In the fourth and reportedly final film of the Lethal Weapon series, director Richard Donner reunites with Mel Gibson and Danny Glover, who reprise their roles as Martin Riggs and Roger Murtaugh for one last hurrah in a film that is decidedly better than the third and first chapters. This time the pair are pitted against Jet Li, who plays the leader of a Chinese organized crime unit. Li, a veteran of hundreds of Hong Kong action films, more than holds his own against the more established team of Gibson, Glover, Renee Russo, and Joe Pesci with his subtle yet strong portrayal of the quietly irrepressible Wah Sing Ku. As always with the Lethal series, the plot is incredibly simple to follow: someone steals something, someone gets killed, and Murtaugh is reluctantly thrown into the mix while Riggs dives into the case with gleeful aplomb. As with the previous movies, we watch for the sheer action and chemistry alone. The action sequences throughout the fourth installment are exquisite, from the opening scene involving a flamethrower, a burning building, and a half-naked Murtaugh strutting like a chicken (don't ask, just watch), to the climactic showdown that pays genuine tribute to Jet Li's masterful martial art skills. As for chemistry, the bond between these characters is so strong by now that you sometimes feel like you're watching a TV series in its sixth season, such is the warm familiarity between the audience and the personalities on the screen. The humor is more fluid than ever, aided immeasurably by the casting of comedian Chris Rock, who like Li does a great job of making his presence known in some memorable verbal tirades that would bring a smile out of the Farrelly brothers. But it's the verbal and emotional jousting between Glover and Gibson that makes this fourth episode especially appealing; both are in peak form with great physical and verbal timing. One can only hope that if this is indeed the last of the Lethal films, that it won't be the last time we see Glover and Gibson together on screen. --Jeremy Storey



Martin Riggs and Roger Murtaugh, after escaping death from the previous movies are put on a hit list by The Triads. When blood thirsty mercenaries are on their tail they team up again with Leo Getz and Lorna Cole, a newcomer (Chris Rock) to finally put an end to the Triads for good. Written by Brian H




Martin Riggs and Roger Murtaugh, each now feeling too old to be doing what they're doing, try to stop the Chinese Triads from doing their illegal business in the U.S. Uncle Benny, Chinatown's mob boss, has imported Chinese slaves to pay for an artist to create counterfeit Chinese currency which the Triads (led by Jet Li) will use to buy the Four Fathers (heads of the Triads) back from the Chinese military. Chris Rock joins the team as a new cop and Rianne's husband. Lorna is pregnant and considers marriage with Riggs, and Leo Getz is back, now as a private investigator. Written by Jason Ihle




Riggs und Murtaugh stoßen durch Zufall bei einem Angelausflug auf ein Schiff voll gefangener chinesischer Immigranten. Der nichts ahnende Murtaugh nimmt die Chinesen bei sich zu Hause auf. Eine Entscheidung mit fatalen Folgen, denn die asiatische Mafia hat ausgerechnet an dieser Familie ein hohes Interesse. Damit ist ein Zusammenprall zwischen dem Copteam und der asiatischen Unterwelt vorprogrammiert. Written by Jens




LAPD sergeant Roger Murtaugh, his partner, sergeant Martin Riggs, and their friend Leo Getz, who is now a private investigator, are out on Murtaugh's boat, fishing in the Los Angeles Harbor, when they are sideswiped by a huge freighter. After a wild gunfight against a group of Chinese men who were on the freighter, it is discovered that the freighter is full of illegal Chinese immigrants. As Murtaugh sulks over what is left of his now sunken yacht, he discovers a hidden Chinese immigrant family and their patriarch, Mr. Hong, and decides to take them in. At the police station, Detective Ng expresses his belief that Chinatown crime boss Benny "Uncle Benny" Chan is behind the smuggling. Sergeant Lorna Cole of the Internal Affairs Division is unable to help out on the case because she is pregnant with Riggs's baby, and Murtaugh's daughter Rianne is also pregnant. Helping Riggs, Murtaugh, and Leo on the case is Sergeant Lee Butters, the father of Rianne's baby. Wah Sing Ku, a leader in the Chinese Triads, is angry about the disappearance of the Hong family, the family Murtaugh took in, and Wah Sing Ku and the triads are the most dangerous enemies that Riggs and Murtaugh will ever face together. Wah Sing Ku and his men show up at the Murtaugh house, take the Hongs, and set the house on fire with Riggs, Lorna, Murtaugh, Rianne, Murtaugh's wife Trish, Murtaugh's other daughter Carrie, and his son Nick inside. Unknown to Wah Sing Ku, little Ping, the youngest member of the Hong family, was left behind in the house. Ping frees Riggs, who frees the others. Later, when Riggs, Murtaugh, Butters, and Lorna discover that Wah Sing Ku has killed Mr. Hong, Mr. Hong's uncle, and Uncle Benny Chan, Roger takes it very personally because Hong and Hong's uncle were killed. Written by Todd Baldridge




SYNOPSIS

In this installment of the Lethal Weapon series, Lorna Cole is pregnant with Martin Riggs' baby; they are not married but both are thinking about it and have misgivings and fears. Murtaugh's daughter Rianne is also pregnant and has secretly married Lee Butters, a young cop who works at the same precinct as Murtaugh and Riggs, though she cannot tell her father because he doesn't want her to date cops.

