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Lethal Weapon 4Rating:
Release Date: 03 February, 2004 Retail Price: $14.98 OUR Price: $12.99 You SAVE: $1.99! Cast: Complete Cast (12 total) |
Lethal Weapon 4 Reviews
Great to see Danny and Mel together again
When "Casino" opened, some complained that Joe Pesci's performance was a retread of his work in "GoodFellas". I made the defence that his character was the same sort of person, and it would be inappropriate to act in a different way.
I'll make the same sort of defence for "Lethal Weapon 4", to anyone who claims that the series is settling down into a formula. It is, yes, but it was always about character, and these characters are carried not by a story which keeps giving them different things to do, or different interactions to have, but simply new lines and convincing performances. We get this with each new "Lethal Weapon" film, and "LW4" shows that the same thing can work yet again, making it about four times as good as you'd expect. Who cares if the witty banter is the same type as in the other three movies, it's still slightly different in its specifics, getting a little more outrageous each time. And even though Mel Gibson said a while back he had no interest in doing another "Lethal Weapon" film, no matter how good the script was, he and Danny Glover are putting in as much effort as they always have, making the screen sizzle with their chemistry.
This time, the plot involves some Chinese mobsters who Riggs and Murtaugh first meet they disrupt their fishing trip with gunplay. It transpires that they are attempting to buy back, from some other Chinese mobsters, some old dudes who lead the Triads. I wonder, in retrospect, how they got captured by anyone in the first place, if they're hard enough to be the leaders of the Triads, but never mind, because we get another enormously effective villain out of the Chinese element. His name is Wah Sing Ku, played by Jet Li, the star of those many violent martial arts movies that dealers at film fairs will tell you they have a copy of out in the car, with Japanese subtitles, but they couldn't get it in any other way, it's banned! Li creates a cold, sadistic-yet-disciplined scumbag, who deserves every second of Riggs' disgusted looks. He does this by not changing his facial expression from a totally mastered look of calculation, even when he breaks out into spectacular moves of violence. These are also performed skillfully, and Wah Sing is such a quick cat that, at one point, he even dodges a bullet. The guy is as seemingly invincible as the villains who inhabit the higher levels of "Mortal Kombat".
The action sequences are terrific, and I don't just mean entertaining and well-done, I mean exciting. That's a rare thing, especially for a cops-and-robbers comedy, but the slick cinematography and the wonderfully energetic crunch-bang-boom sound stirs us until we're dissolved in the onscreen activity.
Of course, we still have to have the "Lethal Weapon" humour here, and the members of the trusted supporting cast are all back to enrich it, with Leo Getz (Pesci) thinking he's become a private investigator, and Lorna Cole (Rene Russo) pregnant, as is Murtaugh's daughter Rianne. The latter has been knocked up by Lee Butters, a cop who hangs around with Riggs and Murtaugh, and who is very funny despite being played by Chris Rock.
"Lethal Weapon 4" is not as good as the other three films in its series, borrowing their heart as a substitute for one of its own, and certainly without one outstandingly memorable line, which the others all had. It's all glossy, cocky surface. But likeably glossy, hilariously cocky, and difficult to resist.
Introducing Jet Li
The series had pretty much run it's course, but Jet Li gave this movie a real punch. As a fan, it was really interesting to see him as a villain. I was scared of him.
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