Lethal Weapon 4 (1998)

Lethal Weapon 4 is a 1998 American buddy cop action film directed and produced by Richard Donner, and starring Mel Gibson, Danny Glover, Joe Pesci, Rene Russo, Chris Rock, and Jet Li (in his international film debut). It is the fourth installment in the Lethal Weapon film series. It is the last film in the series directed by Donner before his death, and the last to be released theatrically. A sequel titled Lethal Finale is in development for the streaming service HBO Max. Glover and Gibson will reprise their roles as Riggs and Murtaugh, with Gibson also in talks to direct.

Plot.

Lorna Cole is pregnant with LAPD Sergeant Martin Riggs’ baby; they are not married, but both are thinking about it. LAPD Sergeant Roger Murtaugh’s daughter Rianne, is also pregnant. Due to issues with the department’s insurance carrier over Riggs and Murtaugh’s actions as sergeants, the Police Chief has Captain Murphy promote them to captains. The officers along with Leo Getz come upon a Chinese immigrant smuggling ring after running an ocean-going vessel aground, though the captain of the boat escapes. In the subsequent investigation, Murtaugh finds Hong and his family hiding from US Immigration officers to avoid deportation. Murtaugh offers them shelter in his home, and their families, along with Riggs and Cole, quickly bond. Hong reveals he is looking for his uncle, a skilled engraver, who had paid for their passage to the United States. Riggs discovers through Lorna that Murtaugh’s yet-to-be-born grandchild from Rianne is by Detective Lee Butters, which Murtaugh cannot possibly tolerate as he did not want his daughter to marry a police officer, and that Murtaugh still does not know who the father is due to the family hiding it from him. Continued investigation of the smuggling ring leads the officers to “Uncle” Benny Chan, a crime boss operating from a Chinatown restaurant.

There, they are introduced to high-ranking Triad negotiator Wah Sing Ku. Chan forces them out of his restaurant when the officers show no probable cause. Rigges steals an umbrella from a counter in the restaurant and pulls the fire alarm so that the sprinklers go on, forcing all the restaurant customers to flee. Outside, Riggs spots the escaped captain and tries to give chase but fails to capture him. However, Ku later intercepts the captain and kills him as punishment for attracting the police’s attention. Chan and Ku take steps to eliminate all those in on their plans. Hong is able to contact his uncle, but this leads the Triads to Murtaugh’s house. Ku and the Triad thugs kidnap the Hongs, tie up Murtaugh, his family, Riggs and Cole and set the house ablaze. Ping, Hong’s grandson, has evaded capture and helps to free the others in time. Though Riggs and Murtaugh chase down and kill some of the Triad members, Ku escapes. Ku brings Mr. Hong to his uncle at a warehouse, where he has been engraving plates for a counterfeiting operation for Ku and Chan in exchange for transit for his family.

Who Am I? (1998) Biography, Plot, Production, Box office, Fight.

Production.

In early 1993, a year after the release and big success of Lethal Weapon 3, Warner Bros. and producer Joel Silver tried buying new spec script by Jonathan Hensleigh titled Simon Says, which was about police detective and shop owner who are forced by mad bomber to search and stop the bombs he planted all over the city, as part of his big revenge plan against the detective. Silver and Warner Bros. wanted to get the script and re-write it into Lethal Weapon 4, however 20th Century Fox bought the script instead and originally they planned for it to be Brandon Lee’s next film after The Crow or have it be re-written into sequel to his previous action film, Rapid Fire. But after Lee’s death during filming of The Crow, Fox instead took Simon Says script and used it for third Die Hard film they had trouble developing at the time, and after many re-writes done by several writers, it was finally made into Die Hard With a Vengeance (1995). In July 1993, Warner Bros. and Silver started working on not just the fourth film, but the fifth one as well.

Home media.

Lethal Weapon 4 has been released on VHS and DVD numerous times. It has been re-released in numerous sets that contain all four films in the series. Lethal Weapon 4 was released on Blu-ray Disc as part of a box set with the additional Lethal Weapon films on May 22, 2012.

Box office.

Lethal Weapon 4 debuted at No. 1 at the box office with $34.05 million. Although the film grossed $130 million in the U.S., it was not considered a runaway financial success as the previous three films had been. Shooting began in January 1998, just months before the film’s release, with a production budget estimated at $120–$150 million (although Warner Bros. maintained it cost less than $100 million) and an additional $50 million spent on marketing and distribution. This made the fourth film the most expensive entry of the series. Its profit margin was saved in part due to the combined foreign box office sales making the film gross approximately $285 million in total, making the second highest-grossing film in the Lethal Weapon film series behind, Lethal Weapon 3 (1992). Still, like its predecessors, Lethal Weapon 4 was among the top ten grossing films of its release year.