Latest / Potato Chip Pictures - A Podcast / Don't Jaywalk in LA | Lethal Weapon 3
Transcript
- 0:00I got to say I I was looking at some of the contemporary reviews
- 0:09and obviously the the box office returns and I disagree with all
- 0:15of them. As it I mean, I way to jump to
- 0:20the rating, but you know. I know what.
- 0:23Do you? Well, you don't know at the time
- 0:28this was critically reviewed well and box office results show
- 0:35that audiences showed up for it. It was a very popular movie in
- 0:41its time, but I don't know if this one has aged as well.
- 0:48I just. Not as well as one, yeah.
- 0:54That's where I'm at. I'm just like I, I don't know if
- 0:58I agree with these ratings. Maybe not as well as two,
- 1:03because, I mean, I feel like you'll always have a good
- 1:08audience reception of punching Nazis.
- 1:12Oh yeah. In terms of this one, yeah,
- 1:16maybe re release this one might not get as nice a reception.
- 1:21Yeah, I don't know if this one would do as well today.
- 1:25And yeah, it's I, I don't know if I can point to anything
- 1:30specific that really kind of drew me out of it.
- 1:35I know that leading up to it, I was saying that this was the one
- 1:38I was most excited for because Once Upon a time this used to be
- 1:43my favorite in the franchise. And watching it last week, I was
- 1:49like, oh, Oh, my tastes have changed.
- 1:54Yeah, yeah. I think it's it.
- 2:00I'm trying to think of any contemporary movie now that
- 2:03would be similar in its feeling of not necessarily pandering to
- 2:10the audience, but just like, ha, isn't it funny that these
- 2:16detectives hassle someone for jaywalking and pull out their
- 2:19gun? That's hilarious.
- 2:21I think that was in the second movie, right?
- 2:24That was the beginning of the third one.
- 2:27That was, that was. One I.
- 2:29Was trying to remember where was where, Yeah, like, isn't that so
- 2:33funny? Isn't it so funny that they they
- 2:37assault their friend, tell him to shut up when he's he's trying
- 2:41to contribute? Isn't it so funny?
- 2:44Isn't it so funny that they changed his medical charts and
- 2:48added unnecessary procedures to it?
- 2:52$300 million begs to disagree with me.
- 2:56I'm trying to think what how old would a 20 year old from
- 3:0119801992 be now? They would be in their 50s I
- 3:08think, right? In 92, 20. 6/20. 834 and twenty
- 3:165454 year old person think this is hilarious when they were 20
- 3:24that kind of tracks right yeah maybe I didn't watch it in
- 3:31theaters because I was so little but it did numbers I'm that's
- 3:37where it's interesting to see the passenger time.
- 3:57Hello and welcome to Potato Chip Pictures, the movie franchise
- 4:03review Podcast. My name is B Sammy Davis.
- 4:08I am still Justin most of the time.
- 4:11Most of the time, and today is one of those times.
- 4:15And today we're also looking at Lethal Weapon 3 from 1992.
- 4:20Justin, break it down for me. Tell me, tell me about the.
- 4:24People who made this movie. Comparing it to Lethal Weapon 2,
- 4:32the title is changed by 1 digit. It is 2, but it is 3.
- 4:38The director looks like that name stays the same.
- 4:42It is still Richard Donner of Superman, the two or I couldn't
- 4:48remember which. One and. 21 and 2.
- 4:51Of but it was fired midway through 2 so.
- 4:55It sounds like somebody was fired on this one midway through
- 4:58because I think I saw a bunch of screenwriter credits.
- 5:01We have Geoffrey Bohm which was on two and Robert Mark Kamen or
- 5:09like Ramen common. I don't.
- 5:10I don't know how you pronounce his last name, but it seemed
- 5:13like there was a couple switchovers there in the wiki.
- 5:16I didn't quite track them because I don't know if I blame
- 5:20them for for how this all went. But the story is credited to
- 5:26Jeffrey Boehm, producer Richard Downer and Joel Silver.
- 5:31That remains the same through all four.
- 5:33Movies. Now before you say the budget
- 5:36and return, I will say I noticed during the opening credits that
- 5:41they said based on the characters by Shane Black.
- 5:45So like he's still getting referenced even though he was
- 5:49not a part of this one at all. I I think it's fair the
- 5:55characters from 1:00 and 2:00 or more sympathetic than this one.
- 6:01I think just a little bit. I feel like in order to make the
- 6:06police funny you have to let them do non police things.
- 6:11In terms of two and three, as soon as Riggs gets mad enough
- 6:16then the law doesn't matter anymore.
- 6:18He's pissed and so he can do whatever he needs to.
- 6:23Which man, like, extrapolate that out to any field work of
- 6:31any law enforcement officers, and I don't like it.
- 6:36Yeah. Yeah.
- 6:37Get as bad as you like and then take care of business like this
- 6:41is the fantasy movie 100%. There's this old meme that says,
- 6:45when I was a kid, I used to think that if you became a cop,
- 6:49you were above the law. And then I got a little older
- 6:52and I realized that's not true. And then I got a little older
- 6:55and I realized, Oh yeah, it is true.
- 7:00I hadn't seen that one. That's our numbers except for
- 7:04the budget. Budget.
- 7:06Why did we stop? We wanted to not.
- 7:08I wanted to talk about Shane Black, so I interrupted your
- 7:11budget in return. He's got, I don't know, maybe he
- 7:16made them pay him $5,000,000 to keep using the characters.
