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* FamousLastWords:
** "What job?" Hong
** "What do you want?" General
** "What job?" Hong
** "What do you want?" General
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* ShootTheBuilder: The Triads counterfeit millions in Chinese currency to buy the release of their imprisoned leaders and murder the printer (who almost backs out of the job until they kill the eldest member of his family and then threaten the others) once the job is done. It's unclear whether they intended to kill him from the start or only did so due to the pressure of the police investigation or out of anger at his earlier resistance.
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* FeelingTheirAge: Riggs admits that he, too, is now getting too old for this shit.
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!!Tropes:
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* FinaleCredits: The end credits show a photo album of pictures of scenes from all four movies, as well as behind-the-scenes pictures, culminating in a shot of the entire cast and crew.
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* FamilyOfChoice: Built upon from the previous installments, with Leo now included as well. It ends with all of them taking a photo together after Lorna and Rianne both giving birth.
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* ElNinoIsSpanishForTheNino: When Riggs, Murtaugh, and Butters seek to question Uncle Benny at a dentist's office, they give him a dose of laughing gas to make him more complacent, except they give him too much gas, making him way too aloof and carefree to be very helpful. His one clue as to the location of the Hongs is "Renminbi". When asked what that means, Uncle Benny explains, "'Renminbi' means... 'Renminbi'." [[note]]Ng later explains that it is Chinese for "Peoples' Money", and is the currency of the Peoples' Republic of China; Benny was giving them a hint that the EvilPlan involved counterfeiting money.[[/note]]
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* ElNinoIsSpanishForTheNino: When Riggs, Murtaugh, and Butters seek to question Uncle Benny at a dentist's office, they give him a dose of laughing gas to make him more complacent, except they give him too much gas, making him way too aloof and carefree to be very helpful. His one clue as to the location of the Hongs is "Renminbi". When asked what that means, Uncle Benny explains, "'Renminbi' means... 'Renminbi'." [[note]]Ng later explains that it is Chinese for "Peoples' Money", and is the currency of the Peoples' Republic of China; Benny was giving actually trying to give them a hint that the EvilPlan involved counterfeiting money.[[/note]]
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*** The screenplay specifies that Ng's partner is killed in the shootout, but Ng isn't.
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* AltarTheSpeed: Riggs and Cole marry ''while Cole is giving birth to their child'', and simultaneously Rianne is giving birth to Murtaugh's grandchild/Butters' child.
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* HairTodayGoneTomorrow: Riggs has shorter hair in this movie.
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* InvincibleVillain: Wah Sing Ku is easily the most dangerous and hardest to bring down villain in the entire series, and perhaps the most badass ''character'' in it. He is a LightningBruiser who can beat the tar out of you with his kung fu, strangle you to death in a second with one hand, take apart your gun in a flash ''while you are holding it'', and at one point literally ''dodges a bullet''. It takes Riggs and Murtaugh working together to finally bring him down and they only win because he is blinded by rage and they have to fight dirt. Even then, they both end up with broken bones and nearly killed themselves, being visibly older and in nowhere near as good a physical shape as him doesn't help.
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* InvincibleVillain: Wah Sing Ku is easily the most dangerous and hardest to bring down villain in the entire series, and perhaps the most badass ''character'' in it. He is a LightningBruiser who can beat the tar out of you with his kung fu, strangle you to death in a second with one hand, take apart your gun in a flash ''while you are holding it'', and at one point literally ''dodges a bullet''. It takes Riggs and Murtaugh working together to finally bring him down and they only win because he is blinded by rage and they have to fight dirt.dirty. Even then, they both end up with broken bones and nearly killed themselves, being visibly older and in nowhere near as good a physical shape as him doesn't help.
