The magic is back again!
1992-05-15
$35.0M
118 min
Archetypal buddy cops Riggs and Murtaugh are back for another round of high-stakes action, this time setting their collective sights on bringing down a former Los Angeles police lieutenant turned black market weapons dealer. Lorna Cole joins as the beautiful yet hardnosed internal affairs sergeant who catches Riggs's eye.
The public get what they want.
In this third instalment of the popular Lethal Weapon series, Murtaugh is counting down the days till he finally hangs up his badge, but he and Riggs run into an ex-cop who is dealing in special cop-killing bullets.
In total there were four Lethal Weapon films, regardless of quality (they declined in quality with each release) each film made gargantuan amounts of money. Who could blame those involved for milking it for all it was worth if the paying public demanded it eh? Made for $35 million, part 3 went on to make Worldwide $321 million, thus ensuring that a part 4 was inevitable. But is Lethal Weapon 3 actually any good? Was the loyal paying public rewarded for their time?.
Well yes, chances are that if you were already a fan of the series then this does deliver all you wanted and hoped for. Director Richard Donner and his team of writers shrewdly cottoned on to the basic fact that the ante had to be raised. It's a pretty light plot in truth, but enter more explosions, more action and make Riggs more comically reckless than usual, well it's a successful formula - even if Riggs and Murtaugh are now in essence just a comedy double act (one man love sequence not withstanding that is). Into the mix comes karate-kicking Internal Affairs female sergeant Lorna Cole (a more than agreeable turn from Rene Russo), who simultaneously gives Riggs more scope for gags and a love interest, and love him or hate him, Joe Pesci again pops in with mirth as the whiny Leo Getz. Stuart Wilson gets to play the bad guy with relish, and just to show it's not all about slam bangery and japes, the film also boasts having an affecting strand about kids with guns on the streets - and of course the scum who put those guns into those hands.
It's all very simple and disposable in the world of the popcorn actioner, and yeah, it's not as good as what came before it in the series, but it's still an entertaining viewing for the series fans regardless. 7/10
More fun and dynamic police action with Mel Gibson and Danny Glover
Riggs & Murtaugh (Gibson and Glover) team-up with a kick-axx internal affairs officer (Rene Russo) to take down an ex-cop (Stuart Wilson) who’s smuggling confiscated guns to L.A. gangs. Joe Pesci is also on hand.
"Lethal Weapon 3" (1992) is more-of-the-same in the successful series helmed by Richard Donner. Like the first two, it’s an over-the-top cop thriller with amusing camaraderie and rapid-fire banter. You have to roll with the outrageousness in order to enjoy it, just as you do with similar cop thrillers, like "The Gauntlet" (1977), although that one’s superior, as are the Dirty Harry flicks IMHO.
Of the first three, I marginally prefer the second one (1989), but this one is entertaining enough.
The film runs 1 hour, 58 minutes, and was shot in the greater Los Angeles area with some stuff done in Florida (like the building blowing up at the end, which was shot in St. Petersburg).
GRADE: B-