- 7:19I don't know because it was only 30 million last time and is 35
- 7:24for this go round. They make 100 million more off
- 7:27of that extra 5 million. So man, this one did significant
- 7:33numbers. I think it's referenced in the
- 7:35Wikipedia somewhere where it's like we had to buy Land Rovers
- 7:39or something, but we made $300 million, so it was written.
- 7:45For real, this one, this one made a lot of money and it's
- 7:50surprising that it did. But people like if if it stays
- 7:54in the intro. We, I mentioned it before,
- 7:57people at the time loved this movie and at least 20 years ago
- 8:03I loved it too. This used to be my favorite of
- 8:07all of them, but I don't know if it's aged as well.
- 8:11I think this is the one where I'm going to come away with it.
- 8:15Always rethinking my score where I'm like, was that the right
- 8:21score? Oh, I think I got it picked on
- 8:24the right score. But yeah, I I still don't know
- 8:34if I can trust asking Google what was the idea of the the bad
- 8:42guy. He was just laundering money.
- 8:46Like is that the second one? Also either just fascists and
- 8:53they make money from something like I feel like it all gets
- 8:57lost and maybe I give them extra credit saying I got the plot
- 9:02doesn't quite matter. It's like, well, because the
- 9:05relationship felt like it was authentic.
- 9:08This one, I think I started questioning the plot because it
- 9:12felt a little bit forced. They're still buddies, but the
- 9:20backdrop is, you know, support your buddy through accidentally
- 9:26killing a youth and support your buddy through hooking up with
- 9:34someone in internal affairs, which would present a conflict
- 9:37of interest and support your buddy who actually might be
- 9:42kissing your 19 year old daughter.
- 9:46I don't know how old she supposed to be.
- 9:47Yeah, her, her age. It's he was 37 in the first one,
- 9:53yes. And I.
- 9:54But I think she was in her late teens in the first one so she's
- 9:58got to be inner 20s now. But still cool.
- 10:02That is a significant age gap that I'm not comfortable with.
- 10:08So it feels like it just got a little more.
- 10:12The relationship didn't excuse as much of the plot points.
- 10:18And yes, as you go through a series, you got to add stuff
- 10:24that makes sense. But I don't love it.
- 10:28So what do they not add? I got to be honest.
- 10:34Well, I'm Speaking of addition. What I have noticed is that we
- 10:40have added one major character with every movie.
- 10:45So the first one, it was Riggs and Murtaugh, Second one, it was
- 10:48Riggs, Murtaugh and Joe Pesci. Leo, thank you.
- 10:54And then the 4th one, we get Leo back, but now we're adding the
- 10:58internal affairs lady, Lorna. And so there we go.
- 11:03Four people. Yeah.
- 11:04And I don't remember her last name, but I keep trying to
- 11:11remember what it was that that I liked about this in the past
- 11:15because I I just can't. I can't latch on to it anymore.
- 11:20And. I bet it's the skunk Foo woman.
- 11:24She was pretty rad for for everything this movie gets
- 11:28wrong. I kind of like Lorna.
- 11:30I think she's fun. She does.
- 11:35She does fit with the cast. Like she it makes sense that she
- 11:41would be another member of the family.
- 11:45I just think maybe the magic has worn off.
- 11:48Maybe the charm has gone away. A little like it just feels, I
- 11:58don't know, the the city doesn't feel as big.
- 12:01It's just the dudes it yes, of course they're going to find
- 12:08another something happening. But it I don't know.
- 12:16It feels heavier. Sure.
- 12:20Like I don't know how much heavier yet than lethal weapon
- 12:25one with the depression and suicidality, but it, it feels
- 12:35like a complicated, complicated area to start jumping into and
- 12:45saying, Oh, like, yeah, if someone points again at yeah and
- 12:51you defend yourself, it's it's gonna be 1 versus one.
- 12:56That's that's you and them. I've feel like I've already seen
- 13:02too many current day people recording themselves in the car
- 13:07because they'll get weapons pulled on them just from a
- 13:11regular law enforcement. And it's upsetting.
- 13:14And it's, it feels like a, what would you call it, a
- 13:25justification for those sorts of incidents with, with death.
- 13:31And I feel like I know it's probably not recent, but our our
- 13:39American climate in terms of police incidents and deaths
- 13:46don't generally favor the interpretation that is
- 13:49justified, even if the investigation says, oh, you
- 13:52know, totally justified, like. That might be what made this
- 13:59movie age so poorly. You know, in the past, I want to
- 14:04say five years, we've seen so many more very public police
- 14:10executions of civilians, whether that be on the federal level or
- 14:16the local level. And they keep getting away with
- 14:20it. They keep getting justified.
- 14:22They keep getting told that that was a clean kill.
- 14:26And we've got video camera footage that usually says no, it
- 14:31was not. And on top of that, for the past
- 14:3420 years, we've had police who immediately go to their weapon
- 14:41for anything, for any incident, and they are reaching for their
- 14:46gun. They've got pepper spray,
- 14:48they've got handcuffs, they've got all sorts of tools at their
- 14:52disposal. And they always reach for the
- 14:56kill switch, the thing that's going to end a life.
