OK, now we are into October (how did that happen??!!) and its time for me to look at the final Lethal Weapon film, Lethal Weapon 4, which concluded the franchise. And after nearly 20 years how does it stack up???? Well, let's take a look...
And the usual warning is coming up....
SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!!
STORY
OK, so for once I will keep the story section fairly brief and the story 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, who's family head is Hong (Eddy Ko).
Lorna Cole (Rene Russo) who is now in a relationship with Riggs, is pregnant with his baby, and is on maternity leave and two of them are undecided about marrying given that Riggs's former wife was killed. And then there is the small matter of Rog's eldest daughter, Rianne (Traci Wolfe) who is married to a young detective with the LAPD, Lee Butters (Chris Rock) which is kept secret from Roger, as Roger did not want Rianne to get involved with a police officer. And this leads into the rather silly subplot of Roger believing that Butters might be gay when Butters keeps being overly nice to him.
And it soon transpires that Ku and Benny are involved in a counterfeiting operation and when Ku discovers that Roger is hiding the Hong and his family, he attacks them at Roger's home, ties up Rog with Riggs, Lorna and Roger's wife, Trish and his daughter Rianne and sets their home on fire. However, they are all saved when Hong's young son, frees them (as he hid from Ku's men) and this soon leads into Roger and Riggs hunting down Ku as they are intent on putting a stop to his operation.....
THOUGHTS
Well, it has to be said that Lethal Weapon 4 is easily the weakest film in the series and the story is not interesting as there are too many subplots, and none of them are that appealing. However despite all that there are still some enjoyable moments in the film despite the fact that it still falls short of expectations. But I will say more on the film's flaws later on in the flaws section!
PERFORMANCES AND NOTABLE SCENES (Warning: this section may contain spoilers but it won't be as long as section as usual!!!)
As for the performances, well they are mostly not too bad and the leads are in good enough form even if the material they have been given this time around really isn't up to scratch.
Starting off with Mel Gibson who reprises his role very well as Riggs, who by this time has gotten his laugh back on track as he is now in a relationship with Lorna, who is pregnant with his child but Riggs and Roger come up against a dangerous gang of triads.
And Mel has some good moments in the film such as the scene at the start where Riggs and Roger are under attack on the streets by a man wearing a bullet proof suit and is armed with a flame thrower (completed with napalm tank strapped to his back) and a machine gun. So, Riggs comes up with a plan to take out the man and says to Roger "Here's what we're gonna do! Take your clothes off!". And Roger yells "What the hell for??!" and Riggs says "Okay, you run, Flame-O here turns and sees you in your undies, it distracts him - I know it'd distract me - and that's when I shoot!". Roger shouts "Shoot what??!" and Riggs says "The valve on that napalm tank!" and Roger reluctantly strips down to his underwear. Riggs then shouts to Roger "Also, flap and make noises like a bird!" and Roger yells "Why??!" and Riggs shouts back "It'll distract him more!".
So, after Roger makes an ass of himself by running out and flapping his arms and clucking like a chicken, Riggs shoots the valve on the man's tank, which causes him to fly off right into a tanker truck, which explodes into a ball of flames. And Roger after smiles and says to Riggs "Riggs, do you think that bird thing worked??!" and Riggs smiles and says "No, I just wanted to see if you'd do it!" and Roger, furious says "Go spit!".
Then there is the scene where Riggs after having a sparring session with one of his fellow officers, Gomez at the station, admits to Roger that he ran out of steam fighting Gomez and fears he is beginning to get a bit too old for "this shit".
So, in the scene Riggs pretends that his shoulder (the one which he can dislocate at will) was hurting him, so he sits down with Roger in the locker room. And Riggs says to Roger "There's nothing wrong with my shoulder. I was faking it. Gomez was killing me out there. I didn't have anything left" and Roger says to Riggs "I told you that kid was good". Riggs then says to Roger "He's good, but it's not all him. I've been feeling it lately. You know the other...Like, on the ship when that guy nailed me. And yesterday I couldn't catch him. I just thought, I'm out of shape or something. You know. But it's more than that. It's like, I hate to say this but...". And Roger finishes his sentence with "You're getting too old for this shit! How about that?? Finally!" but Riggs says "But I can't be!" and Roger tells him "You can't beat the clock, Riggs". Then Riggs refuses to accept it and says "Bullshit! No. I won't accept. It will not happen!" and then "I'm not too old for this shit!" and he repeats it and he says to Roger "We're not too old for this shit!" and Roger repeats with him.
