Review of Lethal Weapon 4 (1998) by Maineutral R — 19 Jun 2014

Yeah, it doesn't have the conviction of the first movie, it certainly doesn't take the plot seriously, but, at this point ¿What were you expecting? If there's Jet Li, there's gotta be some spectacle to exploit him. Lethal Weapon 4 is my favorite sequel of the series, with constant action scenes and even some ridiculously spectacular ones too to show the franchise's final efforts to capitalize on itself. It was fun, and that's the least I expect from a movie with this cast and director.

Lethal 4 is by no means the less flawed of the franchise; probably it's the most troublesome about it. Nevertheless, at this point all I'm expecting is huge fun, even if it is ridiculous. If there's people that like Rocky IV, easily there's people that like Lethal 4, and I'm part of them. Yeah, I kinda hate Rocky IV, but I can't help it. In Lethal 4 I do find some reasons to love it more than hate it. Maybe it's because it does entertain me legitimately, or because Glover and Gibson still had it as Murtaugh and Riggs, or because their characters do face new facets of their lives: Riggs is dealing with marrying once more, and not only that, also becoming a father, while Murtaugh is dealing with becoming a grandfather and father-in-law of a person he's not very friendly with. In Rocky IV, the characters didn't evolve and didn't go anywhere they already went through. Here, in Lethal 4, they actually face new things, both also dealing with getting too old for this shit. This is also the longest of the series, running two hours and 7 minutes. Those were two hours and seven minutes of my life I don't regret spending here. I had fun, big fun, and I liked it.

Maybe I'm either too young or too old for this shit, but I liked this final entry in the series. You know there are worse out there, and I think this one holds itself as one of those final entries that we can love. It has action and fun, no strings attached. A bit more conviction from the first movie would have made this the best in the series, but for what it is, I was satisfied. Lethal 4 goes out with a bang, and it's one of my favorite action movies...and also one of the most ridiculous.