Lethal Weapon 4
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Lethal Weapon 4 is a 1998 American buddy cop action film directed and produced by Richard Donner, and starring Mel Gibson, Danny Glover, Joe Pesci, Rene Russo, Chris Rock, and Jet Li (in his international film debut). It is the fourth installment in the Lethal Weapon film series. It is the last film in the series directed by Donner before his death, and the last to be released theatrically.
Plot
Detective Riggs (Mel Gibson) tries to settle down with his pregnant girlfriend, Lorna (Rene Russo), while his partner, Murtaugh (Danny Glover), comes to grips with the marriage of his pregnant daughter, Rianne (Traci Wolfe), to fellow cop Butters (Chris Rock). But they find themselves and their families targeted by Chinese mobsters, led by Wah Sing Ku (Jet Li). Riggs, Murtaugh, Butters and private eye Getz (Joe Pesci) decide to go on the offensive before the gangsters get to their loved ones.
Good Qualities
- Despite it being not as good as the first three films, it still contains the elements from them that make it a good movie.
- It serves as a great finale to the movie franchise.
- Richard Donner did a great job as always directing the last film for Lethal Weapon before his death.
- Mel Gibson and Danny Glover, the main duo still give their best performances, as always.
- Chris Rock is introduced as Lee Butters, the funny, foul-mouthed, wisecracking detective.
- Jet Li is amazing as he plays an outstanding villain named Wah Sing Ku who is the deadliest villain in the movie who is a master at kung fu and manages to beat Riggs and Murtaugh at one point.
- Lots of cool action scenes, such as the car chase and the final battle between Riggs, Murtaugh and Wah Sing Ku.
- Funny moments such as the cell phone part between Leo and Lee, Roger bonking Ebony Clark which is his wife Trish, and the laughing gas scene.
- Funny quotes: "A-F-T. Aft!", "Uh... A nut cup? I got some big nuts", "Yes, Mr. Getz, I was just wondering if you'd be willing to investigate my privates".
- "We're not too old for this shit".
- Heartwarming moments such as Leo sympathizing with Riggs' death of his wife and telling his backstory and also telling him how much his friendship means to them and Riggs makes him his best man for his wedding.
- Great ending where the extended family take a group picture and ending the movie on a high note.
Bad Qualities
- The film wasn't as great as the others.
- Jet Li was too fast in the film, which the director Richard Donner had to tell him to slow down.
Reception
Critical reaction to Lethal Weapon 4 was mixed. The film currently holds a rating of 53% on Rotten Tomatoes based on reviews from 69 critics, and an average rating of 6.4 out of 10. The site's consensus states: "Jet Li's arrival breathes fresh life into a tired franchise formula -- but not enough to put Lethal Weapon 4 on equal footing with its predecessors." Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating of 0-100 from mainstream critics, calculated a score of 37 out of 100 based on reviews from 21 critics, which means it has an indication of "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A-" on an A+ to F scale.
The film was nominated for a Razzie Award for Worst Supporting Actor for Joe Pesci.