And last of all there is the climactic fight scene with Ku, where Riggs and Roger are about to take on Ku just shortly after Ku's brother has been killed by Riggs (as Ku dodged Riggs's bullet and it hit Ku's brother instead). So, in the scene Roger tries to persuade Riggs not to fight Ku and says "Since I met you, I done some hairy shit, but this is not gonna happen. I'm gonna be a grandfather; you and Lorna are gonna have a baby. He ain't worth dying for, Riggs. He ain't worth it!". Riggs then says "Yeah, yeah, you're right. Hey, if he gets away, we can track him down later on with a - you know, with a Howitzer or somethin'. Your son-in-law's over there bleedin', we should get him and get the hell out of here. Anyway, it's rainin'".
And Roger says "Yeah, its rainin" and Riggs says "I'm too old for shit, too" and Roger says "The guy's too damn good!". However, Riggs then looks at Roger and says "Well, yeah, he's damn good. I mean, how did he do that thing with the gun? How the hell did he do that? I mean, he took my gun apart with one deft move. How did he do that? Huh? How?!". Roger then realising that Riggs wants to fight Ku, resignedly says "Yeah okay....let's go ask him!".
Danny Glover is also really good once again as Roger and he does well with what he is given to work with here as this time round, Roger is out to save a Chinese family from the Triads, while also having to deal with the prospect of his daughter being engaged to a police officer (i.e. Butters).
And Danny does have some good moments aswell such as the scene where Roger and Riggs are attacked by the "human tank" man on the street at the start and Riggs persuades Roger to get undressed and flaps his arms like a chicken to distract the man. However prior to that Roger also tells Riggs that he is going to be a father as Lorna is pregnant.
So, in the scene as they take fire from the human tank, Roger shouts to Riggs "You run for cover. I'll draw his fire!" and Riggs shouts back "Are you crazy?! You got a wife, kids. I got less to lose! Get out of here!". Roger then yells at Riggs "I'm not supposed to tell you, but Lorna's pregnant!" and Riggs shouts over the tank's gunfire "What did you say??!" and Roger shouts back "YOU'RE GONNA BE A FATHER!!". And after, Roger get's undressed, he goes out and flaps his arms and makes chicken noises as he shouts to Riggs "I don't want to die in my underwear! Why are you waiting? Shoot the bastard!" and Riggs manages to shoot the human tank and take him out. So, after Roger laughs and says "Riggs, you think that bird thing helped?!" and Riggs laughs and says "No, I just wanted to see if you'd do it!" and they walk away together and Riggs teases Roger "Cute shorts!" and Roger shouts "Go spit!!".
Then there is the scene where Riggs, Roger and Butters go and question Benny while he is at the dentist and they subject him to a doze of laughing gas and they all decide to try it aswell and they are all soon laughing their heads off. And in the scene as they are all laughing hysterically, Butters makes a joke and they all crack up more and Riggs says "That is one funny son-in-law you got there, Rog!" and they all laugh more. And Roger, laughing hysterically also, asks Riggs "Why did you call him my son in law???" and Butters says "Because I AM!!" and they all laugh some more. And Butter says to Roger "You're baby is having my baby!" and Roger laughs more and says "My baby is having his baby!" and Butters says of Rianne "And your baby....whoa baby!!" and they laugh even more.
However after they leave Benny at the dentist and they have all recovered from their laughing fits, Roger punches Riggs, who shouts "Are you crazy??! Why did you do that??!" and Roger shouts "For keeping it from me and letting me think...hit him, not me" and Roger then says to Butters "As soon as we find the Hongs, we're getting into this!".