- 15:00And this movie is so flippant about cops and guns at the
- 15:08beginning. OK, not quite at the beginning
- 15:12because the beginning also lost me with the bomb threat that
- 15:16they failed at. But when the movie finally, or
- 15:21the franchise rather finally gives us consequences and both
- 15:25of our main characters are demoted, the first thing Riggs
- 15:30does is pull his gun on a jaywalker.
- 15:32And it's like that has become the norm, sadly, over 30 years
- 15:40later, cops still just pull their gun over anything.
- 15:44Anything. And that might be what made this
- 15:47movie age so poorly. Yeah, I can.
- 15:51I can see that because that was that was a tough scene to be
- 15:58like, oh ha ha. He they're no longer detectives.
- 16:02So they're what? Misplaced Rage Against a
- 16:06jaywalker because oh, let's, let's beat him up, man.
- 16:10Like Riggs goes off on him and it's just played for a laugh and
- 16:18Riggs is funny without needing to threaten people.
- 16:24Yeah, he's funny when he's crazy, but not when he's
- 16:28homicidal. Like that's the first thing he
- 16:33goes to is threatening to murder someone on the on the street
- 16:38publicly for everyone to see. For jaywalking, yeah.
- 16:43It's ridiculous. I'm also not a big fan of the
- 16:48the failed bomb diffusal. Where?
- 16:52Oh, yeah. They decide not to wait for the
- 16:56bomb squad and they save a cat. That's cool.
- 17:00Hooray. They saved a cat.
- 17:04Yeah. I'm sitting here like you've
- 17:06got. You don't need to be here.
- 17:08You know that there is a squad that is good at this because in
- 17:12the last movie they saved your partner.
- 17:16Why are you here? Good point.
- 17:20Yeah, I grant the fact that it comes out to the same result if
- 17:26they did do nothing, like, yeah, they failed.
- 17:31Our heroes have failed at something.
- 17:32OK, let's. That is a good a good way to
- 17:40make them human again, I guess. But it just feels like what may
- 17:48be a set up for them to get re promoted because of their
- 17:53heroism in front of internal affairs.
- 17:55Because Internal affairs sucks. Investigating sucks.
- 17:59For real, we want our cops to be good and corrupt.
- 18:04How dare there be a department that investigates them?
- 18:09Like I and I don't know, I'm ignorant of the history of
- 18:14internal affairs at other places because I imagine internal
- 18:18affairs can also become corrupted.
- 18:20So hey then yeah, someone that's corrupt investigating you feels
- 18:25real bad, doesn't it? So.
- 18:30Now to the movies credit, there is one mystery that they lay out
- 18:36kind of at the beginning where they're saying, and to answer
- 18:41your question about what is the motivation of the criminal, he's
- 18:45an ex cop who has decided to use the evidence locker as his free
- 18:52supply of literally anything he wants to sell.
- 18:57Guns and ammo are the two big ones that are in the movie, but
- 19:01he does mention that he also gets drugs and any other thing
- 19:06that he wants to get, he just grabs it from the evidence
- 19:09locker. So it makes sense that Internal
- 19:12Affairs is here investigating, trying to figure out how is this
- 19:17guy gaining access to everything.
- 19:21And that mystery, it least got me pointing the finger at
- 19:26everyone saying, are you, are you the traitor?
- 19:28Are you the one who's who's giving away the the evidence?
- 19:32Like I was pointing at Lorna. I for the brief moment that we
- 19:38had Lorna's partner in the movie, I was pointing at him.
- 19:42Then he's gone. So he doesn't matter.
- 19:46Yeah. Yeah, I'm pointing at everybody
- 19:49just being like, that's a dirty cop.
- 19:52No, that's The Dirty cop. We're going to find this dirty
- 19:54cop at some point. We're all looking for this guy.
- 19:59Yeah, we're all trying to find the guy who did this.
- 20:02Yeah. And it turns out.
- 20:06The the inside person was the chief the whole time but even
- 20:11that isn't fully explored because they make it sound like
- 20:14maybe he didn't want to be the partner.
- 20:17Yeah, the one who re promoted them is the one that we find out
- 20:23has been letting the ex cop into the evidence locker.
- 20:30Really. At least he's the the only time
- 20:34we see them steal from the evidence locker it's because
- 20:37they kidnap the chief and force him to do it.
- 20:42So maybe they're saying this was his one and only time that he
- 20:45did it. They like that's OK.
- 20:50That's my other big thumbs down. As much as I'm into this mystery
- 20:54of who is the crooked cop, I never get a satisfying answer.
- 20:58I was. Like the chief that he was in
- 21:03it, but he didn't get kidnapped. So I'm like, he was there for
- 21:06the and he runs this ring where he can get anything he wants to
- 21:12sell it for however much he needs, but you still have to run
- 21:18a construction company to launder the money.
- 21:21And famously, being a real estate developer is a very
- 21:26lucrative business. So why is he doing this?
- 21:31I and that's that I'm like, I don't quite get the motivations
- 21:36of this bad guy other than he's an ex cop and he's crooked.
- 21:42So that's how that's how corruption happens.
- 21:45They have to not be cops anymore and then they go.
- 21:50Then they go bad. Yeah, it's flimsy at best.
- 21:56And then as you brought it up, his side hustle, which every
- 22:02every gangster movie always has that legitimate side business
- 22:07that the criminals have in order to launder their money.
- 22:11He's got a side business that's worth millions of dollars.
