a bit of foreplay before they get down to making out with one another and throughout the film, Gibson and Russo share a good onscreen chemistry with one another. Gibson also shares a good semi dramatic scene with Glover where Riggs goes to confront Roger on his boat and he tells him "When you are retire, you're not just retiring yourself, you're retiring us! I have three beautiful kids and a wife, and they are yours! I live in your icebox, I live in your life! After all the shit we;'ve been through! Don't you get it?!". Gibson also has the odd ridiculous moment such as where he makes friends with a vicious guard dog as he pretends to be a dog, as Cole watches on in disbelief and says "Riggs......you're crazy!". And near of the film he has a funny moment where he comforts Cole, who has been shot by Travis in the final fight scene, and they sit nearby a burning part of the construction part and Riggs says "Come on, honey, its just a nice night by the fireplace" and later he says "Hey, you're supposed to grow old with someone not because of them!". And Gibson and Russo's onscreen chemistry allows for them to tease each other earlier on in the film, which is seen in the scene where Cole says to Riggs "Are you trying to bate me?" and Riggs says "I'm a master at that!". Also in the scene where Riggs fails to defuse the bomb and instead it triggers, he says to Roger "Roger... grab the cat!!" and they run out the buiding just before it blows!
Danny Glover is also great again as Murtaugh and he often becomes a foil for Riggs's practical jokes in the film. Also their first scene in the film is quite funny where they go into an evacuated building and Roger finds a cat and he says "Only me, you and this cat are stupid enough to be here!" and Riggs quips "Nearly a cat-tastrophe, huh??". Also the scene where they are demoted to walking as patrolmen on the beat is funny where Roger says to Riggs "Six days to my retire and I'm busted down to patrolman!" and as they argue Riggs grabs Roger and feels his chest and says "What have you got under there?" and Roger awkwardly says "Its a girdle!" and Riggs asks "Do they do girdles for men??" and Roger says "Of course they do, the cleaner's must have shrunk it!!". Glover also has a good dramatic scene in the film, where he unwittingly kills Darryl, his son's friend, who was fired on him and when he realises who the kid is, he desparately tries to revive him to no avail. And sadly afterwards says "I know that kid. I know that kid! He was Nick's friend". And later onboard Roger's boat, Riggs confronts Roger who's is drunk and wracked with guilt he says to Riggs "It didn't happen to you, Riggs, it happened to me! I killed that kid. I killed that boy! Oh you killed a lot of people. You killed a lot of fuckin people!" but Riggs some helps Roger come to terms with his guilt. And afterwards Roger has funny moment where he drunkenly says "you know I love you, Riggs. And you're problems are my problems" and he get's Riggs to confide in him as Riggs says "Well I think I slept with someone and I shouldn't have" and Roger get's it into his head that it was his daughter, Rianne, and he yells "You son of a bitch!!!" and punches him off the boat into the water.
Getting onto Rene Russo who is really good in her role as Lorna Cole, an intelligent and tough headed Internal affairs cop, who helps Riggs and Murtaugh track down Travis. Russo early on shows that she gels well with the regular cast even in her first scene where she get's in the elevator with Riggs and Roger and Riggs winds up Roger about "those miserable drug dealers getting it" i.e. his so called stash of money and he nudges against her as she is about to leave the lift. And Roger asks who she is and she says "Fly me I'm your friendly Porteugese airline!". And in the scene where they argue with Cole, Riggs says "What are we required reading or something?" and Cole says "As a matter of fact you are. Its a cross between Police Gazette and Mad magazine!". And Russo's scene with Gibson where they show off their gun and knife wounds from the line of duty is also one of the film's most amusing moments.
As for the other cast members Joe Pesci makes an amusing return as the annoying Leo Getz and this time he has become a real estate agent, and he even tries to sell off Roger's house for him as he plans to retire and move out. However Leo is forced to "disclose" all true facts of the damage of the house to a couple viewing it and they ask what happened to the living room and he says "Oh a drug dealer one time crashed through here and shot up the place" and later the worried couple ask if there is anything else, and he says "OK the toilet has also been redone due to unexpected bomb damage!". And later as the try and capture Travis at the ice rink, Leo jumps on Travis who shoots Leo in the hand, and Leo overreacts thinking he is dying and he says to Rog "I'm dying, Rog! I'm dying! I'm cold, that's what happens when you die!" and Roger reassures him "Leo, you're lying on the ice!". And later after Leo has been kept in hospital, deliberately as a result of Riggs doctoring Leo's prognosis sheet in the hospital, Leo later returns to the police station. And he angrily says to Riggs and Roger "They fuck in you in the hospital! First they drug you, then they fuck you! And then the insurance company along and fuck you some more! 10 dollars for a fuckin aspirin!".
