Martin Riggs and Roger Murtaugh pursue a former LAPD officer who uses his knowledge of police procedure and policies to steal and sell confiscated guns and ammunition to local street gangs.
With personal crises and age weighing in on them, LAPD officers Riggs and Murtaugh must contend with deadly Chinese triads that are trying to free their former leaders out of prison and onto American soil.
When a multimillionaire man's son is kidnapped, he cooperates with the police at first but then turns the tables on the kidnappers when he uses the ransom money as a reward for the capture of the kidnappers.
After a successful heist, Porter is shot by his wife and his best friend. They leave him there to die but when he recovers, he seeks revenge and wants his share of the money.
A man obsessed with conspiracy theories becomes a target after one of his theories turns out to be true. Unfortunately, in order to save himself, he has to figure out which theory it is.
John McClane and a Harlem store owner are targeted by German terrorist Simon Gruber in New York City, where he plans to rob the Federal Reserve Building.
Director:
John McTiernan
Stars:
Bruce Willis,
Jeremy Irons,
Samuel L. Jackson
Martin Riggs finally meets his match in the form of Lorna Cole, a beautiful but tough policewoman. Together with Roger Murtaugh, his partner, the three attempt to expose a crooked former policeman and his huge arms racket. The crooked cop (Jack Travis) thwarts them at every turn, mainly by killing anyone who is about to talk, but Murtaugh has personal problems of his own as his family are brought into the equation.Written by
Graeme Roy <gsr@cbmamiga.demon.co.uk>
When the building blows up at the start of the film, the roaring sound is the same roar used in King Kong (1976) for the giant ape. See more »
Goofs
When Riggs is demonstrating the cop-killer bullets on the firing range he shoots at a bullet proof vest several yards away. As the vest is being bought back to Riggs you can see the bullet hole where the bullet went through the front and back of the vest. This means it penetrated two layers of armor. At the construction site Lorna wears two vests. Travis shoots her from only a few feet away yet the bullet only penetrates one layer of armor, not two. See more »
Quotes
[Cole is taking on 5 bad guys while Riggs is subduing one]
Lorna Cole:
How are you doing, hon?
Martin Riggs:
Oh, this guy's on parole.
Lorna Cole:
And this guy's an *ASSHOLE*!
[kicks him in the groin]
See more »
Crazy Credits
The credits thank the city of St. Petersburg, Florida, where the last bomb explosion was filmed and the hotel Soreno destroyed, but they misspell the name of the city 'St. Petersberg'. See more »
Alternate Versions
The USA Director's Cut (Unrated) has about 3-4 minutes of never-before-seen extra footage including the following scenes: Trish forces Roger to wear body armor; Rianne visits Riggs, who's watching the Stooges with Sam and the Rottweiler, at his trailer, to which McGee the carpenter added the sundeck seen in Lethal Weapon 4 (1998) ; Riggs, Murtaugh, and Lorna threaten to run over Tyrone's head with a car if he didn't give up Travis. See more »
This is a great series! Actually I could stop right here because I have already said what needs to be said but just for people's enjoyment I'll elaborate a little.
The acting is, much like in the two previous films, excellent. Somehow Mel Gibson and Danny Glover never seem to get tired of each other and it shows because their playful banter never seems to get tiring to the audience. Mel Gibson is a class actor and this time around he develops the character of Martin Riggs even further than he did in the second film. He is so good at portraying emotions that the audience genuinely feels with him. When he is angry you feel his anger and when he is sad you feel sad, you get the picture. The fact that he is so versatile shows in the contrasts of the character. He is both great in action-sequences and in romantic sequences. As for Danny Glover he also does a great job in bringing his character further and he really does in this installment because you get to see the more negative sides of the character this time around. In the first two films he was the character who didn't evolve much but took pride in it. This time, because retirement is rearing its ugly head, we get to see, what I must suppose was, the facade stripped away and see Murtaugh in his raw, pure form. Joe Pesci also returns this time for the comic relief and he is still funny. There is just something about the character of Leo Getz that is incredibly entertaining. However, the best performance is perhaps done by Stuart Wilson, an incredibly underrated actor who has sadly never really achieved a commercial breakthrough. He is the villain of this film and is perhaps the best villain of the series simply because he has more depth than any other villain in the series. He is also given considerably more screen time than many of the other villains so he really has a chance to shine. Rene Russo appears in this film as Riggs new romantic interest and she may not be the most gifted actress ever to be on film but her chemistry with Mel Gibson is undeniable and her on-screen presence is pretty amazing considering that she is a new entry to the character gallery.
The story of the film is the weakest out of all the series (yes even the fourth one) and sometimes it kinda drags. Mainly, however, the story is still highly entertaining and funny. The best element of the script is the fact that villain is an ex-cop this time around and that does that the heroes can hate the villain even more because he is, aside from being a mean bastard, a traitor, almost a symbol of the back-side of the medallion.
The action of the film is just like in the two previous movies absolutely brilliant. The action is highly entertaining and well made and Mel Gibson is excellent as an action star as well as many other things.
All in all a great entry to a great series.
7/10
28 of 35 people found this review helpful.
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This is a great series! Actually I could stop right here because I have already said what needs to be said but just for people's enjoyment I'll elaborate a little.
The acting is, much like in the two previous films, excellent. Somehow Mel Gibson and Danny Glover never seem to get tired of each other and it shows because their playful banter never seems to get tiring to the audience. Mel Gibson is a class actor and this time around he develops the character of Martin Riggs even further than he did in the second film. He is so good at portraying emotions that the audience genuinely feels with him. When he is angry you feel his anger and when he is sad you feel sad, you get the picture. The fact that he is so versatile shows in the contrasts of the character. He is both great in action-sequences and in romantic sequences. As for Danny Glover he also does a great job in bringing his character further and he really does in this installment because you get to see the more negative sides of the character this time around. In the first two films he was the character who didn't evolve much but took pride in it. This time, because retirement is rearing its ugly head, we get to see, what I must suppose was, the facade stripped away and see Murtaugh in his raw, pure form. Joe Pesci also returns this time for the comic relief and he is still funny. There is just something about the character of Leo Getz that is incredibly entertaining. However, the best performance is perhaps done by Stuart Wilson, an incredibly underrated actor who has sadly never really achieved a commercial breakthrough. He is the villain of this film and is perhaps the best villain of the series simply because he has more depth than any other villain in the series. He is also given considerably more screen time than many of the other villains so he really has a chance to shine. Rene Russo appears in this film as Riggs new romantic interest and she may not be the most gifted actress ever to be on film but her chemistry with Mel Gibson is undeniable and her on-screen presence is pretty amazing considering that she is a new entry to the character gallery.
The story of the film is the weakest out of all the series (yes even the fourth one) and sometimes it kinda drags. Mainly, however, the story is still highly entertaining and funny. The best element of the script is the fact that villain is an ex-cop this time around and that does that the heroes can hate the villain even more because he is, aside from being a mean bastard, a traitor, almost a symbol of the back-side of the medallion.
The action of the film is just like in the two previous movies absolutely brilliant. The action is highly entertaining and well made and Mel Gibson is excellent as an action star as well as many other things.
All in all a great entry to a great series.
7/10