- 22:15Like he's doing far bigger numbers by building and selling
- 22:20homes than he could ever be doing by selling to dis
- 22:25disreputable gangsters on the street.
- 22:28This is, I guess it's ludicrous there.
- 22:32I don't remember what it is, but there was some movie or show
- 22:37that had a gangster who ended up having his legitimate hustle
- 22:44being worth more than his criminal endeavors.
- 22:47And and he has to come to a a face to face with the fact that
- 22:52he doesn't want to do crime anymore because he's doing much
- 22:55better with his legitimate earnings.
- 22:59And that is never addressed here.
- 23:01We're just supposed to believe that he somehow makes more money
- 23:06doing crime. But to the movies credit, I will
- 23:11say this is the first time that I've been like, OK, I understand
- 23:17the motivations of the villain and how they are making their
- 23:21money. The other movies, it was always
- 23:24a little unclear. They were either somehow
- 23:28involved with drugs or smuggling.
- 23:32We're just supposed to know they're the bad guys and that's
- 23:34OK. This one, we get to see them
- 23:37committing crime. We get the crime spelled out to
- 23:40us. And so I was like, all right, at
- 23:42least the movie isn't just saying, look, the bad guy, trust
- 23:47us, it's the bad guy. It's the bad guy, Yeah.
- 23:52And really, if we go along with the the movies for the Buddy Cup
- 24:00relationship and let's add in a new lead character to give us a
- 24:07romantic relationship because yeah, maybe we don't want Riggs
- 24:13dating a fascist. Well, she's dead now.
- 24:17You can't date her anymore. Sure, reformed.
- 24:21Remorseful, like OK, so he gets to date internal affairs and
- 24:30they I feel like chemistry was OK.
- 24:36I do feel like it's kind of a jolt when he's like, oh, it's my
- 24:40girl or my woman or something when she's fighting a bunch of
- 24:44dudes and like, we all just like slept together.
- 24:47But I didn't feel like it was more than that.
- 24:52But if, OK, I guess it is more than that.
- 24:55And that the end we get to see a softer side of Riggs to be like,
- 25:02oh, I actually really like you don't die, OK.
- 25:07And she makes it the whole movie like.
- 25:10Yeah, she survives. So obviously she is the one for
- 25:14him. No shade, no shade to her
- 25:17character. More a it was an all right sort
- 25:22of courtship, I guess, period. They they fight and that
- 25:29apparently makes it good bases foundation for a relationship
- 25:35and let's compare scars and that totally does it.
- 25:40It's it's on like. Seeing.
- 25:43OK, I've got very complicated feelings about that scene in
- 25:49particular. They.
- 25:52So Riggs and Lorna decide to go on their own little mission to
- 25:58try to figure out where the guns and the ammo are.
- 26:02On that mission, they find a guard dog and.
- 26:06Yeah, And it is a cute scene where Riggs becomes the animal
- 26:11whisperer and gets the guard dog to be on their side and and they
- 26:16rescue you. Yeah, it's it isn't.
- 26:19It's fun. And the the action sequence is
- 26:22fun. Then they go home and like you
- 26:24said, they're comparing scars with really bad makeup on their
- 26:29scars. Like you think they would do a
- 26:32little bit better job blending, but whatever.
- 26:34It's it's a cute sequence until they start to kiss and Lorna
- 26:42says no. And I'm just sitting here like,
- 26:45I guess in the 90s, no means yes because in 89 and 92 we've had
- 26:52two women give Riggs a very clear no.
- 26:56And that's not enough. He's going to go anyway.
- 27:01If you kiss them then I guess, yeah.
- 27:03Yep. Yep.
- 27:05But then my other side of these complicated feelings, the part
- 27:09that I find realistic when on the rare occasions that it
- 27:16happens when I end up sleeping with someone, I tend to get
- 27:22feelings for them because I'm like, well, now we've done it,
- 27:26we've got to be together forever.
- 27:28And pretty obviously after that night, Riggs is madly in love
- 27:35with Lorna. Like he is all about that woman
- 27:39for the rest of the movie. And so that part I found
- 27:43realistic because I was like, yeah, that's that's what happens
- 27:47to me if I'm dating. That's all it takes for me to be
- 27:52like we are together forever. That's fair.
- 27:57I think that, yeah, I feel like there's still a little bit of
- 28:04formality that generally just doesn't get put on screen.
- 28:08But it is like, oh, like, but if you want to be exclusive, you
- 28:13know, talk about it, make it obvious.
- 28:20But yeah, it's just a movie, so. Yeah, And, you know, we've got
- 28:24to get from here to there. And so.
- 28:26But, you know, I feel like, I feel like Lorna kicks enough ass
- 28:33to not just be a pretty face. Like she gets a very extended
- 28:38fight sequence shortly after this torrid love affair begins
- 28:44where Murtagh gets to watch her do some Kung Fu and, and she's
- 28:50pretty rad. She takes out three or four
- 28:53dudes by herself while the two guys are just watching and, and
- 28:59I'm enjoying that. Like, I do feel like she fits.
- 29:03She is a good addition to the cast all things considered.
- 29:11I may have complicated feelings about the relationship and about
- 29:15how things got started, but now that she's here, thumbs up to
- 29:20her. Like just like Leo, I am glad
- 29:23that she's part of the cast. I enjoy the character.
