Retro Film Review: Lethal Weapon 3 (1992)
Long-lasting film franchises owe its success less to the quality of the original film and more to the adaptability of the sequels. This lesson was apparently learned by makers of Lethal Weapon 3, 1992 action comedy directed by Richard Donner and third instalment of popular film series.
The plot begins with two LAPD detectives - Roger Murtaugh (played by Danny Glover) and Martin Riggs (played by Mel Gibson) - making a mistake that would result in entire office building turned into rubble. They pay for that mistake by being demoted to patrolman duties. On the job they accidentally foil robbery, but their subsequent investigation is foiled when their prime suspect gets killed in the middle of police station. That brings attention of Internal Affairs detective Lorna Cole (played by Renee Russo) who suspects Murtaugh and Riggs might be corrupt. In the end it turns out that the real culprit is Jack Travis (played by Stuart Wilson), former LAPD officer turned arms smuggler. Travis' most valuable merchandise are guns equipped with so-called "cop killer" Teflon bullets, able to penetrate policeman's body armour. While Riggs cooperates with Cole because he starts liking attractive policewoman, Murtaugh has more personal reasons for bringing Travis down - he had shot dead his son's friend, apparently armed with Travis' weapon.
While the first instalment of the series was dark and sometimes even disturbing thriller, the third belonged more to the genre of action comedy. Complexed and tortured character of Riggs is softened not only with another romantic plot, but also with hints of Riggs gaining family bliss just like his friend and character opposite Murtaugh. At the same time, scriptwriters Jeffrey Boam and Robert Mark Kamen revert the original formula and allow Murtaugh to turn psychotic while gentler and kinder Riggs must bring him back from the edge of sanity. All that works to a certain degree. There is a lot of humour in this film, although many of the gags are of self-referential nature. Director Donner also allows some time to be spent for mild political commentary - few scenes in the film are explicitly blaming guns as the source of crime and social ailments, while LAPD is not particularly well-presented in time which coincided with Rodney King riots.
What doesn't work in this film is plot. Villain, played by Stuart Wilson, is almost inexcusably bland, at least compared with the nasty people Murtaugh and Riggs had to contend in previous two instalments. Even the way villain and his henchmen are dealt with leaves much to be desired. The most memorable scene in the film - Riggs and Case comparing their pasts – doesn't have much to do with action, and that is a bad sign for a film which is supposed to belong to action genre. That is, however, compensated with humour and Lethal Weapon 3, although the worst of all four movies, is satisfying enough not only for the fans of franchise.
RATING: 5/10 (++)
(Note: The text in its original form was posted in Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.films.reviews on March 9th 2004)
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