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* InvincibleVillain: Wah Sing Ku is easily the most dangerous and hardest to bring down villain in the entire series, and perhaps the most badass ''character'' in it. He is a LightningBruiser who can beat the tar out of you with his kung fu, strangle you to death in a second with one hand, take apart your gun in a flash ''while you are holding it'', and at one point literally ''dodges a bullet''. It takes Riggs and Murtaugh working together to finally bring him down and they only win because he is blinded by rage and they have to fight dirt. Even then, they both end up with broken bones and nearly killed themselves, being visibly older and in nowhere near as good a physical shape as him doesn't help.
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* InvincibleVillain: Wah Sing Ku is easily the most dangerous and tough to bring down villain in the entire series, and perhaps the most badass ''character'' in it. He is a LightningBruiser who can beat the tar out of you with his kung fu, strangle you to death in a second with one hand, take apart your gun in a flash ''while you are holding it'', and at one point literally ''dodges a bullet''. It takes the Riggs and Murtaugh working together to finally bring him down and they only win because he is blinded by rage and they have to fight dirty, and even then they both end up with broken bones and nearly killed themselves, being visibly older and in nowhere near as good a physical shape as him doesn't help.
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* BadassNormal: Wah Sing Ku is easily the most badass villain in the entire series, perhaps the most badass ''character''. He is a LightningBruiser ArrogantKungFuGuy who can strangle you to death in a second with one hand, take apart your gun in a flash ''while you are holding it'', and at one point literally ''dodges a bullet''. It takes Riggs and Murtaugh working together to finally bring him down and they only win because he is blinded by rage, and even then they both end up with broken bones and nearly killed themselves.
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* BloodierAndGorier: The film is considerably more violent than its predecessors, with its BigBad graphically impaled through the midsection and drowned.
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* BloodierAndGorier: The film is considerably more violent than its predecessors, with its BigBad getting graphically impaled through the midsection and drowned.
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* HonorBeforeReason: In the climax of the film, Riggs and Murtaugh has successfully thwarted the bad guys' plans. But [[spoiler: they killed Ku's brother, leaving him seriously pissed]]. They had more than enough time to make their exit and stay away from Ku's wrath and even begin to walk the other way, talking about coming back with a howitzer or something like it. But then Riggs starts musing about Ku's crazy gun dismantling trick he pulled earlier in the film and they realize they have to face him to end it.
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* HonorBeforeReason: In the climax of the film, Riggs and Murtaugh has have successfully thwarted the bad guys' plans. But [[spoiler: they killed Ku's brother, leaving him seriously pissed]]. They had more than enough time to make their exit and stay away from Ku's wrath and even begin to walk the other way, talking about coming back with a howitzer or something like it. But then Riggs starts musing about Ku's crazy gun dismantling trick he pulled earlier in the film and they realize they have to face him to end it.
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* InvincibleVillain: Wah Sing Ku is easily the most dangerous and tough to bring down villain in the entire series, and perhaps the most badass ''character'' in it. He is a LightningBruiser who can beat the tar out of you with his kung fu, strangle you to death in a second with one hand, take apart your gun in a flash ''while you are holding it'', and at one point literally ''dodges a bullet''. It takes the Riggs and Murtaugh working together to finally bring him down and they only win because he is blinded by rage and they have to fight dirty, and even then they both end up with broken bones and nearly killed themselves, being visibly older and in nowhere near as good a physical shape as him doesn't help.
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The fourth and final film of the ''Film/LethalWeapon'' series, starring Creator/MelGibson and Creator/DannyGlover once again.
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The fourth and final film of the ''Film/LethalWeapon'' series, series and the last to date, starring Creator/MelGibson and Creator/DannyGlover once again.
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The fourth and final film of the ''Film/LethalWeapon'' series.
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The fourth and final film of the ''Film/LethalWeapon'' series.
series, starring Creator/MelGibson and Creator/DannyGlover once again.
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* VideoCredits: All the actors are shown alongside stills of themselves in the movie, going with the photo album nature of the CreativeClosingCredits.
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** Then again, the NRA had criticized the series for its devil-may-care attitude towards safe gun handling. It's likely [[TakeThatCritics these jabs]] were [[DearNegativeReader just a lash out]].
