LETHAL WEAPON 4
RATING: 7 / 10 --> Good movie
Review
Date:
July 12, 1998
Director:
Richard Donner
Writer:
Channing Gibson
Producer:
Joel Silver and Richard Donner
Actors:
Mel Gibson as Martin Riggs
Danny Glover as Roger Murtaugh
Jet Li as Wah Sing Ku
Chris Rock as Lee Butters
Joe Pesci as Leo Getz
Rene Russo as Lorna Cole
Genre:
Action
Year of Release: 1998
After swallowing a $25-million paycheck for this movie, Mel
Gibson returns as the ever-lovable cop-on-the-edge Riggs in the
fourth installment of this popular series. This one sees the
addition of the hot comic of the moment, Chris Rock, as well as a
script written by Channing Gibson, and a fourth-time around
directing effort by the ever-reliable Richard Donner.
PLOT:
Riggs and Murtaugh uncover a slavery importation business
established by the Asian Triad. They are bent on terminating this
activity, and predictably, infiltrate and harass the Chinese bad
guys, while managing to support their loved ones (Lorna in Riggs'
case, and Murtaugh's daughter in Murtaugh's) during their
pregnancies.
CRITIQUE:
Fun stuff! This sequel can be considered the funniest of them
all, while still remaining faithful to the action genre which it
regenerated back in the late-80's. All of the familiar faces are
back with more of their infamous wisecracks and loveable
idiosyncrasies, while a couple of new faces, add some needed
spice to the ol' recipe. One of the newest spices, who is playing
the ultimate bad guy in this film, is Jet Li, the latest in the
crop of martial arts exports from Asia (see Jackie "I can't
get this smile of my face" Chan, and Chow Yun Fat). Jet
kicks some major ass in this movie, adds some needed intensity to
some otherwise predictable and light suspense sequences, and
certainly shows more potential than either one of the previously
mentioned martial artists in regards to his acting and chop-chop
abilities.
The rest of the cast was adequate, with standout performances by
Chris Rock as the funny, new cop on the block, and some funny
scenes with Joe Pesci (although he did get on my nerves at
times...I think he might've overdid this role a bit). Gibson and
Glover continue their decent work as the good buddy cop guys,
while Rene Russo is pretty much wasted in this film, and wears
too much make-up.
The plot is very thin in this movie, but the film never gets
boring. There is always something funny or action-packed going
on, and despite the lack of any extremely suspenseful moments
(the resolution of the plot is one of the worst that I have ever
seen...), the movie does keep you interested at all times
(especially if you've been a fan of its prequels), and certainly
does make for an excellent conclusion to this fine series. The
martial arts sequences with Jet Li are amazing to watch, and so
is the one long car chase scene in this film, which is a credit
to director Donner, who has actually been able to innovate this
sequence despite its extreme overuse in many recent action films.
Overall, this movie works on most fronts, has some funny and
action-packed scenes, and does deliver a pretty neat bad guy in
Jet Li. So turn off the brain, warm up them nachos, and get ready
for a fun time at the movies!
Little Known Facts:
Mel Gibson was born in New York, and moved to Australia at the age
of 12. He stands 5'9, has been married to the same woman since
1980, and has sired six children with her. Her name is Robyn
Moore, and she is a former dental nurse. Mel is also a devout,
traditional Catholic, who once shared a room with fellow actor Geoffrey Rush in
College. Mel took up acting only because his sister submitted an
application behind his back. The night before the audition, he
got into a fight, and got his face badly beaten. That accident
won him the role.
Richard Donner's real name is Richard D. Schwartzberg, and was born in
NY, New York. He has also directed two other Mel Gibson movies
(besides the three previous LETHAL WEAPON films), CONSPIRACY
THEORY (5/10) and MAVERICK (6.5/10), as well as SUPERMAN (8/10),
uncredited for SUPERMAN 2, and credited for THE OMEN.
Jet Li's
real name is Lian Ji Li. He was born on the 26th of April, 1963,
in Beijing, China. He started training at the Beijing wushu
academy at age nine (Wushu is China's national sport, largely a
performance version of various martial art styles), and won five
gold medals in the Chinese championships. His first when he was
only 11. In his teens, he was already a national coach, and
before he was 20, he had starred in his first movie: SHAOLIN
TEMPLE (Shao Lin Si), which started the 1980's kung-fu boom in
mainland China. He then relocated to Hong Kong, and became one of
the biggest stars of the early 1990's kung-fu boom.
(c) 1998 Berge Garabedian
Movie Reviews by Berge Garabedian