Lethal weapon 4 opens with one of two WTF scenes. Riggs and Murtaugh come across a man dressed like Iron Man, randomly shooting a flame thrower at cars and buildings. Upon Riggs's suggestion, Murtaugh undresses to his underwear and flaps his arms to distract the pyromaniac, while Riggs shoots him?

The movie then switches to Riggs and Murtaugh fishing on Murtaugh's boat at night. Getz is, for some reason, with them. They just happen to get rammed by a large boat smuggling illegal Chinese aliens into the United States. Among the illegal aliens is a man who is being brought in by some gangsters to help with forging Chinese money.

Illegal aliens is the social issue of this movie. Noted liberal, Glover, has this over-the-top line where he defends illegal aliens by saying, "What happened to bring me your tired, your poor, your wretched masses yearning to be free?" An over weight white guy responds, "Now it reads, No Vacancies." Glover, riding proudly atop his high horse, sarcastically states, "I guess your parents were native American?" Chinese can come here Glover, they just need to take the legal steps that everyone else has to.

Like a Democrat making a speech on borders, this film never actually calls them "illegal" aliens. After Riggs discovers that Murtaugh is sheltering a Chinese family in his home, he does inform him that his actions are in fact, illegal. Murtaugh then defends his crime by saying, "I am freeing slaves like no one did for my ancestors." The only dig from the right is when a politician, who supplies some Chinese with fake documents, tells a Chinese man to tell the illegal aliens to vote for the incumbent President, (Bill Clinton). Conservatists have long accused the left of giving favors to illegals aliens for just that reason.

Glover and Gibson still have that camaraderie going that made the series so successful. However, like any number of 70's, 80's Burt Reynolds films, Glover and Gibson seem to be having more fun than the audience. Chris Rock plays the role of a rookie detective, who is secretly married to Murtaugh's daughter. He tries to be nice to Murtaugh as he is now his father-in-law. Murtaugh takes his kindness to mean he is gay. Several scenes are played for laughs on this subject but none are that funny. Murtaugh has got to be one of the worst detectives of all time. He breaks the law, and has no clue his own daughter is married.

Jet Li is around to amp up the action, and he succeeds. Had the movie spent more time on him, and less on the humor, this movie could have better distracted me from it's leftist politics. Although I liked the comic tension when Riggs and Lorna discuss marriage, did Rock and Pesci really have to do a "cell phones fuck you everytime" routine? Do not get me started on the dentist office, laughing gas scene!

As for the second WTF scene; Riggs and Murtaugh are in a highway car chase. The elevated highway goes around a tall building. Murtaugh and Riggs jump their car off the highway, crash through the glass wall of the building, drive across the office space, sending countless people to run for their lives, crash through the other side of the building to land back on the highway, and continue the pursuit. As Scott would write, they jumped the shark. At one time I thought another sequel would be a good idea. Now I think it is best to let this sleeping dog lie.

↑Back to Top↑