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** Then again, the NRA had criticized the series for its devil-may-care attitude towards safe gun handling. It's likely [[TakeThatCritics these jabs]] were [[DearNegativeReader just a lash out]].
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* StarterVillain: The nameless flamethrower-toting man rocking out to Music/VanHalen who Riggs and Murtaugh confront in the prologue.
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* StarterVillain: The nameless flamethrower-toting man rocking out to [[DorkAge Gary Cherone-era]] Music/VanHalen who Riggs and Murtaugh confront in the prologue.
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* TakeThat: The film contains some shockingly unsubtle jabs against the NRA. A bit hypocritical coming from a series that elevated [[IJustShotMarvinInTheFace dangerous and irresponsible gunplay]] to an art form.
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* TakeThat: The film contains some shockingly unsubtle jabs against at the NRA. A bit hypocritical coming from expense of the National Rifle Association. [[{{Hypocrite}} This is a series series]] that elevated [[IJustShotMarvinInTheFace dangerous and irresponsible gunplay]] gunplay to an art form.form and generally [[ArtisticLicenseGunSafety gives the middle finger to gun safety]].
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No longer to be used as a trope. Use one of its sub-tropes.
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* BadassNormal: Wah Sing Ku is easily the most {{Badass}} villain in the entire series, perhaps the most {{Badass}} ''character''. He is a LightningBruiser ArrogantKungFuGuy who can strangle you to death in a second with one hand, take apart your gun in a flash ''while you are holding it'', and at one point literally ''dodges a bullet''. It takes Riggs and Murtaugh working together to finally bring him down and they only win because he is blinded by rage, and even then they both end up with broken bones and nearly killed themselves.
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* BadassNormal: Wah Sing Ku is easily the most {{Badass}} badass villain in the entire series, perhaps the most {{Badass}} badass ''character''. He is a LightningBruiser ArrogantKungFuGuy who can strangle you to death in a second with one hand, take apart your gun in a flash ''while you are holding it'', and at one point literally ''dodges a bullet''. It takes Riggs and Murtaugh working together to finally bring him down and they only win because he is blinded by rage, and even then they both end up with broken bones and nearly killed themselves.
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* BadassNormal: Wah Sing Ku is easily the most {{Badass}} villain in the entire series, perhaps the most {{Badass}} ''character''. He is a LightningBruiser ArrogantKungFuGuy who can strangle you to death in a second with one hand, take apart your gun in a flash ''while you are holding it'', and at one point literally ''dodges a bullet''. It takes Riggs and Murtaugh working together to finally bring him down and they only win because he is blinded by rage, and even then they both end up with broken bones and nearly dead before he kills them.
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* BadassNormal: Wah Sing Ku is easily the most {{Badass}} villain in the entire series, perhaps the most {{Badass}} ''character''. He is a LightningBruiser ArrogantKungFuGuy who can strangle you to death in a second with one hand, take apart your gun in a flash ''while you are holding it'', and at one point literally ''dodges a bullet''. It takes Riggs and Murtaugh working together to finally bring him down and they only win because he is blinded by rage, and even then they both end up with broken bones and nearly dead before he kills them. killed themselves.
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* BadassNormal: Wah Sing Ku is easily the most {{Badass}} villain in the entire series, if not the most {{Badass}} ''character'' period. He is a LightningBruiser ArrogantKungFuGuy who can strangle you to death in a second with one hand, take apart your gun in a flash while you are holding it, is easily the best fighter in the series, and at one point literally ''dodges a bullet''.
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* BadassNormal: Wah Sing Ku is easily the most {{Badass}} villain in the entire series, if not perhaps the most {{Badass}} ''character'' period. ''character''. He is a LightningBruiser ArrogantKungFuGuy who can strangle you to death in a second with one hand, take apart your gun in a flash while ''while you are holding it, is easily the best fighter in the series, it'', and at one point literally ''dodges a bullet''.bullet''. It takes Riggs and Murtaugh working together to finally bring him down and they only win because he is blinded by rage, and even then they both end up with broken bones and nearly dead before he kills them.