And lastly there is the scene where Riggs asks Roger where his extra "income" appears to be coming from. So, Riggs says to Roger "What's goin' on Rog, why you lyin' to me? Where's the money coming from? IA says you're on the take". Roger then tells him "You ever hear of Ebony Clarke?" and Riggs says "Yeah, she writes those cheesy sex novels. What? Are you boinkin her??". Roger annoyed, says "No, I'm not boinking her. Trish is Ebony Clarke!" and Riggs smiles and says "You ARE boinkin her!" and Roger takes a moment and thinks and laughs and says "Yeah, Yeah, I'm boinkin her!".
Joe Pesci next up also does pretty well in his role as Leo Getz once again, the deeply annoying yet useful associate of Roger and Riggs.
And I will only mention two of Joe's scenes, first up is the one where Riggs, Roger and Leo are onboard Roger's boat near the start of the film and Leo is trying to find his bags, so Roger tells Leo they are in the aft. So, Leo goes off and has a look and comes back empty handed and says "Okay, you said "aft" right?" and Roger says "A-F-T. Aft!" and Leo looks at Roger and says "And that's a fucking word?!". So, Roger spells it out for Leo "In the back of the cabin on the right side, Leo" and this infuritates Leo who shouts "Well, why didn't you say that in the first place, ROGER? I love these people. Put them around boats and water and all of the sudden everything becomes fucking nautical. "Astern. Avast you landlubbers. Man the bilge pumps." Pump your fucking ass!".
And lastly there is the scene near the end of the film where Riggs visits the grave of his first wife, Victoria and he is soon joined by Leo, who tells Riggs a story from his childhood. So, Leo tells Riggs "Uh, I had this pet frog, his name was Froggy. He was my best friend in the whole world. I didn't have a lot of friends. As a matter of fact... okay I had no friends, and uh, I used to kiss the frog, too. I thought maybe, uh, that it would turn into a princess since I was a boy, and uh, it could be my mother. They told me that she left or something, and my father was no bargain, and so just the frog. Froggy was my friend and I really loved him, and I took him everywhere with me, and I was riding on my bike one day and he jumped out of the box, and uh, I ran him over with the back tire. I killed him. I was really heartbroken. Really, he was my best friend in the whole world; the only thing I ever loved. And then I met you and Roger, and you guys really looked after me a lot more then you had to".
And Riggs, somewhat touched by Leo's story says "Geez, we were terrible to you, Leo" and Leo says "No no, it's okay, it's okay. You are my family. You are my friends. You are not better friends than Froggy. You're just different, and, uh, I just thought that *maybe* that might be relevant. Okay. I'll leave you alone now".
Rene Russo returns once again here as Lorna Cole and she also does pretty well with the underwritten script her character has been given here.
And I will only mention two of Rene's scenes, first is the one where Lorna and Riggs walk on the beach together and Lorna ends up telling Riggs that Roger's daughter, Rianne has married Butters in secret, as Roger doesn't want Rianne to marry cops.
So, in the scene Riggs teases Lorna into revealing the news and she says to Riggs "I'll tell you! GODDAMN IT!! THIS PREGNANCY IS DESTROYING MY BRAIN CELLS!!". So, Lorna takes a moment and says to Riggs "Promise me you'll never say a word about this ever!" and Riggs says "I swear, I swear!" and Lorna yells at Riggs "RIGHT HAND!" and Riggs puts up his hand "I swear I won't ever!". So, Lorna tells Riggs "You know how Roger is about his daughter dating cops. Rianne married one, her baby's father. She's afraid to tell Roger. They met, fell in love. She got pregnant, they got hitched". So, Riggs asks "So, who is the lucky soon to be dead son-in-law??" and Lorna tells him "Its Sergreant Lee Butters" and Riggs laughs and says "What? Biscuits?! Oh, this just get's better!".
