Richard Donner's third entry opens with Riggs and Murtaugh accidentally detonating a building they were supposed to make safe, a sequence that sets the tone with precision: this is a film that has decided comfort is the point. Lethal Weapon 3 is not a bad film. It is a relaxed one, content to trade on the goodwill its predecessors built rather than push the franchise into new territory.
At a Glance
Director: Richard Donner
Runtime: 118 minutes
Starring: Mel Gibson, Danny Glover, Joe Pesci, Rene Russo, Stuart Wilson
Release: 1992
Critics Rating: ★★½ (2.5/5 stars, enjoyable but diminished)
Audience Rating: ★★★ (3/5 stars, crowd-pleasing)
Plot
Riggs and Murtaugh, now three days from Murtaugh's retirement, investigate a former cop turned arms dealer who is selling confiscated police weapons back to street gangs. The plot is the series' most generic, a crime thriller of adequate complexity that provides sufficient structure for the character work and comedy that are the picture's real business. The subplot involving Murtaugh's accidental killing of a young gang member is the film's most dramatically interesting element, a story of moral complexity that the picture raises with more confidence than it develops. The arms dealer premise gives the film a topical concern with gun violence and police corruption that the script handles with more intelligence than the more generic action sequences around it would suggest, and the Los Angeles setting is used with enough specificity to give the film a sense of place that the more globally scaled sequels would not always maintain.
Characters
Riggs and Murtaugh's partnership is as enjoyable as ever, and Gibson and Glover play the characters' established dynamic with a naturalism and warmth that makes the experience consistently rewarding. Murtaugh's approaching retirement gives the film a secondary concern of real interest, and Glover plays the character's ambivalence with a conviction that makes it the picture's most carefully observed element. Rene Russo's Lorna Cole is the series' strongest female character, a woman of considerable capability and wit whose relationship with Riggs is handled with a lightness and mutual respect that makes it the film's most purely enjoyable subplot. The scar-comparison scene between Riggs and Lorna is the film's most charming moment, a piece of character comedy that earns its warmth through the specificity of the performances. Stuart Wilson's Jack Travis is the series' weakest major villain, a character of adequate menace and insufficient development whose function is primarily to provide the action sequences with their justification.
Meaning / Themes
The film's most interesting thematic concern is the Murtaugh subplot about the accidental killing of a young gang member, a story about the moral cost of violence and the difficulty of living with its consequences. Glover plays the character's guilt and eventual resolution with a depth and conviction that makes it the picture's most dramatically substantial element and its most significant achievement in an otherwise generically constructed entry. The film also raises, without fully developing, a concern with the institutional failures that allow confiscated weapons to re-enter criminal circulation, a topical dimension that gives the more generic crime thriller elements a grounding in real social consequence.
Direction
Donner's direction is as professionally accomplished as ever, with a strong command of the comedy sequences and a clear sense of how to maintain the series' established register. The action sequences are competently staged but lack the visual invention and dramatic intelligence of the first two films. Donner pushes the series' comic register further than in either of the preceding films, a decision that suits the more relaxed ambitions of this entry but that occasionally overwhelms the more seriously intended elements. The picture is at its best in its comedy sequences, where the central trio's chemistry and Donner's command of comic timing make the material feel fresh. Michael Kamen's score is as reliable as ever, providing a warmth and continuity that suits the more relaxed register. The film was a major commercial success on its release, confirming the series' continued box office viability despite diminishing critical returns. Its reputation has settled into a consensus that regards it as the series' first significant step down from the heights of the first two films, notable primarily for Russo's Lorna Cole and Glover's handling of the Murtaugh moral conflict subplot.
Final Verdict: A dramatically thinner film that coasts on the series' considerable goodwill and the chemistry of its central cast. Russo's Lorna Cole is the series' strongest female character, Murtaugh's moral conflict is the picture's most dramatically substantial element, and the central trio remains as enjoyable as ever. But the villain is the series' weakest, the plot its most thinly constructed, and the increasing reliance on comedy at the expense of dramatic substance signals a franchise beginning to run short of creative ideas.