- 29:27It took me a minute to get into her, but now that that she's
- 29:31kicking butt and hanging out with with our two lead
- 29:35characters, I'm on board. So I I will give the movie a
- 29:39thumbs up there. Yep, I think that it's it ends
- 29:45up being good. I think I don't remember
- 29:49watching 50% of the love and three before this go.
- 29:56So I did remember her, but I remember her better in the 4th 1
- 30:00when it does seem like I'm excited to see that one because
- 30:05I think that the people, the people relationships felt sturdy
- 30:10in that one. I don't know if I'll change my
- 30:12mind but it did feel better than this one.
- 30:15Man Riggs Amurta just felt more forced like it.
- 30:22They're both dealing with something, but I'd say Riggs is
- 30:25dealing with less surprisingly. But it's still up to them to
- 30:36allow their feelings to exist only after you get punched.
- 30:41Like, oh, it's OK to have these complicated feelings about
- 30:44killing a kid if you get to punch somebody about it, like.
- 30:49Yeah, OK. And all right, let's let's talk
- 30:56about the other character in this movie, which is the cop
- 31:01killer bullet that is talked about from their demotion all
- 31:07the way to the end of the movie. These are these new rounds that
- 31:13are on the streets. You don't even need to wear body
- 31:16armor anymore because it's not going to do you any good.
- 31:19Those bullets are going right through and at one point, At one
- 31:26point Murtagh wants to cook Riggs a burger and Riggs decides
- 31:32to wander off and start a fight. He gets knocked out by some
- 31:37unknown assailant. We will never know who it was
- 31:41who knocked him out. Yep.
- 31:44But when Murtagh shows up, there's someone inside of a shed
- 31:48taking shots at them, and Murtagh shoots through a steel
- 31:54door to kill the the shooter. And it turns out to be a kid.
- 31:58Not only a kid, but a kid who used to be best friends with
- 32:02Murtagh's son. And that just makes things too
- 32:05real. And that starts his decline
- 32:10where he becomes an alcoholic and he he vows to take revenge
- 32:14on whoever is getting these weapons out there.
- 32:18And even the kids family who has just buried their son is like,
- 32:22you find the man who put the gun and the bullets in our son's
- 32:27hand. Like I, I just, I don't think
- 32:32it's a very good motivator. And then we're going to get to a
- 32:37point where it becomes a magic bullet, where it only kills
- 32:42people who don't matter. Yeah, because Jack Travis
- 32:47doesn't use it when he's shooting love interest.
- 32:50Only when. Yeah, other times.
- 32:53Well, yeah, and like I think she is, he does use it on her, but
- 32:59she's wearing 2 bulletproof. Vents.
- 33:01Yeah, that's super easy to do. Yeah, the the double layers of
- 33:07steel is enough to stop the cop killer, but like 1/2 an hour
- 33:13earlier when the rookie wants to hang out with Riggs and Murtagh,
- 33:17he hides behind a steel barrel and it pierces through two
- 33:21layers of steel and into his bulletproof vest and kills them.
- 33:26So 3 layers of steel can't stop it.
- 33:30Interesting. Yeah man, when they're at the
- 33:33construction site and he shoots Lorna, he like shoots like 7
- 33:40bullets out of his six shooter. Like it's so many shots he
- 33:44takes. But she's.
- 33:47Fine, it is a little ridiculous. Yeah, it's and you know, same
- 33:53sequence. We're at the end of the movie,
- 33:56but we will likely come back to the rest of the movie.
- 33:58So if you're sitting here saying you guys jumped over everything
- 34:03they weren't we're talking about the specific character of the
- 34:06bull of the cop killer bullet and the bad guys got his his
- 34:14bulldozer and Murtagh throws the cop killer to to Riggs and he's
- 34:21able to shoot through the steel and kill the bad guy.
- 34:25But again, Lorna with two sheets of steel is just fine.
- 34:32She can survive this. Like it bugs me so much I hate I
- 34:37just don't like the cop killer. I think it may have been topical
- 34:41in the early 90s when higher, heavier firepower was showing up
- 34:48in the news all the time. So this may have been topical to
- 34:52the time period. But in terms of how it impacts
- 34:57the story, I don't like it, I don't buy it.
- 35:00It's unnecessary and it didn't really help anything.
- 35:03The armor piercing rounds just Pierce armor.
- 35:08It does feel a little pointed to the fact that it's still a buddy
- 35:13cop movie. Makes it like less awkward.
- 35:17But if it were any other movie and you denote it as a cop
- 35:24killer, it's like, well, like, sure, it is just an armor
- 35:30piercing round. So anyone with armor would also
- 35:34be killed by this. So I I mean, I don't have much
- 35:43else to say about the ammo in particular other than the fact
- 35:46that you've pointed out times that it doesn't work
- 35:50consistently to to its effect. Yeah, I the one cop that gets
- 36:01shot through the barrel, it's like it's his birthday.
- 36:05That one fell a little bit like a trope of, oh, let's we're
- 36:10really going to feel sorry for this guy.
- 36:11It's like, well, we already were going to feel sorry otherwise he
- 36:14got to be his birthday. Yeah, like maybe give him some
- 36:21actual character instead of letting him show up twice in the
- 36:24movie and the second time just to kill him.
- 36:28Like so lame. But I think what was more
- 36:34impactful and didn't pay off is the fact that Murtagh is a week
- 36:40away from retirement and the whole movie he is like, I'm
- 36:44going to die, like I'm about to retire, therefore I'm going to
- 36:49die. And it's a few close calls.
