Director Richard Donner's "Lethal Weapon 3" qualifies as a sloppily-scripted, slam-bang actioneer with all the subtlety of a brick through a plate glass window. Nevertheless, if you aren't too picky about its problems, "Lethal Weapon 3" can be a lot of fun to watch. Mel Gibson reprises his role as the looney Sgt. Martin Riggs along with Danny Glover as his partner Sgt. Roger Murtaugh. When the movie opens, we learn that Murtaugh has eight days to go before he retires from the LAPD. Staying alive that long around his crazy partner, Sgt. Murtaugh realizes, will take a miracle.
"Lethal Weapon 3" desperately needs more than a miracle. What is needs is a good plot and a villain you can love to hate. The second sequel in this entertaining police series as not as potent as its predecessors. If anything, "Lethal Weapon 3" is a third less filling. "Lethal Weapon 2" scenarist Jeffrey Boam appears to be running low on fresh ideas. He looks like he borrowed the plot from the 1974 John Sturges' movie "McQ," with John Wayne. This time around the bad guy is a dirty, ex-cop selling contraband machine guns to black street gangsters so as to encourage white families to migrate from the suburbs to the desert sands where he's erecting a new housing development.
Stuart Wilson of "No Escape" plays Jack Travis as a despicable, audacious, greedy, no-holds-barred bad guy. Compared with psycho villain Gary Busey in the original "Lethal Weapon" or urbane Joss Ackland as the South African politician Arjen 'Aryan' Rudd with diplomatic immunity in "Lethal Weapon 2," Wilson is a bad guy, not an S.O.B. When Riggs finally ices him, you don't feel like leaping to your feet and applauding his demise like Ackland's death in "Lethal Weapon 2."
Donner substitutes gags for gunplay. You spend more than half of the time laughing at the jokes than ducking the bullets. In the opening gambit, Riggs and Murtaugh fudge with a bomb and flatten an entire building. As the dust and debris settle, the bomb squad arrives. No, our heroes aren't booted off the force. Instead, they are demoted to wearing uniforms and walking a beat. While they're in uniform, they spot a bogus armored car and thwart a robbery. Riggs stumbles onto deadly red armored piercing bullets that can penetrate a bullet-proof vest as if it were Kleenex. Suddenly, the guys find themselves up to their eyes in a classified Internal Affairs investigation headed by newcomer Rene Russo as Lorna Cole. Finally, the Teflon-coated Riggs meets his female match. Russo is a tough-as-nails karate chopping detective with the scars to prove it. The movie's best scene has Riggs and Cole comparing their scars and bullet holes. That's the problem with "Lethal Weapon 3," there is no nail-gun scene like in "Lethal Weapon 2" or the suicide jump in "Lethal Weapon."
The third time certainly is not the charm for the guys here. Nothing truly memorable happens. Joe Pesci returns as motor-mouthed Leo Getz, but he spends most of his time running off-screen errands or literally being the butt of Gibson's jokes. The movie takes a sobering turn when Murtaugh has to kill a 15-year old black gang member who was his son's friend. Murtaugh launches a personal crusade to track down Jack Travis, not only because he is selling guns to minors but also marketing cop-killer slugs. The final third of the action is one long chase, first through the L.A. subway onto the L.A. freeway, and evening into Travis' half-built housing complex.
Donner, who helmed the first two "Lethal Weapon" movies" as well as "Superman" and "The Omen," is no slouch when it comes to action scenes. Although "Lethal Weapon 3" is a letdown, you won't know it while you're watching its madcap action. Donner supercharges the pace with so much kinetic energy that you forget that it's all been done before. The freeway chase here is straight out of William Friedkin "To Let & Die In L.A" with fewer vehicles on the road.
The best thing about "Lethal Weapon 3" is the chemistry between Gibson and Glover. They learn this time out how inseparable they are as partners. Gibson is just as nutty here as he was in the previous "Lethal Weapon" movies. Glover tries to break his partner of his cigarette habit by getting him to eat doggie biscuits. Turns out that Riggs likes the doggie biscuits and cannot get enough of them. Part of the problem with "Lethal Weapon 3" is that neither Gibson nor Glover ever appear to be in jeopardy. You cannot worry about the heroes catching lead if you're laughing your butt off.