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* ArtisticLicenseFirearms: Wah Sing Ku disassembles Riggs' Beretta... while Riggs is holding it and trying to shoot him (which is physically possible with a Beretta due to its design, so it's not just Hollywood trickery, but definitely AwesomeButImpractical).
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* ArtisticLicenseFirearms: ArtisticLicenseGunSafety: Wah Sing Ku disassembles Riggs' Beretta... while Riggs is holding it and trying to shoot him (which is physically possible with a Beretta due to its design, so it's not just Hollywood trickery, but definitely AwesomeButImpractical).
* BadassNormal: Wah Sing Ku is easily the most {{Badass}} villain in the entire series, if not the most {{Badass}} ''character'' period. He is a LightningBruiser ArrogantKungFuGuy who can strangle you to death in a second with one hand, take apart your gun in a flash while you are holding it, is easily the best fighter in the series, and at one point literally ''dodges a bullet''.
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* CreativeClosingCredits: The end credits has pictures of the cast and crew with "Why Can't We Be Friends" playing in the background.
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* CreativeClosingCredits: The end credits has pictures of the cast and crew with "Why Can't We Be Friends" playing in the background.background, mostly because everyone knew this would be the last in the series and they wanted to celebrate it.
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* DirtyCop: Riggs confronts Murtaugh about this, asking how he can support his family, get his kids though college, rebuild his house and buy a fishing boat on a Sergeant's salary. Murtaugh is reticient, and this drives a wedge between them. It turns out that his wife has written several MillsAndBoonProse-heavy {{Romance Novel}}s (Riggs describes them as "the cheesy sex novels") that sell ''extremely'' well, and he's been embarrassed about where the money comes from.
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* DirtyCop: PlayedForLaughs and {{Averted}}. Lorna says Internal Affairs got an anonymous tip that Murtaugh was on the take, though it is clear they don't take it seriously. Riggs doesn't either, but then he notices that Murtaugh has an unusual amount of money eventually he confronts Murtaugh him about this, it, asking how he can support his family, get his kids though college, rebuild his house and buy a fishing boat on a Sergeant's salary. Murtaugh is reticient, and this drives a wedge between them. It turns out that his wife has written several MillsAndBoonProse-heavy {{Romance Novel}}s (Riggs describes them as "the cheesy sex novels") that sell ''extremely'' well, and he's been embarrassed about where the money comes from.
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* ElNinoIsSpanishForTheNino: When Riggs, Murtaugh, and Butters seek to question Uncle Benny at a dentist's office, they give him a dose of laughing gas to make him more complacent, except they give him too much gas, making him way too aloof and carefree to be very helpful. His one clue as to the location of the Hongs is "Renminbi". When asked what that means, Uncle Benny explains, "'Renminbi' means... 'Renminbi'."
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* ElNinoIsSpanishForTheNino: When Riggs, Murtaugh, and Butters seek to question Uncle Benny at a dentist's office, they give him a dose of laughing gas to make him more complacent, except they give him too much gas, making him way too aloof and carefree to be very helpful. His one clue as to the location of the Hongs is "Renminbi". When asked what that means, Uncle Benny explains, "'Renminbi' means... 'Renminbi'."" [[note]]Ng later explains that it is Chinese for "Peoples' Money", and is the currency of the Peoples' Republic of China; Benny was giving them a hint that the EvilPlan involved counterfeiting money.[[/note]]
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* RealityEnsues: HeroInsurance is not part of the package when you join the police service. In the fourth film, Riggs racks up all the expenses Murtaugh has had over the series -- rebuilding large parts of his house twice, buying a new boat, and sending two kids to college -- and realizes that there is ''no way'' Murtaugh could afford to do all that on a sergeant's salary, thus suspecting him of being a DirtyCop. This is compounded when Riggs confronts Murtaugh, and Murtaugh fails to offer an alternative explanation.
