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Lethal Weapon 4
***1/2
Cinema
Releases - September 18, 1998
Rated on a 4-star
scale; USA; Directed by Richard Donner. Written by Channing Gibson;
from a story by Alfred Gough, Jonathan Lemkin and Miles Millar; based upon
characters created by Shane Black. Starring Mel Gibson; Danny Glover; Joe
Pesci; Rene Russo; Chris Rock; Jet Li.
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.
COPYRIGHT©
1998 Ian Waldron-Mantgani
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