Nevertheless, for all its faults, "Lethal Weapon 3" is a lot of fun. If you can suffer through the lengthy end credits, Donner and company have a hilarious joke for you.
"Lethal Weapon 3" desperately needs more than a miracle. What is needs is a good plot and a villain you can love to hate. The second sequel in this entertaining police series as not as potent as its predecessors. If anything, "Lethal Weapon 3" is a third less filling. "Lethal Weapon 2" scenarist Jeffrey Boam appears to be running low on fresh ideas. He looks like he borrowed the plot from the 1974 John Sturges' movie "McQ," with John Wayne. This time around the bad guy is a dirty, ex-cop selling contraband machine guns to black street gangsters so as to encourage white families to migrate from the suburbs to the desert sands where he's erecting a new housing development.
Stuart Wilson of "No Escape" plays Jack Travis as a despicable, audacious, greedy, no-holds-barred bad guy. Compared with psycho villain Gary Busey in the original "Lethal Weapon" or urbane Joss Ackland as the South African politician Arjen 'Aryan' Rudd with diplomatic immunity in "Lethal Weapon 2," Wilson is a bad guy, not an S.O.B. When Riggs finally ices him, you don't feel like leaping to your feet and applauding his demise like Ackland's death in "Lethal Weapon 2."
Donner substitutes gags for gunplay. You spend more than half of the time laughing at the jokes than ducking the bullets. In the opening gambit, Riggs and Murtaugh fudge with a bomb and flatten an entire building. As the dust and debris settle, the bomb squad arrives. No, our heroes aren't booted off the force. Instead, they are demoted to wearing uniforms and walking a beat. While they're in uniform, they spot a bogus armored car and thwart a robbery. Riggs stumbles onto deadly red armored piercing bullets that can penetrate a bullet-proof vest as if it were Kleenex. Suddenly, the guys find themselves up to their eyes in a classified Internal Affairs investigation headed by newcomer Rene Russo as Lorna Cole. Finally, the Teflon-coated Riggs meets his female match. Russo is a tough-as-nails karate chopping detective with the scars to prove it. The movie's best scene has Riggs and Cole comparing their scars and bullet holes. That's the problem with "Lethal Weapon 3," there is no nail-gun scene like in "Lethal Weapon 2" or the suicide jump in "Lethal Weapon."
The third time certainly is not the charm for the guys here. Nothing truly memorable happens. Joe Pesci returns as motor-mouthed Leo Getz, but he spends most of his time running off-screen errands or literally being the butt of Gibson's jokes. The movie takes a sobering turn when Murtaugh has to kill a 15-year old black gang member who was his son's friend. Murtaugh launches a personal crusade to track down Jack Travis, not only because he is selling guns to minors but also marketing cop-killer slugs. The final third of the action is one long chase, first through the L.A. subway onto the L.A. freeway, and evening into Travis' half-built housing complex.
Donner, who helmed the first two "Lethal Weapon" movies" as well as "Superman" and "The Omen," is no slouch when it comes to action scenes. Although "Lethal Weapon 3" is a letdown, you won't know it while you're watching its madcap action. Donner supercharges the pace with so much kinetic energy that you forget that it's all been done before. The freeway chase here is straight out of William Friedkin "To Let & Die In L.A" with fewer vehicles on the road.
The best thing about "Lethal Weapon 3" is the chemistry between Gibson and Glover. They learn this time out how inseparable they are as partners. Gibson is just as nutty here as he was in the previous "Lethal Weapon" movies. Glover tries to break his partner of his cigarette habit by getting him to eat doggie biscuits. Turns out that Riggs likes the doggie biscuits and cannot get enough of them. Part of the problem with "Lethal Weapon 3" is that neither Gibson nor Glover ever appear to be in jeopardy. You cannot worry about the heroes catching lead if you're laughing your butt off.
Nevertheless, for all its faults, "Lethal Weapon 3" is a lot of fun. If you can suffer through the lengthy end credits, Donner and company have a hilarious joke for you.