Lethal Weapon 3 (1992)

Lethal Weapon 3 is a 1992 buddy cop action comedy film directed by Richard Donner and starring Mel Gibson, Danny Glover, Joe Pesci, Rene Russo and Stuart Wilson. It is a sequel to Lethal Weapon and Lethal Weapon 2, and it is part of the Lethal Weapon film series. The movie is set in 1992, six years after Riggs (Gibson) and Murtaugh (Glover) originally met. The pair are joined by their companion of three years ago, Leo Getz (Pesci), as well as beautiful but aggressive Internal Affairs Sergeant Lorna Cole (Russo). This time, the villain is intelligent but ruthless former LAPD Lieutenant Jack Edward Travis (Stuart Wilson).

The happenstance busting of an armored car robbery leads LAPD Sergeants Martin Riggs (Gibson) and Roger Murtaugh (Glover) to stumble upon an internal affairs investigation. A rogue AWOL cop, Jack Travis (Stuart Wilson), is stealing weapons from impound and selling them on the black market. Riggs and Murtaugh must work with internal affairs Sergeant Lorna Cole (Russo), to investigate. This is complicated when Murtaugh kills a friend of his son's, Darryl, after being fired at with a fully automatic gun, a MAC-10, acquired through Travis. In addition, Travis is distributing armor-piercing bullets, or "cop killers", placing the officers of the force in further peril. Murtaugh must get over the shock of killing his son's friend, and Riggs and Cole must learn to get along in order to put a stop to Travis' operation. A subplot of the film is Murtaugh's impending retirement. The film begins eight days before he is to retire, and ends on the intended day of his retirement. Leo Getz (Pesci), who has gone straight, is now a real estate salesman and is helping sell Murtaugh's house. He also provides some assistance in the Travis investigation, since Travis' legitimate cover operation is an under-construction exurban housing development. As he helps Murtaugh get over killing Darryl, Riggs airs out his own frustrations over the impending end of their partnership. Ultimately, Riggs and Cole fall in love, and they and Murtaugh find the link between Darryl's gun and Travis. They get together to bust Travis at his desert housing development. They light the development on fire, and though Cole is wounded, Riggs ultimately kills Travis using Darryl's gun and Travis' own cop killer bullets. In the end, Murtaugh decides not to retire after all, preserving his partnership with Riggs.