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* RealityEnsues: HeroInsurance is not part of the package when you join the police service. In the fourth film, service, so Riggs racks up all the expenses Murtaugh has had over the series -- rebuilding large parts of his house twice, buying a new boat, and sending two kids to college -- and realizes that there is ''no way'' Murtaugh could afford to do all that on a sergeant's salary, thus suspecting him of being a DirtyCop. This is compounded when Riggs confronts Murtaugh, and Murtaugh fails are KickedUpstairs in a (vain) attempt to offer an alternative explanation.stop them engaging in destructive car chases and causing explosions while they are saving the day. Since it doesn't work, they get demoted back to Sergeants at the end of the movie.
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%%* RuthlessForeignGangsters: Wah Sing Ku and the Triads.
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* WhatASenselessWasteOfHumanLife: Butters' EstablishingCharacterMoment shows that while he accepts the idea of lowlifes or even fellow cops getting killed (as he describes it, "occupational hazard"), he gets pretty upset at a normal civilian being the victim of a murder. Riggs and Murtaugh even have to tell him to calm down.
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* WhatASenselessWasteOfHumanLife: Butters' EstablishingCharacterMoment shows that while he accepts the idea of lowlifes or even fellow cops getting killed (as he describes it, "occupational hazard"), he gets pretty upset at a normal civilian being the victim of a murder. Riggs and Murtaugh even have to tell him to calm down. In retrospect, he was probably exaggerating a bit to look good in front of Murtaugh, [[spoiler: that is, morally good enough to be married to his daughter.]]
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Added to laser ricochet entry
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*** Making that particular sequence worse, the laser is clearly pointing to the winch's upper curve. Assuming the laser is accurate, there's no way Riggs could have even ''accidentally'' made that shot.
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* ImprobableAimingSkills: Brutally deconstructed. Murtaugh tries to kill Wah Sing Ku with his head-cocked shooting. Ku is able to dodge, but the bullet hits and kills his brother behind him.
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[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lethal_weapon_four_ver3.jpg]]
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[[redirect:Film/LethalWeapon]]
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Lorna is pregnant with Riggs' baby and both he and Murtaugh are contemplating the implications of growing older. Meanwhile, Riggs and Murtaugh receive a brash younger detective named Lee Butters (Creator/ChrisRock) and are dealing with Chinese Triads when they uncover a boatload of illegal immigrants. [[DragonInChief The Dragon (In Chief)]]/BigBad of this group is Wah Sing Ku, played by Creator/JetLi, by whom Riggs finds himself entirely outmatched.
!!Tropes:
* ActorAllusion: Kim Chan (Uncle Benny) says, "Bloody marvelous!" a catchphrase often used by his character The Ancient in ''Series/KungFu: The Legend Continues''. [[Film/TheCorruptor This also isn't the first time he played a crime lord named Uncle Benny]].
* ArtisticLicenseFirearms: Wah Sing Ku disassembles Riggs' Beretta... while Riggs is holding it and trying to shoot him (which is physically possible with a Beretta due to its design, so it's not just Hollywood trickery, but definitely AwesomeButImpractical).
* ArtisticLicensePhysics:
** Riggs' laser trick shooting in the start of the film at the tanker, with the laser sight going being able to ricochet from a surface.
** Also in the same scene, barrels of flammable liquid are not ignited by gunfire, and they do not detonate and launch like missiles using the bullet holes as exhaust ports.
* AvengingTheVillain: Wah Sing Ku attempts to flee Riggs and Murtaugh with his brother, as all the other Four Fathers have been killed. When Murtaugh shoots Ku's brother while aiming for Ku himself, Ku sticks around and tries to kill Riggs and Murtaugh in revenge. [[spoiler: Riggs then shoots Ku underwater after they fall off a pier while fighting.]]
* BattleInTheRain: The opening shootout with the human tank occurs while it's raining, and the final fight with Ku takes place in an intense rainstorm on a pier.