And lastly there is the scene where Lorna is in hospital and she is about to give birth and as Riggs finally agrees to marry her, Lorna demands they get a priest so they can be married. So, as Riggs pops the question and asks her "Will you marry me?" Lorna quickly says "You bet I will!" but then Lorna says "Get a minister". Riggs then bemused asks "Now?" and Lorna says "Now! We're getting married" but Riggs says "But we need a licence..." and Lorna insists "I want to hear it before the baby comes!". Then Lorna shouts "Listen, I am getting married or there is no baby!" and the nurse next to Lorna says "This could be an aspect of a transition phase" prompting Lorna yell "THIS IS NO GODDAMN ASPECT OF A TRANSITION PHASE!!!". Lorna then shouts "Get me a priest! A minister! Anything!" so Riggs and Leo go off to find someone and in end they find a rabbi and well that's all I say for now.
Chris Rock is not too bad here as Detective Lee Butters, who secretly married Roger's daughter, Rianne, without his knowledge as Rianne didn't want Roger to know given his prejudiced attitude towards the idea of cops marrying into his family. However there are times where you just think that Rock is performing some of his comedy routines rather than give an actual performance (although to his credit he did give a good performance in Kevin Smith's comedy, Dogma).
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And Rock has some notable moments here and there such as the scene where Riggs, Roger and Butters arrive at a crime scene and they look at a dead body. And Butters, disgusted says "Ah, shit. He's dead, man. He's fuckin' dead, man. Yeah, this is how he wanted to come to America, right? Where was he, in The Killing Section? This guy's been shot 4 times. At close range, like he was executed!".
And Roger says "He WAS executed" and Riggs also says "Yeah, by the crew" and Butter rants "What the FUCK, man? We got people gettin' killed left, right and center in this town; now we're IMPORTING victims? Hey, gangbangers wanna kill each other? No problem. You or me, one of us gets shot? Hey, occupational hazard. But just a normal guy, THIS fuckin' guy? What the fuck did he ever do to anybody? That ain't right. Ah, shit. He's dead, man. He's fuckin' dead, man. Yeah, this is how he wanted to come to America, right? Where was he, in The Killing Section? This guy's been shot 4 times. At close range, like he was executed!".
And lastly there is the scene at the station, Leo arrives and sees Butters and asks Riggs "Hey, Riggs, who's the perp? What did ya bust him for?". And Butters angrily says to Leo "Oh, I'm a perp? You see a young brother in the back of a police car, automatically I'm a perp. Look at my suit, look at my tie. What do I look like, the fuckin' Crip's accountant? Look at this badge, bitch. Check out the gun!".
Kim Chan is also pretty good in his role as Uncle Benny, the triad leader, who works with Ku as the two of them are involved in immigrant smuggling and counterfeiting.
Chan's most notable scenes are of course the one where Riggs and Roger pay a visit to Benny at his restaurant and Riggs asks Benny "How's the restaurant? Eat something. Give you the police discount". So, Riggs asks "Flied lice?" and Benny says to him "Its fried rice, you plick!". Then there is of course the scene where Riggs, Roger and Butters invade Benny's dental appointment and give him a dose of laughing gas. However I won't say anymore than that for now, except to say that Benny like to also say "Bloody marvelous!" alot in the film. (Well that was short!!).
Jet Li even though he doesn't have many lines in the film, he is also very good in the film as the villainous Ku and his action scenes are incredible as are his martial arts skills. And Li has three remarkable action scenes which show off just how fast and agile Li really is, so much so that Mel Gibson said Li was too fast for him to react to!
The first scene of course is up on the rooftops where Ku deals with one of his men, who failed in his duties, so Ku expertly beats the man up with his martial arts skills and then garrots him with his wire. Then there is the fight scene at Roger's house where Ku and his men show up to capture Hong and his family and once again Ku shows incredible skill as his dismantles a gun in the blink of an eye. And lastly there is of course the climactic fight scene between Riggs, Roger and Ku as they fight one another after Ku's brother has just been killed.
