# Lethal Weapon 4 (1998)

### reviewed by
Berge Garabedian

    LETHAL WEAPON 4
    RATING:  7 / 10 --> Good movie

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.

    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:         1998Visit JoBlo's Movie Emporium
    http://surf.to/joblo(c) 1998 Berge Garabedian

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