Lethal Weapon 4

I know I'm flying in the face of popular opinion, but I reckon that the final, to date, entry in this series is also the best.

Over the past three films, things have been getting progressively sillier, and this one is quite unashamedly the silliest.

Sure, some of it is borderline too silly. Murtaugh strutting around like a chicken. Murtaugh hiding illegal immigrants in his house. Murtaugh not knowing of his own daughter's wedding. As the series' straight man, Danny Glover is working overtime here.

So maybe the reason for this instalment's unpopularity is because too much silliness just isn't what Lethal Weapon fans want?

There are some great action sequences in here, the best of which must surely be the huge motorway chase, which even continues through a building for a while. (I guess the road bent round a bit)

But for all that wild mayhem, there is also a disappointing tendency throughout this to, cough, draw-in a wider demographic.

For example, that woman who was oh-so-tough in the last movie is back, and sure enough, she spends the whole of this one in the kitchen, pregnant and wanting to get married. Eurghhhhhh.

Worse, this cop action movie is also mystifyingly a double-pregnancy comedy, as Murtaugh's daughter gives birth at pretty much the same time. This is surely not what fans of the first three guy-movies were hoping for.

The climax, in which Murtaugh saves Riggs from drowning, is more low-key than the usual spectacular finale, but without exception, every scene that follows feels like a whole different genre.

Out of nowhere, there's a wishy-washy scene with Getz and Riggs by the latter's wife's grave. Getz spills a story about his childhood loneliness, and Riggs realises that, hey, Getz is his guardian angel. Whu?

Then at the hospital Getz and Riggs are rushing the latter's woman into maternity. This is odd because Murtaugh is so conspicuous by his absence. Surely at the conclusion of this buddy series the angle is supposed to be that those two, after everything, are still mates throughout the years? Did Danny Glover refuse to shoot these chickflick scenes or something?

Finally, the whole cast, including their boss, assembles at the hospital with their two newborn babies, and pose for a big happy photograph together. When asked if they are all friends, they all chant in unison, "No, we're family!" As if it couldn't get any more Disney, the closing credits roll over a photo album! Of the series being filmed with cameramen and everything!

Now I don’t mind any of the above. In fact, I enjoyed it. As I said at the start, I found this to be the best of the four Lethal Weapon flicks, but let's face it, cop-action really isn't my genre, so it's not really for me.

I acknowledge that the high comedy here, which I like, is a far cry from the tortured friendship performances of the first movie, but in all fairness, I think that ship sailed with 2.

Lethal Weapon 5? Only if Gibson and Glover are in it. Otherwise, please, just be honest and call it something else.

Review of Lethal Weapon here
Review of Lethal Weapon 2 here
Review of Lethal Weapon 3 here