- 36:53Basically, he is going to die because you can't stop working.
- 36:57Who's going to stop retirement in the 90s?
- 37:02You got to be kidding me. This you got to keep working.
- 37:06Yeah, you live to work and you work to live company needs.
- 37:09You and it's like this is all a little bit too, too much.
- 37:18Yes, you can really enjoy your job, but man I feel like you
- 37:25should be able to retire if you're planning on it.
- 37:28Take a promotion. Surely he doesn't need to always
- 37:34be out on the streets solving crimes and getting into
- 37:37gunfights like, but this is. I'm not sure if this is the
- 37:44start of the trope of X days until retirement, but it
- 37:51certainly becomes a running theme after this movie.
- 37:56Whether it be someone dying or just for comedic effect, you'll
- 38:01always have a cop who's like, I'm five days away from
- 38:05retirement and that's usually a sign that they are going to die.
- 38:10But sometimes they don't. And to my knowledge, I think
- 38:13this is where that starts. Although, spoiler alert, Murtagh
- 38:18will live until the next movie. Thankfully.
- 38:26Yeah, I would like to talk about Murtagh's family because today I
- 38:33learned that his wife and children have been the same
- 38:38actors for all three movies and they will continue to be the
- 38:42same actors for the next movie as well.
- 38:45That's fun. Yeah.
- 38:47So if their appearance changes, it's because they are naturally
- 38:51getting older and that's just how it is.
- 38:54But I when I saw, I think it's Rayna.
- 38:59I can't remember the oldest daughter's name.
- 39:01Rianne. Thank you.
- 39:03When Rhianne shows up, I was like, did they recast?
- 39:07Did they get a new person? Because she doesn't look like
- 39:10she did in the last two movies. But Nope, it was the same
- 39:13actress she has and she will be there for the 4th movie.
- 39:19Yeah, I I'm really into. The family I enjoy that.
- 39:26I do think it is like maybe the decision not to retire is not
- 39:34the most healthy, but the family was like, yeah, we'll we'll
- 39:38still be here waiting for you to retire.
- 39:40Like well, good to support. You're just like in the first
- 39:44movie they they break into his bathroom while he's taking a
- 39:48bath. At least this time his wife had
- 39:51the decency to to put a towel over him.
- 39:56I don't feel like we talked about Leo much.
- 39:58He's not. Yeah, did Leo.
- 40:01I was about to say let's let's get to Leo because he is,
- 40:05despite being so important to the last movie and being here
- 40:09for this movie, as you said, he barely counts, he barely
- 40:14matters. He's living off of that home
- 40:17alone money now, like he doesn't need to be in this movie.
- 40:25He's he's a real estate agent. He's going to sell the Murtaz
- 40:29house for some reason. They're they're selling their
- 40:31house. We don't know why.
- 40:33It's been three years. They get to live their life.
- 40:36You pointed it out in the first movie when they were doing their
- 40:39renovations. You don't always talk about the
- 40:42why when you're doing stuff like it's just a part of life that
- 40:46things are happening and Leo is going to sell their house.
- 40:51And that to me is the best part of Leo when he's being a real
- 40:56estate agent, when he's asking people, do you own your own
- 40:59house? That's that's my thumbs up for
- 41:03Leo. Leo, the real estate agent,
- 41:06thumbs up. I like it, Yeah.
- 41:08He he's a little annoying with the the hockey rink gunshot and.
- 41:14Yeah. Riggs and Murtaugh being jerks
- 41:16to him just kind of feels like they don't.
- 41:21In the end of the last one, they kind of brought him in more than
- 41:26the level of the jaywalker. But when you mess with his
- 41:28chart, you kind of put him back down to the, oh, I'd pull a gun
- 41:32on you if I had to. And it's like, yeah, but you
- 41:35like Kim. I know like I'm sitting here
- 41:39like last movie he was part of the family.
- 41:41Now this movie, you guys are being jerks to him again, for
- 41:46real. He's even the one who solves the
- 41:50mystery. Like when he gets reunited with
- 41:54the crew and and they're like, figure out who this person is,
- 41:58He's like, Oh yeah, I figured that out.
- 41:59And he's got this real estate thing that he's doing in this
- 42:03specific location. Like he solves the mystery and
- 42:08yet nobody gives him any respect.
- 42:10Nobody gives him any respect around here, so I I think they
- 42:15do Leo dirty in this movie. I still like the character, I
- 42:20just wish that the writers liked him.
- 42:24Yeah, Oh yeah. I don't have many good points to
- 42:31dwell on. Like, I think I like the new
- 42:37actress. I think I like her more in the
- 42:40fourth one. The rigs Murtagh just feel more
- 42:45forced than normal. Like I don't can't really point
- 42:50to it other than we can't express our emotions without
- 42:54violence. It's just impossible in 1992,
- 42:58you know, you must punch something or when the therapist
- 43:03come by, comes by, you must suppress something.
- 43:08Just you can't. You can't exist with the tough
- 43:13emotions and complicated emotions of a 1992 LA police
- 43:17officer. The.
- 43:23Yeah, ex cop, I'm with you. On that villain, he's
- 43:28run-of-the-mill. If the relationships felt better
- 43:32than I wouldn't care as much, but they felt lesser.
- 43:35So you got to have something to put there and the villain was
- 43:39just this is bad guy. He's definitely the most
- 43:43forgettable of all of the villains.
