Review of Lethal Weapon 4 (1998) by Filipeneto — 02 Oct 2021

An honorable end.

This movie is the fourth and final in the "Lethal Weapon" franchise. This time, Detectives Murtaugh and Riggs are promoted to prevent them from doing fieldwork and causing more damage that Police insurance does not want to pay. But nothing will get them off the ground, especially if there is a human trafficking ring bringing illegal immigrants from the East to the US, and if Murtaugh's daughter is pregnant and engaged to another policeman against her father's will.

I think the film makes good use of the mistakes of previous productions: there is greater care in writing an engaging, solid and coherent story that can sustain the film until the end and give us more than just tons of action. However, the two leading actors are no longer as young as in the two initial films, and this is especially noticeable in the case of Danny Glover, it being predictable that this would have to be the last film with the two actors to embody the main characters. More recently I know that there was a television series and I've heard of an eventual movie “reboot”. If a project like that goes ahead, I think it's not bad that the two actors will be entitled to an honorable “cameo”, but the new film will have to be something totally new and different from what we've seen here.

What can we say about the cast? Mel Gibson and Danny Glover return to their usual roles and provide them with a satisfactory effort and work, but that does not hide that age has passed for them (as it does for everyone). I felt that Gibson's character was the target of a huge understatement: he is no longer the suicidal freak of the early films, he is a much wiser agent, and the film shows that he has learned to moderate himself. Joe Pesci seems to have been underutilized in this film, but his scenes with the two friends give us some of the most emotional moments in the film. His character also evolved, going from a bore that we had to put up with to a true unconditional friend, willing to face everything to be useful and help. I also liked the work of Jet Li, an actor that I have never seen or valued very much until now. Rene Russo shows up little and just does what he needs to do.

Technically, it's a regular movie. The bet goes to the special effects, visuals and sound, which are really good. The sets, as well as the costumes, fulfill their role well, particularly towards the end, where there are indeed some interesting sets. Cinematography doesn't stand out, but it doesn't look bad either. The soundtrack, I confess, didn't particularly catch my attention.