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Rush Hour 2 (2001) - DIrected by Brett Ratner
"You think they scare me? I'm from Los Angeles, man. We invented gangs!"
Rush Hour is one of those late-childhood series for me that helped turn me into a fan of Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker. They're a pair that can hardly be matched when you want a buddy cop movie, and are probably more screen-capable than Mel Gibson and Danny Glover of Lethal Weapon. Unlike Lethal Weapon, Rush Hour was more carefully treated. It didn't have sequel after sequel coming out and a TV adaptation. Instead, it was careful about the sequels. The first of two sequels for the Rush Hour series is almost as good as the original, which proves there was care taken.
While on vacation after the events in the first film, James Carter and Inspector Lee finds themselves in the middle of another case when two US Customs agents are killed by a gang lead by Ricky Tang, the man suspected of killing Lee's father. After botching an arrest attempt, Carter and Lee go to L.A. and team up with a secret service agent to continue the case and bring down anyone in L.A. who may be working with Tang, notably a white billionaire who was seen on RIcky's yacht.
The movie had much of the same heart and soul of the first movie, so there's really not much to complain about except that the movie had a "my father is dead" subplot which didn't really do anything for the movie except add a little extra drama. The drama worked well enough in the first movie, but in this one it was a little hamfisted. There are many ways to go with a sequel, but Rush Hour 2 seemed to start contracting a small case of "sequelitis."
Despite this, the movie had much of the same humor, where Chan and Tucker mock each other's races again, Chris Tucker's proud flaunting of modern African-American culture (usually through dance), and Jackie's serious but comedic persona drives many of his action scenes. And one thing I thought this film did better than its predecessor was mix the action and the comedy to a more effective approach. This way, we got the best of both worlds almost constantly, which is something a lot of buddy cop movies fail at or just don't bother to do.
Well, I know this review was relatively short, but that's all that can really be said about Rush Hour 2. It should prove good enough for most fans of the first and it keeps itself on track a lot. Sure, it feels like a sequel sometimes. But at least it's about as good as the first movie.
"You think they scare me? I'm from Los Angeles, man. We invented gangs!"
Rush Hour is one of those late-childhood series for me that helped turn me into a fan of Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker. They're a pair that can hardly be matched when you want a buddy cop movie, and are probably more screen-capable than Mel Gibson and Danny Glover of Lethal Weapon. Unlike Lethal Weapon, Rush Hour was more carefully treated. It didn't have sequel after sequel coming out and a TV adaptation. Instead, it was careful about the sequels. The first of two sequels for the Rush Hour series is almost as good as the original, which proves there was care taken.
While on vacation after the events in the first film, James Carter and Inspector Lee finds themselves in the middle of another case when two US Customs agents are killed by a gang lead by Ricky Tang, the man suspected of killing Lee's father. After botching an arrest attempt, Carter and Lee go to L.A. and team up with a secret service agent to continue the case and bring down anyone in L.A. who may be working with Tang, notably a white billionaire who was seen on RIcky's yacht.
The movie had much of the same heart and soul of the first movie, so there's really not much to complain about except that the movie had a "my father is dead" subplot which didn't really do anything for the movie except add a little extra drama. The drama worked well enough in the first movie, but in this one it was a little hamfisted. There are many ways to go with a sequel, but Rush Hour 2 seemed to start contracting a small case of "sequelitis."
Despite this, the movie had much of the same humor, where Chan and Tucker mock each other's races again, Chris Tucker's proud flaunting of modern African-American culture (usually through dance), and Jackie's serious but comedic persona drives many of his action scenes. And one thing I thought this film did better than its predecessor was mix the action and the comedy to a more effective approach. This way, we got the best of both worlds almost constantly, which is something a lot of buddy cop movies fail at or just don't bother to do.
Well, I know this review was relatively short, but that's all that can really be said about Rush Hour 2. It should prove good enough for most fans of the first and it keeps itself on track a lot. Sure, it feels like a sequel sometimes. But at least it's about as good as the first movie.