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.
Can a Batman movie be directed by anybody? Not necessarily. Let's travel through the lens to break down the artistic chops director Matt Reeves will need for his take on The Batman.
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>
The lines between Riggs and Lorna about "semantics" and "some antics" were originally filmed inside Lorna's car. See more »
Goofs
A Lincoln Town Car, Chrysler New Yorker and blue Oldsmobile appear at least three times each in different spots on the freeway during the motorcycle pursuit. See more »
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 »
Latin Lingo
Written by Lawrence Muggerud, Louis Freeze and Senen Reyes
Performed by Cypress Hill
Courtesy of Ruffhouse / Columbia Records by arrangement with
Sony Music Licensing See more »
The signs of aging could shine through in "Lethal Weapon 3," but they don't. Because - magically - the series doesn't seem to be aging too much. Why? Because the series is always changing. It is smart, in that it realizes it cannot continue with the cop-buddy action-comedy formula per se, so it almost becomes more of a strict comedy with some big stunt pieces and looney fights. Sure, there's plenty of action, but it's not as fierce of bruising or just downright vicious as in the first two films. When there are fight scenes they seem a bit more corny than before. This is a more lighthearted entry into the series, and though you could say without seeing the film that soft is not what "Lethal Weapon" is about, just remember how tiring it would have been seeing a repeat of the second and first film.
Martin Riggs (Mel Gibson) and Roger Murtaugh (Danny Glover) are back. The film opens with an explosive prelude that has become the symbol of the "Lethal Weapon" movies (later films such as "Bad Boys" - another cop-buddy film - tried to use the same technique but, in my opinion, sort of failed).
After the opening sequence, in which they try to diffuse a bomb in a parking garage but end up tripping the detonator instead, the two men are demoted from Sergeants to regular cops - they walk the streets in boredom giving out tickets to J-walkers and trying to find a way to have some fun.
Murtaugh is bent on retiring - again - in a week. Riggs, now his best-buddy, tries to ignore the fact as best he can by cracking jokes about girdles. (Don't ask.) While walking the streets they come upon an armored van robbery (what are the chances?) and stop the crooks through a windy car chase along a highway, with a reference to "The Road Warrior" along the way. (And if you don't understand that joke, you don't belong on this site.)
Plot revelation upon plot revelation finally builds up into the fact that new weapons are filling the streets - "cop killers" - that can go right through a bulletproof vest and out the other side. Brought in to investigate into these matters is Lorna Cole (Rene Russo), a woman after Riggs' own heart. She kicks butt, pays no attention to rules, and is a smart...bottom.
Also returning is Joe Pesci to the role of Leo Getz. His head full of bleached hair and sporting a nice car, the retired thief is now in real estate, trying to sell Murtaugh's home to interested folk. One of the best scenes is when Getz is taking a couple through Murtaugh's home and mentions all the different accidents they've had over the year, including the car smashing through the wall and "accidental bomb damage" upstairs. He later says it's illegal to withhold information. And this is coming from the guy who, in "Lethal 2," admitted to laundering drug money.
"Lethal Weapon 3" is full of fun, good intentions, and more fun. For fans of the first two films this is a great relief - it's not nearly as bad as you're expecting it to be. However, there are more than a handful of flaws here. The plot is not nearly as realistic nor intriguing as the first two, the action is a bit too dumbed down at times, and overall the film seems more like a big-budget extravaganza as compared to the smartness of the first two. Still, you really can't go wrong with "Lethal Weapon 3," because if you enjoyed the first two, you're going to eat this up.
4/5 stars.
John Ulmer
11 of 21 people found this review helpful.
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The signs of aging could shine through in "Lethal Weapon 3," but they don't. Because - magically - the series doesn't seem to be aging too much. Why? Because the series is always changing. It is smart, in that it realizes it cannot continue with the cop-buddy action-comedy formula per se, so it almost becomes more of a strict comedy with some big stunt pieces and looney fights. Sure, there's plenty of action, but it's not as fierce of bruising or just downright vicious as in the first two films. When there are fight scenes they seem a bit more corny than before. This is a more lighthearted entry into the series, and though you could say without seeing the film that soft is not what "Lethal Weapon" is about, just remember how tiring it would have been seeing a repeat of the second and first film.
Martin Riggs (Mel Gibson) and Roger Murtaugh (Danny Glover) are back. The film opens with an explosive prelude that has become the symbol of the "Lethal Weapon" movies (later films such as "Bad Boys" - another cop-buddy film - tried to use the same technique but, in my opinion, sort of failed).
After the opening sequence, in which they try to diffuse a bomb in a parking garage but end up tripping the detonator instead, the two men are demoted from Sergeants to regular cops - they walk the streets in boredom giving out tickets to J-walkers and trying to find a way to have some fun.
Murtaugh is bent on retiring - again - in a week. Riggs, now his best-buddy, tries to ignore the fact as best he can by cracking jokes about girdles. (Don't ask.) While walking the streets they come upon an armored van robbery (what are the chances?) and stop the crooks through a windy car chase along a highway, with a reference to "The Road Warrior" along the way. (And if you don't understand that joke, you don't belong on this site.)
Plot revelation upon plot revelation finally builds up into the fact that new weapons are filling the streets - "cop killers" - that can go right through a bulletproof vest and out the other side. Brought in to investigate into these matters is Lorna Cole (Rene Russo), a woman after Riggs' own heart. She kicks butt, pays no attention to rules, and is a smart...bottom.
Also returning is Joe Pesci to the role of Leo Getz. His head full of bleached hair and sporting a nice car, the retired thief is now in real estate, trying to sell Murtaugh's home to interested folk. One of the best scenes is when Getz is taking a couple through Murtaugh's home and mentions all the different accidents they've had over the year, including the car smashing through the wall and "accidental bomb damage" upstairs. He later says it's illegal to withhold information. And this is coming from the guy who, in "Lethal 2," admitted to laundering drug money.
"Lethal Weapon 3" is full of fun, good intentions, and more fun. For fans of the first two films this is a great relief - it's not nearly as bad as you're expecting it to be. However, there are more than a handful of flaws here. The plot is not nearly as realistic nor intriguing as the first two, the action is a bit too dumbed down at times, and overall the film seems more like a big-budget extravaganza as compared to the smartness of the first two. Still, you really can't go wrong with "Lethal Weapon 3," because if you enjoyed the first two, you're going to eat this up.
4/5 stars.