I recently did a Lethal Weapon marathon, mostly because I was wondering how come no one talks about these films anymore. After having seen them... I know now. It's one thing to have Testosterone running through a film - but one also gotta know when to put a cork on it. These films don't. And then they get worse.
Lethal Weapon (1987)
Easily the worst of the lot. Gibson and Glover are just settling into their roles, and the chemistry is in its earliest stages. Just action scenes and gunfire. The film tries to pass Gibson's character off as crazy but he isn't, he's just obnoxious and gets more obnoxious with every sequel. Gary Busey is the main villain in this one but he's just phoning in his act, unlike various other villain roles he's done.
Lethal Weapon 2 (1989)
This one is passable because the villain backstory (drug dealers hiding behind the South African government, plus apartheid) has some weight to it, and also because it has Joe Pesci as Leo Getz who makes a wonderful addition to the Glover/Gibson chemistry. While the film does get stupid it never goes overboard with it, which sadly cannot be said for the other films.
Lethal Weapon 3 (1992)
This film is just Too Stupid for its own good. Plot holes, over-the-top senseless destruction, a two-bit bad guy no one even remembers and horrible one-liners. The One troll is solely there because of Leo Getz and the chemistry he brings. Otherwise this is a prime example of "Too Stupid Action Film" - not even Schwarzenegger ever sank this low.
Lethal Weapon 4 (1998)
And the derp goes on. Chris Rock's character is obnoxiously unfunny on his own, but at least he mixes well with some of the other cast, especially Pesci. The saving grace of this film is the main villain (Jet Li) who refuses to sink to the level of the heroes' japes and hi-jinks, staying cool and stoic and yet menacing and ultimately quite dangerous. One troll just for the final fight of the film, which is quite good.
I can understand that these films are part of the "80s/90s action film"-school, and that many of those haven't aged well...but the truth of the matter is that these are bad films. It's a long series of somewhat disjointed action sequences and explosions, with miniscule portions of character development and far too many bad jokes.
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