- 43:46They even find his business partner midway through the movie
- 43:50and they don't care. They they roll up on him at one
- 43:54point to try to figure out who's supplying the cop killers.
- 43:58And yeah, the villains just their their decoration for this
- 44:03movie like they're they try to make him sound imposing.
- 44:09He's an ex cop He's he's got some good lines of dialogue.
- 44:15He just is so forgettable when we've had near cartoonish
- 44:21villains from the last two movies and then he just got a
- 44:25regular corrupt dude. Like I don't know, it just
- 44:29doesn't work as well for me. I feel like he reminds me of
- 44:32that one dude in James Bond who wasn't the main villain but got
- 44:36exploded in the in the submarine.
- 44:39Oh yeah, I don't even remember. Timothy Dalton won.
- 44:43It was I, It was one of his two movies.
- 44:47It was his second one. Was that License to Kill?
- 44:51Maybe I think because that was like, oh, everything's on on the
- 44:55table, kill everybody. But like that villain,
- 45:00forgettable, he dies in an interesting way, but I don't
- 45:06recall much else about the bad guy other than he was the bad
- 45:10guy that got found out by another bad guy and OK.
- 45:15We just needed to have a bad guy.
- 45:17There's the bad guy. We got you one.
- 45:19He's in the movie, so. I mean, I don't know if we're
- 45:24ready to take any sort of ratings.
- 45:27I. Don't have.
- 45:28There was something I wanted to bring up and I'm trying to
- 45:31remember what it was because, well, OK, I think the movie has
- 45:39110 out of 10 seen. And that is Murtagh drunk on the
- 45:46boat when he's just wallowing in his self pity and Riggs shows up
- 45:54to have a discussion. Yeah, he has to be drunk to
- 45:58give, you know, his emotional feelings, but it's there.
- 46:04And he's very torn up over the fact that he has killed a kid.
- 46:09Like, that's that's not something that you expect from a
- 46:14modern movie. But then like, yeah, I, I did
- 46:18feel it. I was the movie almost got me to
- 46:22tears listening to him being upset over killing a kid.
- 46:28Like so I I do have to give the movie its credit.
- 46:33It had a surprisingly emotional scene in on a boat.
- 46:39Like the I'm good on them they. They never got me Riggs.
- 46:43He has also big feelings. Yes, that's.
- 46:47Like, and, you know, good. I'm glad they're yelling at each
- 46:50other and I'm glad they're feeling their feelings.
- 46:53And at least we got it. Like it took us long enough.
- 46:59Yeah, it was OK. I do think Riggs kind of pulling
- 47:04the spotlight to himself instead of first being there for his
- 47:10partner. Like maybe it was the way to
- 47:15connect. That's true.
- 47:16But it. I'll give it a nine out of 10
- 47:19then on that scene, because you are correct, he does.
- 47:23He is very douchey. Yeah.
- 47:25What about my feelings? You didn't shoot the kid like
- 47:31you. Kind of.
- 47:32You were asleep on the ground. The whole thing into motion so.
- 47:39And then I do have to say my big thumbs down to this movie and
- 47:46frankly to the franchise so far, is the lack of consequences.
- 47:52It is so irritating, like the only time we got consequences in
- 47:57this movie was because they failed to disarm a bomb and then
- 48:0210 minutes later they're promoted back to detective.
- 48:08We don't get to explore any of this.
- 48:11Made me so mad. And then before we get to the
- 48:16ratings, did you watch the post credit scene?
- 48:21I I debated if I had to wait very long and I don't remember
- 48:24seeing enough credit time to go watch it, so Nope.
- 48:30It is not worth it. You didn't miss anything.
- 48:37I okay, I don't even know if we get to see the actors, it might
- 48:42just be them, their voices, but they are driving to another bomb
- 48:48threat and as they pull up the bomb explodes.
- 48:53Now I remember. So they don't even get out of
- 48:55the car. They don't even go in.
- 48:57They're just like, don't tell anyone we were there, blah, blah
- 48:59blah. And it's supposed to be funny,
- 49:02but it's not. It's not worth it it.
- 49:04I don't even know why it's in the movie.
- 49:06Like cutting room floor material all the way.
- 49:10They just needed to blow up another building.
- 49:12They had $35 million. They had to blow up another
- 49:15building. Let's do it.
- 49:18Sign a check, make it happen. For real.
- 49:22That's that's what we get for $35 million.
- 49:24Two buildings getting blown up. All right, well, yeah, I don't
- 49:30have anything else in the movie proper, so let's just tell the
- 49:33audience that on this podcast, we do ratings, not grades.
- 49:37The primary difference is where you find the average in a grade.
- 49:41You say A7 out of 10 is the average because you don't want
- 49:43people to feel bad, but we say no, the average should be the
- 49:47middle. There for a 5 out of 10 is what
- 49:50we define as average. If we rate it above that, it
- 49:54means we liked it. If we rate it below that, it
- 49:56means we maybe didn't like it. That doesn't necessarily mean we
- 50:00don't recommend it. There have been times when a
- 50:03movie is good that I wouldn't recommend watching.
- 50:06There have been times when a movie is bad and I would say
- 50:08watch it for sure. But on this show, just know that
- 50:13a 5 out of 10 is the average. We're not saying it's a bad
- 50:16movie if it's a 5. We're just saying it's an
- 50:18average movie. So with that said, Justin,
- 50:22please tell us what did you give Lethal Weapon 3?
