Lethal Weapon 4 (1998)

With personal crises and age weighing in on them, LAPD officers Riggs and Murtaugh must contend with a deadly Chinese crimelord trying to get his brother out of prison.

Director:

Richard Donner

Writers:

Shane Black (characters), Jonathan Lemkin (story),

Stars:

Mel Gibson, Danny Glover, Joe Pesci

4 wins & 10 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Mel Gibson	...	Martin Riggs
Danny Glover	...	Roger Murtaugh
Joe Pesci	...	Leo Getz
Rene Russo	...	Lorna Cole
Chris Rock	...	Detective Lee Butters
Jet Li	...	Wah Sing Ku
Steve Kahan	...	Captain Ed Murphy
Kim Chan	...	Benny 'Uncle Benny' Chan
Darlene Love	...	Trish Murtaugh
Traci Wolfe	...	Rianne Murtaugh Butters
Eddy Ko	...	Hong, Chinese Refugee
Jack Kehler	...	State Department Man
Calvin Jung	...	Detective Ng
Damon Hines	...	Nick Murtaugh
Ebonie Smith	...	Carrie Murtaugh

Storyline

Martin Riggs and Roger Murtaugh, after escaping death from the previous movies are put on a hit list by The Triads. When blood thirsty mercenaries are on their tail they team up again with Leo Getz and Lorna Cole, a newcomer (Chris Rock) to finally put an end to the Triads for good.

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Plot Keywords:

triad | private investigator | immigrant | lapd | baby | 

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Taglines:

Next summer is lethal.

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence and language

Details

Official Sites:

Warner Bros. [United States]

Country:

USA

Language:

English Cantonese Mandarin

Release Date:

10 July 1998 (USA)

Also Known As:

Lethal 4

Filming Locations:

Bradbury Building - 304 S. Broadway, Downtown, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$140,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£2,049,606 (UK) (18 September 1998)

Gross:

$129,734,803 (USA) (30 October 1998)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros., Silver Pictures, Donner/Shuler-Donner Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

127 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Chris Tucker, Will Smith, Eddie Murphy, and Larenz Tate were considered for the role of Lee Butters.

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Goofs

During the massive fight scene, Roger's gun fires 7-9 shots, and his pistol is supposedly a six-shot Smith & Wesson revolver.

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Quotes

Martin Riggs: What's goin' on Rog, why you lyin' to me? Where's the money coming from? IA says you're on the take.
Roger Murtaugh: You ever hear of Ebony Clarke?
Martin Riggs: Yeah, she writes those cheesy sex novels... why? You boinkin' her?
Roger Murtaugh: No I'm not boinkin' her, Trish is Ebony Clarke.
Martin Riggs: You *are* boinkin' her.
Roger Murtaugh: [big grin] Yeah, Yeah I'm boinkin' her.

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Crazy Credits

The previous Lethal Weapon movies, Lethal Weapon, Lethal Weapon 2, and Lethal Weapon 3, are featured in the end credits as film stills.

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Connections

Referenced in HBO First Look: Making 'Romeo Must Die' (2000)

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Soundtracks

"Fire in the Hole"
Written by Van Halen
Produced by Mike Post and Edward Van Halen (as Eddie Van Halen)
Performed by Van Halen
Courtesy of Warner Bros. Records Inc.
By Arrangement with Warner Special Products

User Reviews

The fourth installment in the now huge Lethal Weapon series has no shortage of action, but it just doesn't have the high quality of the last three.

By this point in the series, it seems that they just aren't trying as hard with these films, which is kind of a shame. The Lethal Weapon series is really a good group of action films, but part 4 doesn't really seem to take itself seriously. It clearly had the biggest budget and probably some of the most elaborate stunts and action scenes (as well as some of the most exciting, such as that thrilling freeway chase scene), but many of the other elements of the film have deteriorated badly.

I think that with the addition of Chris Rock, while he delivered a satisfactory performance as far as the role that he was playing, caused the film to detract into too much goofy comedy, which unnecessarily diverted attention away from the surprisingly interesting smuggling plot involving illegal Chinese immigrants and counterfeit money. Joe Pesci was just as funny as ever, which is probably the reason the Chris Rock actually took away from the film as a whole. Pesci is all the comic relief that a Lethal Weapon movie ever needed, and Rock is another substantial addition of comic relief that just isn't necessary.

Danny Glover and Mel Gibson work great together for the fourth time; I'm beginning to wonder if they couldn't go on with this great duo forever. And of course, Renee Russo is back, with her and Riggs picking up with their quirky relationship, right where they left off at the end of part 3. But the person who really steals the whole show is Jet Li. Man, I thought Jackie Chan was fun to watch! Even though it's not all exactly real, this guy pulls out some unbelievable martial arts moves that give Lethal Weapon 4 a much-needed boost of energy. I wonder how long it will be before Jet Li and Jackie Chan come out with a movie together. Probably never, because if they worked together, no one could touch them, and if they were enemies, neither of them would be able to end up as the loser or the bad guy. Oh well, we can still hope, right? Even though the 4th installment in the Lethal Weapon series is not nearly as good as any of the previous three, it still remains a quality action film, despite its many weaknesses.