Lethal Weapon 3

(Movie Review)

The other night I was in the mood for a brainless film, and, well, they don't get much more brainless than this.

Believe it or not, I still haven't caught up on the "Lethal Weapons" series. Up until now, all I had seen was the 4th film, which a buddy had dragged me to back in 1998 when it was new in the theaters.
Was it a problem figuring out the plot when jumping straight into the 4th movie? Of course not. These films are so formulaic, in no time you've figured out who the good guys are, figured out who the bad guys are, and you're ready to go. There's absolutely no complicated plot to keep track of.

And I actually had a really good time in the theater. The film had lots of really great action scenes. Plus it was really funny. What more could you ask for?

Of course it was also a completely forgettable film. Which is why I never bothered to track down the other "Lethal Weapons" movies.

But the other day, I wanted a brainless movie, and so I re-visited the series.

I started by re-watching "Lethal Weapon 4".
It wasn't as good as I remembered it. The jokes were pretty corny. And most of the humor was strained. (The jokes didn't seem quite so funny, because I felt like the movie was trying way too hard).
Oh well, I guess my humor has matured a little bit since I was 20. Not a bad thing.

The action sequences also weren't as good as I had remembered. But then, even though the film is only 12 years old, that's pretty old in movie years. The bar has been raised so high on action so that scenes that used to blow us out of our seats 10 or 15 years ago now just seem routine.

After re-watching "Lethal Weapon 4", I put in "Lethal Weapon 3". (I figured I'd work my way backwards).
Well, a lot of the things I just said about "4" are also true of "3".

It's funny, but sometimes the movie feels like it's trying way too hard.
And the action scenes are decent, but obviously dated by today's standards.

A fairly entertaining film. And a pretty forgettable one. And not too much more to say other than that.

Except maybe to re-emphasis how quickly movies get dated.
This movie was from 1992, which to my mind doesn't seem that long ago (maybe I'm dating myself by saying that). However, already this movie is so full of cliches it almost feels like a parody of itself.

I mean the whole buddy-cop routine alone has just become a parody of itself by now. Plus the really cheezy jazz music that comes on every time this movie wants to punctuate a bad joke or a sentimental moment is just....just so 80s. And pretty weird.
And the young energetic rookie cop killed out on his first mission--well, you couldn't possibly get anymore cliche than that if you tried.

Link of the Day
Noam Chomsky Democracy Now

Lethal Weapon 3: Movie Review (Scripted)