Lethal Weapon 4

Just when they convinced you they were getting too old for this shit! the gang returns for a new installment. An installment in which both Riggs and Murtaugh are getting too old for this shit! Danny Glover is still looking real good as Rodger Murtaugh. Mel Gibson’s Martian Riggs is aging. Not badly, but he’s not the toned mullet wearing cop he use to be. I wonder if this is the reason while Mel Gibson did not even do his own running in the movie. it was strange. you could tell a stunt double was being used just so he can run down the street.

In fact, everything about Gibson in this movie said  “I’m tired of Lethal Weapon”. He must have been given a lot of money to phone in this role.

I have to say Lethal Weapon is hands down my favorite of all the Lethal Weapons for one reason alone: Jet Li.

At a time when Jet Li was second billing to the great Jackie Chan in a pre Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon America that  was not fully into the Kung fu thing, Having Jet Li in your movie was still a big step. It’s an odd breakout role for Li, who once again came in second to Chan who was offered the role first but turned it down because he did not want to play a bad guy, and he was about to fully take down the American box office with Rush Hour that same year. (After warming us up with is reintroduction (After the protector) in Rumble in the Bronx and Supercop).

The three-way between Gibson, Glover and Li  was one of the best fight scenes I’ve ever scene. Jet Li left such an impression that they had to put him on the poster to promote the movie. How about that?

Love the episodic nature of the franchise. Important cast members keep coming back for the next movie, like the Murtaugh family and Captain Murphy, whose been in all four, and like with every sequel they add a new character. In this case, Lee Butter, the next gen police officer who makes Riggs and Murtaugh seem barbaric. Butter is played by Chris Rock who was on fire at the moment. Did they need star power like Rock to make Lethal Weapon better? He definitely did his job and made it a little more funnier than it may have been.

Lethal Weapon is a great Quadrilogy and I hope they keep it that way. Word is that they want to do a 5th one and as far as I’m concern they are too old for this shit. That’s just leave it as it is.