Lethal Weapon 4 (1998)

Rating: 3 Stars (out of 4)

Fast Food

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

Buy Lethal Weapon 4 on DVD

The Summer of 1998 has broken all quality records with four, that's four, Summer Blockbusters that are actually worth seeing; Bulworth, The Truman Show, The X-Files, and now Lethal Weapon 4. I won't give anything away, but I will say two things: 1) Look for Hong Kong star Jet Li, in his first Hollywood role, as the bad guy. His moves will blow you away. I heard audience members yelling out, "rewind it -- I wanna see that again!") Lethal Weapon 4 contains the most creative car chase scene I have seen in more than ten years. Sure the film has some logic holes, the editing is a bit too choppy, and the music is bad, but everything shoots by so fast there isn't time to dwell on these things. Above all, the actors seem to be having fun and not just grinding out another assembly line package.

Starring: Mel Gibson, Danny Glover, Joe Pesci, Rene Russo, Chris Rock, Jet Li, Darlene Love
Written by: Channing Gibson, based on a story by Jonathan Lemkin, Alfred Gough, Miles Millar
Directed by: Richard Donner
MPAA Rating: R for violence and language
Running Time: 127 minutes
Date: July 10, 1998