And lastly I will mention Stuart Wilson who is actually fairly effective in his role as the main villain, Jack Travis, an ex-cop turned arms dealer. Wilson has some good scenes in the film such as his first one where Travis deals with his associate who bungled the armoured car robbery by having thrown into cement and he says to him "Now we have a relationship we can build on!". Also later as he is on the phone to fellow mobster, Tyrone, who is having second thoughts of working together, Travis says "Tyrone, you back out now and I'll make sure only your dentist can identify the body, is that good enough?". And the scene where he kidnaps the police captain Murphy, he says to him about the police arms dump "Its one a stop shop and if you guts nobody can do a fuckin thing about it!" and as Murphy says he's history, Travis says "Sorry, Jack, I'm just gettin started!". And last of all Steve Kahan does well with his role as Captain Murphy, Riggs and Murtaugh's superior officer, who is given more to do this time round than before.
Getting onto Richard Donner who does another fine job here with the action and the cast as the film's stunts get more and more daring and this time they go even as far as blowing up a whole building! The building in question was in fact formerly the city hall building of Orlando, Florida, and Warner brothers (the film distributer company for the Lethal Weapon films) was paid a sum for the demolition of it. Music wise Michael Kamen provides another good score for the film, which is pretty similar to what we've heard before but it fits the bill alongside Eric Clapton and David Sanbourne who also provide their guitar and sax.
As for flaws well Lethal Weapon 3 certainly certainly is no masterpiece and it has to be said by the third film the characters are starting to become a parody of themselves with Riggs and Murtaugh becoming more like Laurel and Hardy than anything else. And the film's emphasis on comedy may keep the tone light but it also to an extent hampers it as well and there really is something daft about Riggs being so involved in Murtaugh's life that even get's Roger's wife to do his laundry! Also Riggs and Murtaugh once again get off lightly with disregarding orders, which we see at the start of the film where they are responsible for demolishing an entire building and a punishment all they get is demoted to being patrolmen, which seems to be no more than a slap on the wrist, despite the damages they must owe to the city! But again it is an action film and credibility will always take a massive dive where its involved. The plot again is also pretty thin (Rog's nickname funnily enough!) as are all the Lethal Weapon plots, the first one we had drugs, the second money, and this its guns! The film also does a bit of political mirroring of the times and reflects the LA riot troubles and the gangbang scene in LA, which is highlighted in the film where Roger shoots the young boy, Darryl, who get's caught up in the gang scene, having dropped out of high school. But this all again feels a bit superflous next to the rest of the film and Roger's guilt over Darryl's death is dealt with pretty quickly and low and behold we find out the gun came from Travis so it all connects up nicely! Whatever.
That aside Lethal Weapon 3 is still one of the most enjoyable entries in the series and the cast all work well and the introduction of Rene Russo also benefits the series as well given her onscreen chemistry with Gibson.
(SO THAT'S LETHAL WEAPON 3 DONE!)
Now for Lethal Weapon 4, OK I will keep this brief but as its not that great a film and the story is pretty daft and it involves Chinese immigrant smuggling. And Riggs and Murtaugh are up against a high ranked Triad negotiator, Wah Sing Ku (Jet Li) who alongside his boss, Benny Chang (Kim Chan). And in among all that Roger takes it upon himself to "save" a family of Chinese slave immigrants as he shelters them in his house. And on top of that Lorna Cole (Rene Russo) who is now in a relationship with Riggs, is pregnant with his baby, and is on maternity leave in the film. And then there is the small matter of Rog's eldest daughter, Rianne (Traci Wolfe) who is set to get married to a young detective with the LAPD, Butters (Chris Rock) which is kept secret from Roger, who actually thinks Butters might be gay! So that's a rough summary of what's involved on the different plot points, but that's as far as I'll go with that.
But it has to be said that Lethal Weapon 4 is easily the weakest in the series and the story is not interesting as there are too many subplots, and none of them are that appealing. The film also has its share of stupid scenes such as the intro where Riggs and Murtaugh try and take down a man in an armoured suit, armed with a flamethrower on the streets, and Riggs get's Rog to distract him, by stripping to his undies and flapping his arms like a chicken! Then there is the equally daft scene on Roger's boat, where Riggs, Rog and Leo are together and Roger has a mini shark flapping about on it!! Although this scene does include a funny moment where Leo tries to find his bags on Roger's boat and he tells Leo they are in the aft, which means nothing to Leo who says "AFT? And that is a fucking word?!". Then there are some more ridiculous moments where they pay Uncle Benny a visit and give him laughing gas and Benny corrects Riggs when he says "flied lice" and he says to him "Its fried rice, you plick!" which is probably the only real memorable thing about the film.
However one of the things the film has going for it is Jet Li, who provides some incredible fight sequences and at one point he even grabs Riggs's gun and dismantles piece by piece with lightning speed! But the film's ending is really protracted, after the two cops having dealt with Jet Li, Riggs goes off to support Lorna as she goes into labour and it ends on a very very cheesy family photo being taken with the new born babies.
Overall though Lethal Weapon 4 is a disappointing end to the series with its uninteresting and bloated story and many silly moments and with the characters now just a parody of their former selves it lacks the gritty qualities that were found in the original and to a lesser extent in the second and third films as well.
So I shall leave you there and that's it for my look at the Lethal Weapon series, so better get to bed as I'm getting too old for shit!
Bye for now.
No comments:
Post a Comment