- 50:26Very little Hemming and hind about this one.
- 50:30It isn't this redeeming as the second one.
- 50:36I think Leo allows the feeling of not just the violence is the
- 50:44answer to come through. Like Leo is respected and
- 50:47welcomed the family at least for 24 hours in this one.
- 50:55I don't really get the sense that anybody likes each other
- 50:58like they're they're Riggs falls in love.
- 51:04But it's kind of in spite of the fact that he doesn't like her
- 51:09initially, he does like her. He doesn't like her.
- 51:13They don't like Leo, or at least they don't have any final
- 51:17redeeming scene of, yeah, you can run the siren as you go
- 51:20back. Like just because we we feel,
- 51:23yeah, you're, you're one of us. And it's like, oh, that's so
- 51:26nice guys. Like you've been a jerk.
- 51:28And this one, I don't remember any sort of thing like that
- 51:31happening. So it's below average.
- 51:37It is a four. That is a fair rating because I
- 51:44am also at a four. I just think that this movie, it
- 51:51it tried, it had a couple of good moments, but it just
- 51:56doesn't capture what the last two movies had.
- 52:01Like it feels like they were trying to capture the the
- 52:04mystery detective side of things from the first one and a little
- 52:09bit of comedy from the second one.
- 52:12And they didn't really give me either.
- 52:15And so and then again, I think modern history colors this movie
- 52:21A. Whole bunch I think.
- 52:24For real, I think if we had actual heroic police in the year
- 52:302026, this movie would have aged well.
- 52:34But the fact that I have such little trust for modern police
- 52:40really colors watching a cop wave his gun around and threaten
- 52:46to shoot someone for jaywalking. Like it's.
- 52:50It's just a little bit harder to forgive these shenanigans.
- 52:55So it's hard to say that, you know, the movie aged poorly
- 53:00because of history. But at the same time, we live
- 53:03now in the present, and we judge movies based on the world and
- 53:08the experiences that we've had now.
- 53:11And so I think an audience watching this movie today would
- 53:15not find it as charming as an audience watching it in 1992.
- 53:21And so I think a Thor is a really respectable score for
- 53:26this movie, all things considered, because even without
- 53:30history, you still have a movie that fails to capture on the the
- 53:35detective side or the comedy side.
- 53:38So I think Thor is being generous if I'm honest.
- 53:42Which of course gives us a show average of a nice easy 4 out of
- 53:4810, Don't even have to think it over the next one.
- 53:55My older brother said that at least Once Upon a time the 4th 1
- 53:59was his favorite. I don't remember much about it.
- 54:03I think it was the premiere of Jet Li to an American audience.
- 54:08He had been doing Kung Fu movies in Hong Kong and China and and
- 54:13he was a rising star. But I think this was one of his
- 54:18first big movies for an American audience.
- 54:22So I'm excited to at least see Jet Li like he's cool.
- 54:26I. Think that's what made more of
- 54:29my enjoyment last time because it was generally Riggs could be
- 54:37counted on as being just you know, if you added his crazy and
- 54:41his rage, then he will overpower you with all of his martial arts
- 54:44like well, what if somebody is better at that because.
- 54:48Yeah, like what if someone's competent?
- 54:51Yeah, someone maybe you're close to retirement, maybe you should
- 54:54consider that. So we'll see what happens.
- 54:57I'm. Excited also I'm also excited to
- 54:59see if we get to add another member of the family.
- 55:02You know, we've got Riggs, Murtaugh, Leo and Lorna.
- 55:06Are we going to get a fourth person or a fifth person to join
- 55:10our happy family? I'll.
- 55:12Recall. If they do, we'll have to see.
- 55:15There is someone on the the poster, there is a named actor
- 55:20who is a pretty big deal, especially in 1998.
- 55:24But I just don't remember enough of this movie to know A if I'm
- 55:31if it's going to be good and B if that character deserves to be
- 55:37on the marquee. Like is he actually a part of
- 55:40the movie or is he just a cameo? Gotcha.
- 55:44Yeah. So we'll see.
- 55:46All right. Well, thank you, dear listener,
- 55:49for checking us out again. It is always a pleasure to see
- 55:55you on the analytics. I wish, I wish we could see you
- 56:00in real time, but obviously we can't do that.
- 56:03But we could hear from you if you want to send us an e-mail at
- 56:06potatochippicturespod@gmail.com. You can also interact on
- 56:12whatever platform that you are listening on, whether that be a
- 56:14like a comment, a follow, a subscribe.
- 56:19And then of course, one of the best ways to help this show is
- 56:22to share the episodes with your friends and say, hey, another
- 56:27one came out and I'm excited for you to listen to it.
- 56:30Send it to your friends. If you hated it, send it to your
- 56:32enemies. Either way, sharing is a really
- 56:35good way to show you are caring and we don't really do anything
- 56:43on the social media anymore because I kept getting dinged.
- 56:47They still exist, but just don't expect any new content to show
- 56:52up on those things. So if you're not hearing from us
- 56:55on the e-mail or the comments, you can always leave a comment
- 56:59on one of our older posts on the social media.
- 57:02I'll eventually see it it you know, that's that's just the way
- 57:05it goes. But until next time, too old for
- 57:10this shit. Yeah.
- 57:12Goodbye, goodbye.