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Lethal Weapon 4 was a movie made in a very limited time frame. Many scenes of the script were written as the movie was being made! How is Lethal Weapon 4 for being the fourth movie in a series? Danny Glover and Mel Gibson get promotions in their jobs. At home, Danny Glover is sheltering some Chinese refugees. Mel Gibson find out about a sinister plot involving bad Chinese guys making counterfeit money and, with the help of Danny Glover, Joe Pesci, and Chris Rock, fight against Jet Li in a very long fight scene. Length is a big problem with Lethal Weapon 4. The whole opening sequence of the movie, which, including the boat part, takes up 20 or 30 minutes, has nothing to do with the rest of the movie. Even though the end of the boat sequence leads into an action scene that deals with the plot, everything before then (the scene where Mel Gibson and Danny Glover fight a flame-throwing maniac, a scene where Joe Pesci is freaked out by a fake-looking shark, Mel Gibson and Danny Glover blabbing to each other on the boat) is pointless! Chris Rock brings some funny lines to the movie while Jet Li improves the quality of the action scenes he's in, but the movie drags at times and feels like a long epic when it's just supposed to be a summer popcorn movie! Part of the problem is having so many characters that are good guys: Mel Gibson, Danny Glover, Chris Rock, Joe Pesci, and Rene Russo. The story is a bit unwieldy and the final fight scene, while proving how much Jet Li can kick Mel Gibson's ass, last forever. Lethal Weapon 4 is better than a typical fourth entry in a franchise, but it's not as good as some of the earlier Lethal Weapons. I give Lethal Weapon 4 **1/2 out of ****. |