Finally an old time spy sees LETHAL WEAPON 4 and likes it. I really hope I like the film, I enjoy the hell out of the Lethal Weapon 4 franchise, I'm eager as can be to see it, which I will first thing Friday, just like the rest of ya. My money will be forked over and I'll hope and prey that I'm gonna have fun with it, which given that it has Jet Li, I can't imagine not having fun with it. So here we go with Booster Gold's review...
The movie got an over-all thumbs up from me. The chinese slaver villains are the second best bad guys in the history of the series (the "diplomatic immunity" South Africans are still the act to beat), but Jet Li himself is the meanest, most magnetically dynamic villain of them all. At the after party, we were referring to him as Boba Jett in conversation (!). Very little dialogue, lots of bad-ass closeups, and of course the lightning fast martial arts (some artificially slowed-down in post so the human eye can see what it is he's doing). When Riggs and Ku (Jet's character) first meet and lock eyes, the hair on the back of my neck stood on end. I couldn't wait for them to mix it up.
I'd like to provide counter-point for a lot of the little things that people on your site have been hammering the movie for, if I may.
THE PLOT
The plot (especially the villain's scheme and Riggs and Murtaughs relation to it) is a little thin, but they always have been. Since LW2, it's been a component of the series' formula to have Mel and Danny get mixed up in something because of bad luck, bad timing, conincidence, or Leo Getz suddenly "remembering" a vague connection between two plot elements. Nothing in LW4 breaks with that formula. And Jet Li's ice cold persona adds a sinister weight to the proceedings.
THE ACTION
Some of the best, if not the best, moments in the series (remarkable given the picture's short gestation period). The second confrontation between Riggs and Ku, where they first trade blows, is a homage to Hong Kong action movies, with lightning fast moves, blurring camera, and everyone coming up with a gun pointed at someone and also being pointed at. We've all seen this before, but seeing Riggs and Murtaugh in the middle of it was just too much fun. The audience applauded at the premiere. Later, there is a freeway chase that takes the duo into and out of an office building. Absolutely perfect, seamless, spectacular...and devoid of obvious digital trickery. Nowadays, with the James Bond producers having to resort to CGI and opticals to spruce up the once- legendary pre-title stunt sequence, it was a blast to see a real-for-real mechanical stunt performed beautifully. Another round of applause from the audience...and I won't spoil how the scene ends. Suffice it to say that you WILL jump out of your seat.
THE FAMILY/GETTING MARRIED/HAVING BABIES/GETTING OLD SUBPLOT
I felt the same way watching these scenes as I felt going into LAST CRUSADE. I didn't want to see Indy running sighing and saying things like "C'mon Dad...Geez, Dad...Don't call me Junior". It just didn't FEEL right. But I eventually wound up accepting the relationship in the movie (thanks to dead-on work from Mrs. Ford and Connery). Here I felt the same trepidation. I had read the script, and I knew that the effectiveness of this kind of character development is not in the words but in the eyes. Mel would have to sell it. And he did. In fact, the scenes involving Riggs facing the specter of age, the shadow of fatherhood and husbandhood, and the guilt over replacing his murdered wife with Lorna were the most honest and engaging scenes Mel had in the picture. They saved the movie for me, in a sense, since the first half hour featured some pretty lackluster acting from Mel, Danny and Chris Rock. In the first half hour (and especially the scenes on the beach as a boatload of Chinese immigrants are offloaded and Rock's character is introduced) the scenes played like "run-throughs", with the actors still not sure what their lines and camera blocking were. Lots of glazed eyes and "ums" and "mms" between words, like it's a rehearsal take. It was getting on my nerves, but by the second act, everyone had found their groove, the timing was there, and it was never more there than in a scene involving Butters (Chris Rock) and Leo Getz discussing cell phones. I can only describe this scene as the hands-down, beat-for-beat funniest sequence in all four Lethal Weapons.
LEO GETZ
Get this... after LW3, I had enough of Leo Getz. There was really no need for his character to be involved in the story of #3, and when it was announced that he would return in #4, I shook my head. Especially since Chris Rock was also on board. Did the movie really need comic relief from that many directions? But, lo and behold, Joe Pesci actually gets more funny moments in the movie than Chris Rock!! And there is a moment near the end of the movie where the producers have given Pesci the chance to lose the "Leo Getz it!!" shit and open up as a human being to Riggs. Call me a sentimental idiot, but after watching these characters for going on my 11th year, this kind of honest character moment is quite welcome. Kudos to Joe Pesci, and though I never thought I'd hear myself say this, "Thank goodness for Leo Getz".
RIGGS AND MURTAUGH
Okay, I don't know whether to blame this on the movie's hurried shooting schedule or what, but since the average moviegoer knows nothing of the picture's manic pace and lack of proper preparation, it's really no excuse. And considering that Mel and Danny have played these characters for over a decade, I find it inexplicable that their characterizations could be so comparitively lackluster in this fourth installment. I especially held it against Mel, since Riggs is the lynchpin of the series. I could understand Mel not being that enthusiastic about playing this character yet again, and there are times when they both seem like they're going through the motions, but there is an obligation to fans of the series to keep the legend of these characters alive. We love Riggs and Murtaugh, and some scenes in LW4 just don't sound like them, just don't look like them (Mel's haircut is a greater drawback than you might think - Riggs with short hair is like James Bond with long hair, know what I mean?). Mel eventually finds his groove in the aging/father/husband scenes, as noted above, and Danny shines in scenes involving his relationship with a Chinese immigrant he takes under his wing, but the Riggs/Murtaugh dynamic is definitely lacking. A subplot involving Murtaugh maybe being "on the take" (resolved with a somewhat thin joke) play especially stilted. And, you know, wasn't Murtaugh a real detective once (think LW1, the Hunsaker case, a loving family man but with a street-smart edge)?. Here he just comes across as, well, kinda stupid. This shortcoming is easily forgotten during the action and comedy set pieces, but it's there nonetheless.
THE FINALE
This battle between Riggs/Murtaugh and Ku (Boba Jett) is far and away the most gruesome sequence in the entire series. It's easy to see how this movie just narrowly escaped an NC-17 (true). In the script, the entire "Riggs getting too old for this shit" angle is meant to drive him to the point where he sheds his skin and becomes the Riggs of LW1, a "lethal weapon with a death wish", in order to find the strength to beat Ku. Of course, he does, but I'm not sure the direction and editing of the scene communicates that element. I was waiting for what I call a "Chris Reeve" moment (think "Superman", when Lois has died and Supes lets go with a yell that must have been heard on Jupiter). This kind of blood-curdling moment is not there. In any case, it is a spectacular mano-a-mano combat scene (sorely missing from LW3, but welcomed back here). In one of those odd action movie moments that only happen every once in a while, the audience didn't seem too excited about Ku losing. Maybe that's the truest sign that Jet Li is due for major stardom in this country. While discussing the movie's finale, I have to express some disappointment. I was really looking forward to the much-talked-about "40 man martial arts extravaganza" that was to lead into the Riggs vs Ku fight. It is not there. I read it in the script, and even took part in prelimiary preparations for the shooting of it, but it is not there. There is a shoot-out, some quips, etc etc, and then Riggs vs Ku. I have no idea what happened to it.
In any case there you have it. Much better than LW3, the comedy is the best in the series, the action is every bit as good if not better than LW2, and the villains are the best ever. If you can get over the weak performances in the first half hour, and the minor lapses here and there throughout, this is a solid summer action movie, and an honorable entry in the Riggs/Murtaugh/Cole/Getz saga.
And you can tell 'em I said so...
Booster Gold
