Lethal Weapon 4 1998 Film Starring Danny Glover

Riggs and Murtaugh Return to the LA Streets for the Final Time

Sep 16, 2009

Riggs is getting old, and his partner Murtaugh is already old enough to retire. The final chapter of their partnership pits them against martial arts Triad Wah Sing Ku

Martin Riggs and Roger Murtaugh are both getting old. This time around they find themselves dealing with a band of vicious Triads. Both have growing families and Riggs has to contend with becoming a father whilst Murtaugh is about to become a grandfather.

Lethal Weapon 4 opens with a man running around downtown LA with a flamethrower and Martin Riggs along with his partner Roger Murtaugh (Mel Gibson and Danny Glover) are on the scene. During the disturbance Riggs informs his partner that his daughter Rianne (Traci Wolfe reprising her role from previous films) is pregnant. At the same time Murtaugh tells Riggs that his long-term girlfriend Lorna Cole (Rene Russo) is also pregnant with his child.

Nearly nine months later the pair, along with Leo Getz (Joe Pesci), begin an investigation into a Chinese immigrant smuggling ring which begins after they capture a ship with a cargo hold full of men and women to be used as slave labour. After finding a Chinese family adrift in a floating dinghy Murtaugh ‘rescues’ them and allows them to stay in his house.

During their investigation the pair encounters a high-ranking Triad negotiator named Wah Sing Ku (played by Jet Li). Ku is attempting to secure the release of four high ranking Triad members named the Four Fathers.

Joining Murtaugh and Riggs is the enthusiastic young cop Lee Butters (Chris Rock), who has secretly married Rianne and is the father of her child. Riggs knows the truth about who Butters’ is, but delights in convincing Murtaugh that Butters might be attracted to him.

The film revolves around Murtaugh and Riggs as they try to uncover who the Four Fathers really are and what Ku’s interest in them is.

End of an Era

The Lethal Weapon films began the mismatched buddy action comedy genre that has since been done again and again with varying degrees of success. However, after two terrific first films, it was sadly inevitable that the franchise would run out of steam.

Lethal Weapon 4 continues the retreading of the traditional formula with the cops verses some nasty bad guys. But once again there is nothing unique about this edition of the franchise. The growing cast all return to reprise their roles and director Richard Donner also returns once more.

This was the first Hollywood film to star Jet Li, (originally the role was meant for Jackie Chan but he didn’t wish to tarnish his reputation by playing a bad guy) and unfortunately he is cast as the bad guy which means that he is either going to be arrested or killed. Sadly the ageing duo should not have been the ones to be given the task of taking down a man who is capable of fighting a room full of black belts without getting a scratch (Kiss of the Dragon).

Lethal Weapon 4 is the weakest of a franchise that was starting run out of steam with the third film. Nothing about Lethal Weapon 4 sets it apart from any other cop-buddy film. Fans of the franchise will enjoy watching the ever reliable duo of Gibson and Glover arguing their way through another adventure but this film does not have the original feel of Lethal Weapon or its first sequel.

Jet Li fans will be outraged to see one of the finest martial arts actors in the world meeting his maker at the hands of two aging heroes.

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