* BashBrothers: Riggs and Murtaugh embody this trope during the final fight against Ku, who is much younger and faster than them.
* BloodierAndGorier: The film is considerably more violent than its predecessors, with its BigBad graphically impaled through the midsection and drowned.
* BottomlessMagazines: Averted, everyone ends up having to reload, from the flamethrowing psycho at the beginning of the movie (he reloads his assault rifle) to Riggs and Murtaugh at the end of the movie ("Alright, I'm gonna go find us some more ammo!"). Interestingly, Riggs actually ''does'' shoot through about three magazines of ammunition in his Beretta in the final battle, and Murtaugh is notably cautious about how many bullets he shoots: police officers generally carry a loaded weapon and two reloads (45 bullets for Riggs, 18 for Murtaugh).
* CatchPhrase: Ku's "If this was Hong Kong, you'd be dead", which refers to the criminals in his home turf handling unpleasantries more efficiently.
* ChekhovsGunman: [[spoiler:Little Ping, who saves Riggs, Lorna, and the Murtaughs along with Rianne from a burning house.]]
* CorruptBureaucrat: The State Department official who accepts a bribe from the Triads to create fake passports for the Four Fathers, and the Chinese general waiting for a larger bribe to free them.
* CreativeClosingCredits: The end credits has pictures of the cast and crew with "Why Can't We Be Friends" playing in the background.
* DestroyTheProductPlacement: The car chase scene between the ’98 Pontiac Grand Am and a Mercedes Benz 420 SEL (with the former being driven by Roger and the latter by a criminal) ends with the Pontiac being partially damaged by crashing through an office and suffering some damage by a truck. That same truck ends up ramming the Mercedes Benz.
* DiesWideOpen: Murtaugh discovers [[spoiler: Hong's]] corpse this way.
* DirtyCop: Riggs confronts Murtaugh about this, asking how he can support his family, get his kids though college, rebuild his house and buy a fishing boat on a Sergeant's salary. Murtaugh is reticient, and this drives a wedge between them. It turns out that his wife has written several MillsAndBoonProse-heavy {{Romance Novel}}s (Riggs describes them as "the cheesy sex novels") that sell ''extremely'' well, and he's been embarrassed about where the money comes from.
* DisarmDisassembleDestroy: Ku dismantles Riggs' Beretta to end the MexicanStandoff between them in a scene that establishes him as a serious badass.
* DoctorDoctorDoctor: Riggs and Murtaugh get promoted to captain unexpectedly. They respond by calling their usual captain, each other, and even themselves "Captain" incessantly.
* DragonInChief: Wah Sing Ku is technically working to free his bosses, one of whom is his older brother. But since they are all in prison he's the one who actually drives the plot.
* DramaticThunder: In the final fight with Wah Sing Ku.
* EveryCarIsAPinto: A car driven by some Triad {{Mooks}} try and ram Riggs' car into the path of an oncoming train. By cleverly pulling ahead, Riggs leaves them on the tracks instead, and their car is hit by the train, blowing up from the impact. Then the burned out wreck lands on the parallel tracks and get hits by another train going the opposite direction, causing it to blow up ''again''.
* EvilVersusEvil: The cops deliberately trigger this by revealing to a faction of corrupt Chinese soldiers that their [[TheTriadsAndTheTongs Triad]] business partners are trying to rip them off. Riggs takes an awfully sensible view of the subsequent shoot-out:
-->'''Riggs:''' Keep your head down, Rog! Let them kill each other!
* FamousLastWords:
** "What job?" Hong
** "What do you want?" General
* FlamethrowerBackfire: The opening scene has Riggs do this to a flamethrower-toting bad guy, shooting a vent on the guy's equipment which sends him to an explosive death.
* FridgeBrilliance: One instance actually happens in-universe, and is not trivia. Note the quotation below is also CasualDangerDialogue.