The opening scene is an unrelated sequence in which Riggs and Murtaugh confront a man wearing a flame-retardant armored suit and wielding an automatic firearm and a flamethrower. The unidentified man is destroying cars and shops along a city street. Aside from some comedic value and a reminder to the audience of Riggs marksmanship skills, the scene mainly serves to show the two partners informing each other of Lorna's and Rianne's pregnancies. After this scene, a title card shifts the story to "almost nine months later."

The rest of the movie revolves around Riggs, Murtaugh, and Butters' investigation of a Chinese immigrant smuggling ring, which begins after a vessel is captured with a cargo hold of slave labor. That night, Murtaugh, along with Riggs and Leo Getz (Pecsi) (who had now become a private detective) finds a small dingy alongside with an entire Chinese family who he 'rescues' and provides shelter for at his house, claiming to be 'freeing slaves'.

Information about Uncle Benny (Kim Chan) then leads them to Chinatown, where they are introduced to their new arch-nemesis, a high-ranking Triad negotiator named Wa Sing Ku (played by Jet Li). Wa Sing Ku is organizing the release from prison of four overlords or Triads, called the Four Fathers, from a corrupt Chinese general in exchange for counterfeit money. The captive artist working on the master-plate to create the 'funny money' is the elder uncle to Hong, the father of the Chinese family Murtaugh has rescued.

Riggs and Murtaugh decide to hire Leo to follow Uncle Benny around. When they get too close, the Triad gang decides to strike back. When Hong contacted his uncle, Riggs and Murtaugh come home to find Wah Sing Ku there with the other gang members holding Lorna and Murtaugh's family hostage and that Hong and his family were already taken away. After a brief skirmish (where Wah Sing Ku dismantles Riggs' gun with a flick of his wrist), the entire family is tied up and the house is set on fire with everyone inside, including both pregnant women. Little Ping, the smallest of the Chinese children, who had evaded capture earlier manages to escape and frees them just enough to break out through the living room window.

Riggs takes a radio from Lorna's car and the pair set off with Rianne's car in hot pursuit of two of the Triads. Reaching them on the freeway, Riggs passes the wheel to Murtaugh, climbs out of the car and leaps over to a mobile home. He pulls one of the thugs through the car window into it, demanding to know where the Hongs are. After engaging in a fight they crash onto the road; Riggs, sitting on a table holds onto the trailer by the plastic covering they fell through, and the Triad is run over by a bus. His partner accelerates and attempts to kill Riggs, who is forced to throw one of the table legs at the assailant. Murtaugh rams into the Triad car and, hearing sirens, the thug makes an escape. Riggs climbs back beside Murtaugh, and they chase the thug, trying to find answers. However, they accidentally fly off a ramp into a building, driving through one of the floors and driving out back onto the road. Then the last Triad they know of is killed by a truck.

Leo alerts them that he had tracked down Uncle Benny at his dentist and while using Leo as a distraction to keep the dentist busy, the three use laughing gas to extract information from him. Here Murtaugh inadvertently learns that Butters is the father of his daughter's baby, but puts it aside until later. In a comedic scene, Uncle Benny mentions the Four Fathers, which initially is mistaken as 'forefathers'. Benny is later strangled to death by Wah Sing Ku for this indiscretion, and Hong is killed as an example to get his uncle to cooperate, whom is also murdered when his work is complete. After locating the area where Hong's family was held, Ng, one of Riggs and Murtaugh's detective friends, an expert of Chinese society is able to identify the Four Fathers after Murtaugh mentioned them and they are able to figure where the meet was taking place.

Riggs, Murtagh and several other detectives disrupt the exchange and expose the money that is being used to buy the prisoner's release as counterfeit. As a result, the Chinese general personally executes the Four Fathers. Wah Sing Ku shoots and kills the general and a three way gun battle breaks out between the cops, the Triads and the general's private army in the foreign trade zone, presumably down by the docks. During the fight, one of the Triad leaders and older brother to Wa Sing Ku is killed by Murtaugh, and Butters is injured while protecting Murtaugh, but his wounds are not serious. The climactic scene takes place on a pier where Riggs and Murtaugh, both unarmed, take on Wa Sing Ku who is enraged by the death of his brother. Eventually, Murtaugh is knocked out and Riggs and Wa Sing Ku fall into the water as the concrete pier begins to collapse. In desperation, Riggs finds a AK-47 and kills Wa Sing Ku underwater, but becomes trapped under part of the broken pier. Murtaugh comes to, realizes Riggs is in the water and dives in to free him. Murtaugh tells Riggs that he could hear Riggs willing him to save him.

The movie ends with Lorna and Martin marrying, and Roger accepting Lee and Rianne's marriage. Two babies are born to Rianne and Lorna, as Martin Riggs is finally settling down. The Hong family is granted asylum. The end credits feature a collage of screen shots and snapshots taken during production from all four movies in the series.