| Overall Grade: |
A- |
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| Story: |
B+ |
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| Acting: |
A- |
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| Direction: |
B+ |
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| Visuals: |
B+ |
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Three time the action, suspense, and laughs!
by Matthew (movies profile)
Dec 29, 2007
With the success of the first lethal weapon films, there was no clue that a third installment would come into play in the buddy-cop franchise that clearly re-defied the action genre. I remember going to see this film on my 9th birthday, yet I can not understand why my parents thought I could handle seeing an R-rated picture but I guess they knew that I was growing into an action fan so they assumed that I could handle whatever the film had to offer. This was the first Lethal Weapon film I managed to see on screen then six years later I saw the fourth and final installment to the franchise. So far, this film stands at being far superior than Lethal 1 and 2 with the on-going action-packed mayhem and chaos stirred by Gibson and Glover as well as the return of motor-mouth Joe Pesci; who alreday established himself in the previous Lethal film and delievered a good laughable performance in 90's Home Alone. Another great addition to the film is sexy Rene Russo; who plays Gibson's new love interest. Stuart Wilson does a splendid task in playing the film's central villain as he potrays an ex-cop running a black market arms deal on the streets of L.A. with Gibson and Glover hot on his trail. Lethal Weapon 3 is a stand out action comedy that delivers great action, splendid performances, and fine directing by veteran director Richard Donner.
In this third chapter to the action packed franchise; L.A. street cops Riggs and Murtaugh are hot on the trail of a corrupt Ex-police officer Jack Travis; who is running a huge arms racket in the streets of L.A. This time paired up with them is internal affairs officer Lorna Cole; who surprising turns out to be a splendid match to Riggs. Things take a drastic turn when Murtaugh is preparing to retire from police duty in less than a week, but has problems giving up his honor after he guns down his son's best friend Darrell Smither in a police shoot out. Guilt ridden and unable to resume his duties as a police officer, Murtaugh tries to drink himself to death, but after a little help from Riggs he realize that they must go after Travis; who was responsible for putting the gun in Darrell's hands. Can Riggs and Murtaugh stop travis and bring him to justice, and can Murtaugh come to terms with his commitment as a Police Officer and pass on his retirement?
Lethal Weapon 3 was one the best films in 1992 and one of the best action films to ever explode onto the screen in the early 90s from its grand departure from the late 1980s. Gibson and Glover again deliver fine performances as the buddy cop duo who take on their biggest challenge in form of illegal arms selling and this time they even bring in a female cop to raise the stakes on the bad guys. I thought actress Rene Russo did a terrific job in playing the tough police woman Lorna Cole as well as a love interest for Gibson's character; who went out of his mind after loosing his first wife in the original film and then turn mad dog when he lost his second chance at love in the previous installment. I guess you can say that director Richard Donner had this planned out from the beginning when he originally wanted to hold out on giving Gibson's character a love interest until he felt he had the audience waiting long enough. What is surprising in this film is how things are reversed around for the characters of Riggs and Murtaugh, for instance when Murtaugh is feeling guilty in shooting his son's best friend and turns to living in depression on the bottle his partner Riggs shows up to help him deal with his pain very much to how Murtaugh helped Riggs in his pain when he lost his wife in the first film. That is the thing that makes these films so interesting, is that the two cops work together in not only keeping the streets safe, but always looking out for one another and help deal with one another's pain as means to their friendship. Riggs is a loner who has nobody but Murtaugh as a friend and Murtaugh has his family and his friend as the only two things that keeps him going as a police officer. With the addition of Lorna Cole, she sums up to being the perfect match as a love interest to Riggs since he has never had much luck with women due to his past war experience, and his job as a gonzo law enforcement officer. One can say that the character of Lorna Cole comes in just in time to save Riggs from going on another loose canon chase like he done in the previous Lethal films. As the loud mouth Leo Getz, he is just down right annoying who just wants to get in on the action, even though he sees Riggs and Murtaugh as the only friends he has in his life as he passes on being a real estate agent other than a deputy dog. Point is that Lethal Weapon 3 is just flat out great with three times the action, suspense, and laughs. No collection, no trilogy is complete without this milestone action comedy that shaped the face of the buddy cop genre. |
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