Alas, The Movie Misfires

It's the relationship, stupid. We've always accepted the fact that it would be intensified from time to time by the interruptions of various noisy MacGuffins--wacky car chases, imploding and exploding urban structures, the odd psychopath or two. But what we liked was solid, stolid Roger Murtaugh (Danny Glover) trying to cope with the erratic behavior of his partner, Martin Riggs (Mel Gibson), who didn't much care whether he lived or died and therefore courted death with alarming candor.

The trouble is that over the past decade Martin has undergone a healing process: from half-mad he dwindled first to charming eccentricity...