Richard Donner continues the adventures of Martin Riggs (Mel Gibson) and his eternal partner Roger Murtaugh (Danny Glover), in what is yet another escapist adventure, uncompromising and fun, within the subgenre of police films. This would be the end of a trilogy for the series. There was, during the 5 years that separate the first and the third film, a good job of maturing the characters, even though the script of this third one is the weakest of the whole series.
After causing a building to explode, partners Martin Riggs and Roger Murtaugh are demoted to street guards. The duo has a chance to turn the tide when they investigate, with the help of officer Lorna Cole (Rene Russo), a police gun theft. The scheme is being run by a corrupt former police officer, who kills anyone who decides to open his mouth.
The series has always been dedicated and exploring the relationship between detectives Murtaugh and Riggs, and the third film is no different. In this, we see Roger Murtaugh (Danny Glover) already 50 years old and a week from his retirement from the homicide department. Martin Riggs (Mel Gibson), despite not making that clear during most of the film, resents losing his partner and fears of ending their friendship as well. Leo Getz (Joe Pesci) returns to "assist" the duo once again and we also have the addition of detective Lorna Cole (Rene Russo), a detective from the internal affairs department who works on an investigation into Murtaugh and is forced to help in the mission of the pair of detectives. Almost as "deadly" as Martin Riggs, Lorna makes up the quartet that hunts Jack Travis (Stuart Wilson) and tries to prevent him from getting away with selling stolen weapons from the Los Angeles police depot.
Lethal Weapon is a saga about aging and family. Both aspects are presented since its first episode in 1987, being further explored in this one. Despite the playful tone and the addition of Lorna Cole (Rene Russo), basically an artifice of the script to make a feminine counterpoint to Riggs, there are heavy themes proposed on screen, such as the huge incidence of young blacks in organized crime, with terrible consequences for the veteran police officer, who finds himself guilty of shooting a fellow man who, to make matters worse, had direct contact with his son. The screenplay by Jeffrey Boam and Rober Mark Keman remains consistent with the whole narrative skeleton that Shane Black built, harmoniously uniting a fantasy action, typically familiar humor supported by a very intimate actor direction, established by Donner.
It is important to highlight that if the Lethal Weapon 2 presented some novelties that avoided the feeling of "more of the same", this Lethal Weapon 3 does not present the same freshness, giving the feeling that it simply repeats the formula of the previous films. Fortunately, "Lethal weapon" is a series that depends very little on the plot of each film, basing its success on the excellent mix of action and comedy employed by Richard Donner, and, mainly, on the chemistry of his cop team, thanks to the exceptional rapport Mel Gibson and Danny Glover. Thus, if the weakened villains and the story are too simple to harm the narrative, the strength of the action scenes constantly interspersed with moments of good humor and the dynamic relationship of the main duo guarantee the success of the film.
This third episode addresses again, albeit superficially, the theme of retirement, illustrating the cruel dilemma that everyone faces when approaching the time to stop doing what they like. This interesting subtext is even more evident, obviously, because now Roger is much closer to retiring (more precisely, there are eight days when the narrative begins). This way, Danny Glover for the first time has more prominence than Mel Gibson, by illustrating very well the discomfort that the character feels, for example, through his already traditional phrase "I am too old for that", something reflected also when he answers the question "Did you cut yourself? Old blade? With two dry and direct words: "Old face". The actor shows competence even when Roger worries about his son Nick (Damon Hines), desperately trying to maintain the lost intimacy with the boy through the pathetic joke he makes with the slang words his son uses in his daily life. The situation only gets worse when he accidentally kills a friend of Nick's, which leads us to the best dramatic scene of the film, when Riggs shows his friend that he was not to blame for the murder, proving once again their strong friendship. Relief comes to Roger only when his son says he doesn't blame him, taking an enormous weight off his back and giving him back his motivation.
Richard Donner is once again able to balance the exciting action sequences with moments worthy of good comedy films, something remarkable from the first scene of this "Lethal weapon 3", when the conflict between Riggs' impulsiveness and Murtaugh's conservatism takes us into a building surrounded by the police due to the suspicion of a bomb and gives us one of the most emblematic scenes in the series. The director is also competent in conducting the great action scenes, such as the chase with vans at high speed, also full of hints of good humor, thanks to the friendly Delores, interpreted with charisma by Delores Hall, or the exciting chase that begins in the metro, goes out into the streets with Riggs on a motorbike (and against the grain!) and ends with him hanging from a bridge. In this scene, observe the dynamic alternation between aerial planes, close-ups and subjective planes, which place us under Riggs' point of view.
Donner is also skilled in the camera movements that throw us into the plot, like the camera that accompanies Riggs and Roger in the shooting that results in the death of Darryl (Bobby Wynn), in addition to using these same movements to convey sensations, as in zoom out which decreases Roger on the screen after this shooting, illustrating the policeman's distress after killing the boy. And finally, Richard Donner shows talent in directing the funny scenes, like when Riggs interrupts the filming of a film and gets in the way of Rianne (Traci Wolfe), trying to immediately recover the girl's job in his own way, or when Leo (Joe Pesci) takes shot on the hockey court and taken to the hospital.
To maintain this relaxed atmosphere, Donner also maintained some of the main flaws of the series, such as the less likely situations, such as when ex-lieutenant Travis (Stuart Wilson) enters the police station without being searched, goes to the living room, kills the arrested burglar in front of from the cameras and leaves quietly, and the villains weakened by the lightness of the narrative, something evidenced when Lorna (Rene Russo) and Riggs invade a house, beat all the bandits and flee with their guns and their dog.
Gibson and Glover maintain the incredible rapport of the previous films, making that friendship practically palpable to the viewer, who still bears in mind the memory of everything they lived, giving the friendship between Riggs and Roger an enormous weight. In addition, the constant games between them give realism to that relationship, because true friends act exactly this way. Riggs remains crazy to the point of playing with a ferocious dog and making friends with him, impressing his new partner Lorna, but he no longer has the same suicidal impulse as before, as he found his place in Roger's family. And although her introduction follows the cliché "fight and then be together", Rene Russo's Lorna is really charming, conquering Riggs with her skills during a fight ("My girl", he says), but also with her direct way of deal with the crazy policeman. Although he does not have the chemistry of Gibson and Glover on the scene, Russo does well and establishes a good partnership with the duo, especially with Mel Gibson, something remarkable from the fun scene where they show the scars on the body and end up sleeping together. Closing the highlights of the cast, Joe Pesci is again hilarious as Leo, with his quick lines and his eager way of dealing with his "friends".
The impeccable soundtrack of Eric Clapton, Michael Kamen and David Sanborn, full of jazz and blues, and the clear photography of Jan de Bont, who believes in bright colors and many daytime scenes, remain consistent with the light atmosphere of the series. And the direction of Richard Donner, two other trademarks of the quadrilogy, are repeated in this film. The script and the main plot, which never became protagonists of any film in the series, are left even more aside in this third film, making room for the hilarious dialogues between the characters and the goods of the drama moments with good performances. It would certainly be a good ending to the trilogy for the series, which, as we know, would win a fourth part years later.
