recommended

Overrated and overhyped

A Major Disappointment

There are better movies of two hours length. I loved the actress'performance.

Talking about the other films for a minute, while not perfect, the first film is very good and one of the best buddy-cop films there is (important to the development of them too). 'Lethal Weapon 2' was almost as good, and while 'Lethal Weapon 3' was a little disappointing it was still fun.Which is pretty much the same personal opinion for 'Lethal Weapon 4', though a slight improvement over the third. Like the third film, its weak link is the story, except it's even messier than that and sometimes has a going through the motions, tame feel, especially when one can't help comparing to the first two. It also could have done with having less going on and less characters, it did feel over-stuffed and muddled.'Lethal Weapon 4's' script is also the weakest in this component of the series. Not awful, as some of it is very funny and still intrigues, but there seemed to be too much of an emphasis on sentimentality and especially humour. The humour works better, because there are actually some funny moments like the dentist scene and the fried rice line but there were other parts where it was overdone. The sentimentality really doesn't work, am aware it's for character development but it was done in a very mawkish and under-cooked way and felt really odds and tacked on with the rest of the film.Was mixed on Chris Rock. Was expecting him to be a disaster and be completely out of place. The good news is that he is a little better than expected, there are times where he is amusing and has some good lines and moments with the rest of the cast. Not so good is that he featured in the film too heavily and some of Rock's shtick is overdone and annoying, when you already have Joe Pesci as a motor-mouth it feels overkill.However, the way 'Lethal Weapon 4' is shot and designed screams slick and stylish while Richard Donner once again directs with an assured hand. The score is atmospheric and groovy.Parts of the script doe entertain hugely and crackle in wit and tension, especially the aforementioned moments.Once again, the action is slick and bursts with excitement and tension, with terrific stunts and the sheer scale of them being worthy of huge admiration. The freeway scene and Jet Li's final fight are two of the series' best action sequences It is very easy to see why the chalk and cheese chemistry of the polar opposite characters of Riggs and Murtaugh became so popular, very rarely in a buddy-cop film has this kind of chemistry been so entertaining and perfectly pitched.Mel Gibson continues to excel in a performance as witty and intense has before. Danny Glover gives Murtaugh the right amount of spirit, subtlety and no-nonsense attitude.Joe Pesci, despite the character being a thrown-in plot device, is closer to the funny character he was in the second and not the irritating one in the third. Rene Russo's role is not as fresh and fairly side-lined but she is a lovely presence. While underused, Jet Li is a calmly sinister villain with some truly indestructibly awesome fighting skills, for me the second best overall villain of the series after Gary Busey in the original.In summary, fun if not blowing the mind. Doesn't see the series going out with a bang, but a long way from a whimper despite a few sizeable flaws threatening to make it so. 7/10 Bethany Cox

Lethal Weapon 4 (1998): Dir: Richard Donner / Cast: Mel Gibson, Danny Glover, Rene Russo, Chris Rock, Jet Li: High powered action that attempts to broaden character yet evaporates into mindless action violence. Rene Russo is pregnant and Mel Gibson wrestles with the idea of marriage. Danny Glover's daughter is also pregnant but he is unaware that the father is fast talking rookie cop Chris Rock. Joe Pesci discovers the pains of being a detective. Plot regards the smuggling Chinese into America for illegal money making labour. Jet Li is the new villain and he is so swift that he can handle Gibson, Glover and Russo all at once in an ass kicking bout. Routine story that owes much to its spectacular stunts. Gibson and director Richard Donner collaborated on all three previous Lethal Weapon films as well as Conspiracy Theory. Glover is still the bunt of jokes but perhaps the biggest is the reality that his daughter is pregnant with Rock's kid. Russo wrestles with her future as a mother and wife. Rock is a nice edition with his usual psycho-babble that gets under Glover's skin. Jet Li plays off a fine villain who ends up warding off Gibson, Glover and Russo with near ease. The basic purpose of the film is to continue the series and big fans of the franchise will no doubt enjoy the action and stunts and all the other implausible hijinks performed throughout. Score: 5 / 10

Riggs and Murtaugh are back in "Lethal Weapon 4, which thankfully gets the franchise back on track after the misfire of "lethal weapon 3"Plot In A Paragraph: With old age creeping up on them, Riggs (Gibson) and Murtaugh (Glover) face personal problems whilst they do battle with some Chinese triads.I'll get what I don't like out the way first. There is an awful use of stunt doubles which are glaringly obvious when watching this on Blu-ray. Chris Rock, whilst OK. Seemed to be just doing his stand u routine through most of his time on screen. And Murtaugh saying "please let him be black" when referencing his grandchilds father, bothers me a lot more than it probably should have. I've never been a fan of that type of humour!! It's OK for Glover to say it cos he's Black, but if Gibson had have said "Please let him be white" all hell would have broken loose over racism!! Especially after what followed!! But hey ho!! That's just me, and it probably doesn't bother many other people. Now onto the good. It is always good to see Gibson and Glover together on screen as Riggs and Murtaugh, as they have a real chemistry together. I wonder how their friendship is now, I don't recall Glover speaking publicly about "those tapes" and think it would be a shame if they no longer got on. It is nice to see Rene Russo back and after his awful role in 3, I loved Joe Pesci's turn here, especially the scene at the cemetery at the end of the movie. Jet Li is brilliant and is the deadliest and best villain of the franchise in my opinion, he is a definite step up from Travis in Lethal Weapon 3.One of my favourite things about the Lethal Weapon franchise is the cast. It has not changed throughout the four movies. Aside from Gibson and Glover as Riggs, Darlene Love plays Murtaugh's wife, Traci Wolfe, Damon Hines, and Ebonie Smith are Murtaugh's kids, Steve Kahan (who I forgot to mention was also in Conspiracy Theory) is Captain Murphy, and Mary Ellen Trainor is the police psychiatrist. This is the final film in which composer Michael Kamen composed the music for producer Joel Silver. Kamen would pass away from multiple sclerosis in 2003.Lethal Weapon 4, ended things on a high with $130 million grossed at the domestic box office to end the year the 11th highest grossing movie of 1998.

Hello readers to my review on the fourth and last film of the Lethal Weapon series. In this review I will rank the film and tell you where it stands out of the 4 as I have with the previous films on their reviews written by myself. So lets start, Lethal Weapon 4 is very enjoyable but due to me liking the first installment a bit more I had to rank this one 3rd out of 4. I mean in actual fact I like the first and the last the same but there are just some things about the 1st which make it better than this one. Like number 3 this one has a really under rated score on this website, a 6.5 is way too low. But like I say films in the 6's usually are under rated. Anyway I like the fact that this film went all Chinese to give Martin/Mel Gibson and Roger/Danny Glover a new and greater challenge. Leo Getz played by Joe Pesci "getz" his best performance in any of the films with showing his true soft side at the end. The film ends perfectly and happily which is just what I like. So end my reviews on the Lethal Weapon films, be sure to check out further reviews or previous ones. See you soon...