Everybody was Kung Fu fighting (Rush Hour 2 (DVD))

Member Name: hugon

Product:	Rush Hour 2 (DVD)
Date:	05/08/01 (175 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Chemistry between Tucker and Chan, Great stunts, Funny

Disadvantages: Tucker can get on your nerves, Feeling that you've seen some of the stunts before

I really enjoyed the first Rush Hour – it was a bit of a laugh, the plot wasn’t too deep, there where plenty of laughs and some kung fu fighting, the trailers for the sequel promised more of the same, so I booked my tickets. I ended up booking one too many, someone didn’t turn up, so in the end I had two seats all to myself. That’s just a little aside by the way; it’s nothing to do with the film really.

* The film * –minor spoiler warning – skip to what I though if you want to avoid these.

The film more or less starts off where the first film left us. James Carter (Chris Tucker) is visiting Inspector Lee (Jackie Chan) in China, after Jackie visited Carter’s neck of the woods in the first film. While he is there, there is a bomb attack on the US Embassy and two undercover agents are killed. The man suspected of orchestrating the bombing is Ricky Tan (John Lone), who was Lee’s father’s partner in the police, but who double-crossed his father to get into the smuggling business.

Lee and Carter manage to get in on the case, but their bungled attempt to capture Tan on his boat leads to them being thrown off the case, and Tucker is sent back to LA, and Lee goes with him, and fall in with another undercover agent (Roselyn Sanchez) who is working inside of the operation. The triad gang are trying to smuggle counterfeit money and presses to print the money into the USA, and are using casinos to launder the fake money, and it is up to Tucker and Lee to bring the operation to a halt and for Lee to avenge his father’s death, all in their unique style.

* What I thought *

I may as well say it now – it isn’t as good as the first one. It follows the old sequel “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it routine”, and if you’ve seen the first film you know what to expect. That doesn’t mean it isn’t enjoyable, I laughed plenty duri
ng the film, but it isn’t as original as the first, it seems a bit rougher round the edges and more loosely held together – it’s almost formulaic in it’s content – talk for a bit, fight a group of triads, talk a bit more, fight a bit, argue, make up, fight, talk, discover the link, fight, take out the boss, happy ending (it would probably make a decent computer game if you took out the talking scenes). That’s the film in a few short lines, but I’m not going to get a good rating with just that as my opinion, so here comes that padding.

For such a simple plot, I actually found it slightly confusing in places, and at times I wasn’t sure what was going on, and what was covering what with regards to the smuggling operation. The secret agent also appears to change sides umpteen times in the film, and that can be quite tiresome wondering which side she’s actually on. I found the pace a lot more uneven in this film than the first one, some of the talking goes on for perhaps too long and you’re longing for them to get involved in a little bit of action. The pace of the movie isn’t brilliant – the first half speeds up and then slows right down, before it gets itself together and speeds towards the end. It takes a while to find it’s feet and isn’t as easy to get into, it drops into the plot far to quickly before you get a chance to ease into the film.

Once you figure out the plot (this probably won’t take everyone else as long as it took me), it’s fairly obvious who’s going to live and who’s going to die, it’s just a question of when and how, and to give the film it’s credit, it does keep us guessing in that way, and throws a few surprises and minor twists in along the way.

The fight scenes are as superb as ever, both visually impressive and humorous. There’s always plenty going on, as our two heroes take on seemingly endless
triads, and of course you know they’re going to come out on top. The stunts are well choreographed, but you get the feeling they’ve been slightly recycled from the first film – especially the ending, which is so similar to the first as to not be funny. The fighting is possibly so enjoyable because it’s not taken seriously, Jackie Chan is prepared to play it for laughs, and while it’s technically impressive, it’ll also raise a smile as they bump into each other, or fall over and manage to still make a recovery. It’s been done before and it’s hardly rocket science, but it’s fun to watch.

The film is probably made more enjoyable by it’s characters. The villains are superb – Ricky Tan is a difficult one to judge – he comes across as nice, before you get to see the nasty side to him. He isn’t the strongest villain; he lacks the real evil edge to make you hate him (I was quite apathetic towards him myself). His henchwoman, Hu Li, (the gorgeous Ziyi Zhang) makes a much better villain, totally bent on her own success, not willing to let anyone stand in the way, and a mean hand at hand to hand combat and also particularly fond of using bombs to get what she wants.

Jackie Chan is a little weak as an actor, but then again he is acting in his second language. The sentimental side of him trying to avenge his father’s death is a little over played in the film and makes it drag at times, but he’s not really there for acting, he’s more of the straight man to Tucker, and unquestionably there for the combat scenes. He’s extremely agile, able to back flip and somersault, take on two at one and dive through small spaces; it’s certainly a joy to watch. It’s good to see him not take himself to seriously, as he quite often lets himself be the object of the joke, and he also has quite a few one lines that steal Tucker’s limelight a little.

The o
nly way to describe Chris Tucker would be like a camp Eddie Murphy. The guy has talent, and you can see he has developed on the combat front from the first film, and is used much more so as a result. He plays up to the black guy sidekick role perfectly, loudmouthed and full of attitude, and for the most part he pulls it off very well. However, sometimes his excitable style can become slightly too much, and as a result you wish he would button his lip for a bit and give your ears a rest. It only happens on a few occasions, but he needs to lay off the attitude a little or he is in serious danger of becoming typecast. He has most of the best lines in the film, and most of his dialogue is consistently funny, so on the if you can ignore him getting on your nerves once in a while you’ll enjoy him.

Roselyn Sanchez’s secret agent Isabella Molina provides a bit more female interest in the film as the agent you are never sure which side she lies on. She is adept in the fighting scenes as well, as well as injecting a fair amount of sexiness into the film. It stops it from being just a two man show as she interacts with the two main characters very well, her character isn’t outstanding, but provides a little female charm to what can be quite a macho movie at times.

All the characters work together wonderfully and come across as believable, interacting with one another so you can see their roles superbly. Hu Li is the figure of hate, Tan the director behind the operation, Tucker and Chan play off one another really well, you can see a great marketing opportunity to make lots of films with them in the lead role. The way they both pine over Isabella also adds a little warmth into their characters.

There’s no need to worry if you haven’t seen the first movie, the film more or less completely stand son it’s own and makes next to no reference to the first movie. If you hated the first one, you’ll hate this too, and
if you loved it, you’ll like the sequel – it’s just more of the same stuff. It left the plot open handily for a third film in the series, which I would probably still go and see, but I think three would be the absolute limit to the series. It’s an enjoyable way to fill an hour and a half if you’re bored, it mixes the comedy with the action well, and while the pace is a little uneven, it’s still a highly enjoyable film. Make sure you stay after the conclusion for the outtakes reel, if you want a laugh at the stunts going wrong.

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