-->'''Roger Murtaugh''': You ever hear of Ebony Clarke?!\\
'''Martin Riggs''': Yeah, she writes those cheesy sex novels! Why? You boinkin' her?\\
'''Roger Murtaugh''': No, I'm not boinkin' her! Trish is Ebony Clarke.\\
'''Martin Riggs''': Trish is Ebony Clarke!? ...So you ''are'' boinkin' her!\\
'''Roger Murtaugh''': [''realization followed by a big grin''] Yeah...! Yeah, I'm boinkin' her!
* GoofyPrintUnderwear: When Murtaugh is directed by Riggs to strip to his boxer shorts to distract a madman wielding a flamethrower, Riggs asks with a laugh "Are those little hearts?"
* GrandFinale: Of the series.
* GunsDoNotWorkThatWay: No, a LaserSight can ''not'' allow you to perfectly chart a ricocheting bullet's path. It can't reflect its beam off a rusted pipe, either. Suffice to say the ArtisticLicense on firearms was rather heavily invoked throughout the entire series.
* HeavilyArmoredMook: The flamethrower and machinegun wielding lunatic at the start wears heavy metal armour that makes him impervious to bullets.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: A more comedic example would be when Riggs wants to ask the police psychiatrist for legitimate advice regarding his intent to marry Lorna, but his years of mocking her makes her instantly go on the defensive and assume he's trying to punk her again. So he then turns around and punks her for real.
* HonorBeforeReason: In the climax of the film, Riggs and Murtaugh has successfully thwarted the bad guys' plans. But [[spoiler: they killed Ku's brother, leaving him seriously pissed]]. They had more than enough time to make their exit and stay away from Ku's wrath and even begin to walk the other way, talking about coming back with a howitzer or something like it. But then Riggs starts musing about Ku's crazy gun dismantling trick he pulled earlier in the film and they realize they have to face him to end it.
* InsaneTrollLogic: When Riggs and Murtaugh are looking for the Triad thugs who just tried to kill them, they ask a chopper to look for the car they took off in. A black Mercedes on a certain part of the freeway. The chopper says they've got two cars that match that description, one heading east, one heading west. Riggs, who's driving, says they're following the one heading East.
-->'''Murtaugh:''' "How do you know we're chasing the right one?\\
'''Riggs:''' "I don't know, but we're going east, and China's east, so..."\\
'''Murtaugh:''' "Yeah, but China's west too, Riggs."
* KickedUpstairs: Riggs and Murtaugh are both promoted to Captain in the hopes that giving them desk jobs will cut down on the destruction they cause in the city. It doesn't work, and they're busted back to Sergeant by the end of the movie.
* LockedOutOfTheLoop: PlayedForLaughs on Murtaugh, regarding the identity of Rianne's husband, which even Riggs knows.
* MadeOfIron: Wah Sing Ku, who gets impaled with a rebar and still continues fighting. In fact, it took [[spoiler: a full burst from an AK-47 to the torso ''while he was underwater'']] to finally take him down.
* MeleeATrois: The final shootout is between the police, the Triads, and the Chinese military.
* MinorCrimeRevealsMajorPlot: A ship full of smuggled Chinese immigrants → A plot to sneak four Chinese Triad bosses into the country.
* MistakenForGay: Butters was ''trying'' to be nice to his [[spoiler: father-in-law]]. He instead thought that he had the hots for him.
* ElNinoIsSpanishForTheNino: When Riggs, Murtaugh, and Butters seek to question Uncle Benny at a dentist's office, they give him a dose of laughing gas to make him more complacent, except they give him too much gas, making him way too aloof and carefree to be very helpful. His one clue as to the location of the Hongs is "Renminbi". When asked what that means, Uncle Benny explains, "'Renminbi' means... 'Renminbi'."
* OhCrap: Done by [[spoiler:Wah Sing Ku]] before he gets shot [[spoiler:to death underwater.]]
* OlderHeroVsYoungerVillain: Wah Sing Ku is younger than both Riggs and Murtaugh and very skilled in a deadly form of martial arts.
