Grade:  D+

Director:  Richard Donner		Released:  July 1998
Writer:  Channing Gibson, Jonathan Lemkin		MPAA Rating:  R
Players:  Mel Gibson, Danny Glover		Running time:  127 minutes

Ratings System

Completely gratuitous sequel in the Lethal Weapon series.  This has become a sad franchise that was once very good.  The first Lethal Weapon movie was solid entertainment with memorable characters, by the time the second sequel was released it had become an unintentional parody of itself.  Similar to the way Batman and Robin killed the Batman franchise, Lethal Weapon 4 has finally put a nail in the coffin of the Lethal Weapon franchise.  Come to think of it, the 4th movie is always the one that kills off perfectly good franchises.  Rocky IV, Superman IV, A Nightmare On Elm Street IV, Ghoulies IV, the list goes on.

Lethal Weapon 4 seems promising at first, with the additions of Chris Rock and Jet Li to the cast.  Too bad the script doesn't give them anything worthwhile for us to care about.  The way Chris Rock's character is portrayed in particular is downright offensive, he's supposed to be comic relief, but he's sadly just a caricature of a young black man.  The rest of the cast that has been reunited are just going through the motions, calling in performances and picking up their paychecks.

Everyone in, on, and surrounding this production is way too smug.  The movie seems to wink at you while patting itself on the back.  Makes me want to kick it in the groin.

- crocoPuffs