And the final cast members I will mention include Steve Kahan who makes a welcome return again as the grumpy police Captain, Murphy, who has long suffered Roger and Riggs's antics. And the one scene I will mention with Kahan is when Murphy tells Riggs and Roger that they are getting promoted "The department lost its insurance. All the damage you've done, they can't get a new one...while you two still run around. They can't fire you either. So, they're promoting you". So, as the duo enquire if they will be made lieutenants, Murphy tells them "There's no open lieutenant spots. So the chief used his special privilege, making you captains!".
And last of all there is of course Darlene Love, Traci Wolfe, Damon Hines and Ebony Smith, who all reprises their roles as Roger's family members in respective order of Trish, Rianne, Nick and Carrie and they all do well enough with their smaller roles.
DIRECTOR AND MUSIC
As for the director, Richard Donner returns once again to complete his run at the franchise but unfortunately his direction somewhat misfires here. Donner is more than capable at handling the film's action scenes, which are still pretty impressive and the fight scenes with Jet Li are terrific. But outside the action, Donner gives the film a somewhat plodded pacing and there are scenes that feel padded out that slow down the movie overall. So, this is definitely Donner's weakest contribution to the series.
As for the music, the score is again written by Michael Kamen and its up to his usual good standard and the score is definitely one of the film's better aspects overall. Kamen is of course once again backed up by Eric Clapton and David Sanbourne, who provide the guitar and sax work respectively and their contribution to the series has always very solid and a staple of the franchise.
FLAWS
As for flaws....yep, Lethal Weapon 4 has its share.
For starters, the film sees the lead character of Riggs and Murtaugh start to feel like a parody of themselves and the film has its share of ridiculous moments that let it down. These include Roger having a shark on his boat! I mean why the hell would he bother to keep a shark on the boat in the first place??! Its definitely one of the silliest moments in the film and that's saying something.
Then there are some more preposterous moments of action such as the chase scene where Riggs is trailing behind a truck with the Triad gang in it and he is being dragged along by an upturned coffee table! This is yet again another incredibly daft action sequence and this was one, which even Richard Donner said after the fact that he wasn't too keen on.
Another issue lies with the ridiculous notion of Riggs and Roger being promoted after all the carnage they have cost the city over the years, yet despite all that and their blatant disregard for proper police procedures (like following direct orders!) they get a promotion! Surely in reality these guys would be disgraced as police officers and booted off the force rather get a promotion! But of course it is just a Hollywood film.
Then there is whole idea of Roger being kept in the dark about Butters being married to his daughter, which is also ridiculous as Riggs at the start of the film said Rianne is pregnant and that he will be a grandad. I mean if that's the case then surely to God, Rianne couldn't keep her partner a secret all that time, especially as the film skips to 9 months later! Wouldn't Roger have some questions of his own, like who the hell is the father???!! But nope, instead Rog just finds out later on in the film when they are all inhaling laughing gas while questioning Uncle Benny during his dental appointment. So, it seems to be a rather spectacular lack of inquisition on Roger's part that he doesn't bother to find out more about Rianne's partner.
I also felt that the film's denouement is pretty drawn out where Riggs goes to the hospital when Lorna is about to give birth and Lorna screams at Riggs to go and get a priest or minister to marry them (or at least read the vows as a distraction from her pregnancy pains). And its another example of the film being somewhat tedious in places as the ending should have been a tighter tighter in my opinion.
Anyway that's it for the flaws.
SUM UP
So, to sum up...is Lethal Weapon 4 a letdown??? Yes, it is and as a conclusion to an otherwise very entertaining series, it sees the franchise end on something of a low note. However despite that there are still some enjoyable scenes and funny moments here and there and the film does deserve a bit of credit for finally showing that even Riggs is starting to get a bit old for all his gung-ho action bravado. And there is also no denying that Jet Li's martial arts abilities are incredible and he is so fast on screen that even Richard Donner had to ask him to slow down during filming!
However, at the end of it all, you still can't get away from the fact that Lethal Weapon 4, while its an OK film, should have been a hell of alot better than it actually is and is a disappointing send-off to one of Hollywood's most solid action series.
Right, so that's it for my revisit of the Lethal Weapon series and I will return with a post that features new content soon.
So, till then its bye for now.
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