Lethal Weapon 4

Lethal Weapon 4; Action comedy, USA, 1998; D: Richard Donner, S: Mel Gibson, Danny Glover, Joe Pesci, Rene Russo, Chris Rock, Jet Li, Kim Chan

It became complicated for police seargents Riggs, who is about to become a father, and Murtaugh, who is about to become a grandfather. When one criminal is burning the neighborhood with a flamethrower, Murtaugh takes his clothes off in the rain to distract him, whereas Riggs immobilizes him. 6 months later, while sailing on Getz's ship, they hear a gunshot and conclude that illegal Chinese immigrants are being transported on a tanker. Murtaugh even adopts one Chinese family. They stumble upon the Triad criminal Wah Sing Ku and stop his counterfeit plans.

6 years were needed until Richard Donner manage to persuade Mel Gibson to appear one last time in his famous role as police detective Riggs in "Lethal Weapon 4", the final part of the film series. Even though it was the most expensive and the 2nd most commercial addition to the series, only the original actors still remind us of the classic characters from the first three films, but not their procedures anymore. The opening where Danny Glover's character Murtaugh strips and walks only in his underwear in rain in order to "distract" a (mad?) flame-thrower is arguably the most silly-naive gag in the whole film series, Joe Pesci again received an unthankful role of a guy who gets humiliated by everyone whereas this time there are surprisingly little action sequences present. Still, despite being the weakest - and the most harmless - of the four films, part 4 is still easily watchable and offers a light, but solid fun with a few interesting ideas (shooting under water).

Grade:++