Lethal Weapon 3 (1992) Warner Bros./Action-Comedy RT: 121 minutes* Rated R (language, strong violence, brief nudity, suggestive content, alcohol abuse) Director: Richard Donner Screenplay: Jeffrey Boam and Robert Mark Kamen Music: Michael Kamen, Eric Clapton and David Sanborn Cinematography: Jan de Bont Release date: May 15, 1992 (US) Cast: Mel Gibson, Joe Pesci, Rene Russo, Stuart Wilson, Steve Kahan, Darlene Love, Traci Wolfe, Damon Hines, Ebonie Smith, Mary Ellen Trainor, Gregory Millar, Nick Chinlund, Jason Rainwater (as “Jason Meshover-Iorg”), Alan Scarfe, Delores Hall. Box Office: $144.7M (US)/$321.7M (World) Body Count: 17
Rating: ***
Lethal Weapon 3, the third entry in the wildly popular buddy cop series, is something of a step down after two phenomenal outings featuring the dynamic duo of Sgt. Riggs (Gibson, Mad Max) and Sgt. Murtaugh (Glover, The Color Purple). After going up against drug rings run by ex-Special Forces creeps and South African diplomats, their next big case involves a corrupt ex-cop dealing in illegal guns. The assignment seems beneath our heroes AND the franchise itself, but Richard Donner (The Goonies) does his best to make it work. For the most part, he succeeds. It’s fun, but unexceptional.
Lethal Weapon 3 literally opens with a bang (as in “KABOOM!”) when Riggs accidentally sets off a bomb he was trying to defuse over his partner’s objections. The explosion, which completely demolishes the building, results in both partners being busted down to patrol for not letting the bomb squad handle the matter. With just a week until he retires, this is just the kind of s*** Murtaugh keeps saying he’s too old for.
The guys redeem themselves after successfully foiling an attempted armored car heist, even bringing one of the robbers in alive. Before they can question him, Internal Affairs steps in and takes over the case. It turns out it’s connected to another case they’ve been working on for a while. The man in custody is a known associate of Jack Travis (Wilson, The Mask of Zorro), a former LAPD lieutenant dealing in automatic weapons stolen from police evidence. Not about to let some two-bit hood destroy his profitable enterprise, he casually strolls into the interrogation room using his curiously still-valid ID and shoots the guy dead.
Tough IA investigator Sgt. Lorna Cole (Russo, In the Line of Fire) initially refuses to share information with the partners. Once she’s sure they’re not working with Travis, she starts working closely with Riggs (on AND off the job) to take down Travis who’s also dealing in armor-piercing bullets- aka “cop killers”- that render bulletproof vests useless in the line of fire.
The plot of Lethal Weapon 3 is a no-brainer. The narrative plays more like a series of outtakes showing Riggs and Murtaugh clowning around. Subplots include Riggs’ efforts to quit smoking and the return of former federal witness Leo Getz (Pesci, Goodfellas). He’s now a real estate agent trying to sell Murtaugh’s house, the site of much violence and mayhem, all of which must be disclosed to potential buyers as per the law.
There’s also the budding romance between Riggs and Cole. Theirs is unique to say the least. For them, foreplay consists of comparing battle scars. It’s clear Riggs has finally met his match. Murtaugh has a not-so-secret admirer in Dolores (Hall, Scrooged), the feisty armored car driver who assisted the partners in chasing down the attempted robbers. At one point, she shows up at the station and asks Riggs to convey a special message to his partner who’s hiding behind a partition. It goes, “You tell that man he’s the jam in my jellyroll!” Hallmark couldn’t have said it any better. It’s one of the best lines in Lethal Weapon 3 which also contains obvious buddy cop dialogue like “You have the right to remain unconscious. Anything you say ain’t gonna be much.”
Lethal Weapon 3 isn’t all fun and play. Murtaugh becomes emotionally distraught after killing a teenage gang member in a gunfight. He turns out to be a childhood friend of his son’s. He’s known him since he was a little boy. It tears him up inside. It leads to a touching scene between Roger and son Nick (Hines) who assures his dad he understands he had no choice and still loves him. This, in turn, leads to a scene at the funeral where the dead kid’s father demands Murtaugh find out who put the gun in his son’s hands. That’s exactly what he does…. with a vengeance. With the walls closing in on him, Travis abducts their CO (Kahan, Predator 2) at gunpoint in order to gain access to a facility containing guns meant for destruction. He needs one last big score before calling it quits.
Lethal Weapon 3 has more than its fair share of wild action scenes involving vehicular chases, shooting and hand-to-hand combat. It scores points with the welcome addition of Russo. Her character is totally bad ass and takes crap from nobody. In one cool scene, she effortlessly takes on multiple male dirtbags while Riggs and Murtaugh stand back and watch. In defiance of Bronson’s Law of Romance**, she manages to avoid the same fate as the women that get involved with the Death Wish character.
The most disappointing thing about Lethal Weapon 3 is also the most inevitable. Gibson’s character has been toned down significantly since the first movie. He’s still a wild man, but is now more emotionally stable. He’s not the psychological train wreck we first met five years earlier. I suppose it’s a natural evolution for his character, but I still miss the old Riggs. That being said, Gibson looks like he’s having a ball here playing a cop with a tendency to leave a long path of destruction in his wake. Glover is also quite good. He shows us another side of his character with his guilt over shooting a boy his son’s age. For a series that revels in violence and mayhem, it’s handled with surprising emotional depth.
Once again, Pesci provides great comic relief as the proverbial thorn in the detectives’ sides. He hasn’t changed much since the last movie. He’s still a loud, obnoxious little twerp. This time, he rants about how they “f*** you at the hospital” after being shot while trying to help the guys apprehend Travis at a hockey game. Always up for mean pranks at his expense, the partners schedule him for an unnecessary proctological exam at the hospital. I like how their CO becomes a more active participant in their investigation instead of just sitting behind his desk in exasperation over their costly methods. Kahan is an immensely likable actor.
Unfortunately, Travis is the weakest villain in the series. He does some really terrible things, but lacks the vicious edge the other bad guys possessed. However, I wonder if his character, an ex-cop described as brutal, is a response to the Rodney King beating by LAPD officers the year before. Donner, as you well know, is famous for including his liberal views in his movies. In Lethal Weapon 3, he focuses on animal rights with a T-shirt and 18-wheeler bearing the slogan “Fur is Murder”. In any event, Wilson does a decent job as Travis.
Lethal Weapon 3 is an immensely likable action movie with a huge dose of comedy to soften any rough edges. At times, it’s very funny. It doesn’t lack in action, violence and mayhem either. It moves fast and asks nothing of the viewer’s brain. The plot is comparatively weak, but so what? I can’t be too hard on it even if it doesn’t quite measure up to its predecessors. It’s a lot of fun. Gibson and Glover are a real pair, Pesci is the wild card and Russo is the ace in the hole. It’s a winning hand.
* = This RT refers to the Director’s Cut. The original theatrical cut runs 118 minutes.
** = Bronson’s Law of Romance, a phrase I coined myself, states that any woman the hero of an action movie gets involved with will be killed by the bad guys.