* OutrankingYourJob: Riggs and Murtaugh both get promoted to captain, but the promotions seem to carry no real weight. Neither is assigned any subordinates or additional responsibilities, and aside from Riggs occasionally announcing, "This is your Captain speaking!" to colleagues, both continue to chase criminals as if they were sergeants -- though the whole point of promoting them was to get them out of the field.
* PregnantHostage: [[BigBad Wah Sing Ku]] and his {{Mooks}} force Riggs and Murtaugh to stand down in a MexicanStandoff by dropping their guns, but taking Lorna and Rianne and holding them (and their pregnant bellies) at knifepoint.
* RealityEnsues: HeroInsurance is not part of the package when you join the police service. In the fourth film, Riggs racks up all the expenses Murtaugh has had over the series -- rebuilding large parts of his house twice, buying a new boat, and sending two kids to college -- and realizes that there is ''no way'' Murtaugh could afford to do all that on a sergeant's salary, thus suspecting him of being a DirtyCop. This is compounded when Riggs confronts Murtaugh, and Murtaugh fails to offer an alternative explanation.
** Conversely, Murtaugh is deeply hurt at the accusations of corruption and it takes most of the film for Riggs and Murtaugh to start talking to each other again. Some things can't be said, no matter how close you are.
%%* RuthlessForeignGangsters: Wah Sing Ku and the Triads.
* ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney:
--> '''Wah Sing Ku''': Brother, America has many laws, but written by men. Money can change everything.
* SuperSpeed: They had to get Creator/JetLi to slow his fight scenes down because he was too fast for the actors to react to ''and the camera to catch on film.''
* StarterVillain: The nameless flamethrower-toting man rocking out to Music/VanHalen who Riggs and Murtaugh confront in the prologue.
* SurvivalMantra: "We're not too old for this shit... we're not too old for this shit..."
* TakeThat: The film contains some shockingly unsubtle jabs against the NRA. A bit hypocritical coming from a series that elevated [[IJustShotMarvinInTheFace dangerous and irresponsible gunplay]] to an art form.
* TakingTheBullet: [[spoiler: Butters does this in the final battle when a Chinese soldier is about to shoot Murtaugh from behind. Unlike most examples, it's not fatal.]]
* TheTriadsAndTheTongs: The main villains of this movie.
* TragicKeepsake: Murtaugh finds the watch he gave to the elderly Asian immigrant he befriended...
* TrashTheSet: Murtaugh's boat gets blown up during the fight on the smuggling freighter, and his family's house gets burned down by the Triads.
* UncleTomFoolery: Averted, as Lee saddled to ''two'' heroes, one of whom is black and plays a middle role of being neither insane nor too by-the-book.
* VillainousValour: Only Wah Sing Ku is able to disassemble a Beretta in 5 seconds with his own bare hands and then knock out Riggs and Murtaugh who are older and taller than him. In the final showdown he once again manages to handle them even if they are two vs one.
* WhatASenselessWasteOfHumanLife: Butters' EstablishingCharacterMoment shows that while he accepts the idea of lowlifes or even fellow cops getting killed (as he describes it, "occupational hazard"), he gets pretty upset at a normal civilian being the victim of a murder. Riggs and Murtaugh even have to tell him to calm down.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse:
** The third Four Father must have somehow disappeared when the other two Four Fathers were being shot by the General before the final shootout and when Ku and his brother fled.
** Also, Ng and his partner aren't seen anywhere after the shootout commences and when Murtaugh tells Ng to look after Butters.
* TheWorfEffect: Done interestingly. Riggs realizes his age when the freighter captain handily kicked his ass. But Ku ends up [[YouHaveFailedMe dispatching the captain]] with embarrassingly little effort, proving that he will be quite an enemy to beat.
* YouHaveFailedMe: Wah Sing Ku does this both to the freighter captain for losing the Hong family (as well as the entire shipment of Chinese), as well as Uncle Benny for generally disappointing him.
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