Rush Hour 2

Maybe being Jackie Chan with one of the best Asian celebrities who really make it big in Hollywood and really brought honours for us here in Asia, I knew I was in for a great time when I first watched this movie. Also when I was growing up, his movies were those which are at times on the television here.

It was like four or five years back I saw this on an projector at the school hall of my alma mater, as part of the school's post-exam activities. Really, I almost laughed myself silly as I was watching with my other peers then. Like many of us, we grew up watching Jackie's trademark kungfu moves and his amazing stunts which often made us all in awe on the movie screen.

Jackie and Chris Tucker's chemistry just clicked with each other. And watching Zhang Ziyi playing a bad girl, it was like - whoa! Watching some of the movie scenes being played out in Hong Kong somehow brought back some memories for this person who grew up watching some of those Hong Kong TV dramas (with subtitles and Mandarin dubbing) on the television here. Looking at some of those scenes, at times I wondered how really the western world will see Hong Kong. But given many knew who is Jackie (he is from Hong Kong himself actually), I knew it's a relief.

The two guys are just real funny between each other. But when it's time for those kungfu moves and the stunts, it always excite me. It's always like that.

Definitely really funny. Prepare to laugh in stitches.

`Rush Hour 2' is a highly enjoyable follow-up to the original 1998 box office smash. Like the previous film, this first of what will undoubtedly be a long line of lucrative sequels combines sardonic humor with eye-popping martial arts action sequences to entertaining effect. Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan repeat their roles as unlikely cop buddies, starting off the film in Chan's home territory, Hong Kong, and finishing up in Tucker's, the good ole US of A.

Chan, with his sheepish deadpan delivery, makes a perfect straight man for Tucker's fast-talking bad brotha wiseacre, whose mouth engages in more heavy-duty action than Chan's karate-chopping hands and feet. Much of the humor is generated by Tucker's ability to seem totally unflustered by any peril that happens to come his way, managing to sass talk his way out of one dangerous predicament after another. Moreover, Chan's ability to create humor out of perfectly choreographed stunt sequences puts him right up there with some of the silent comedy greats like Chaplin and Keaton. The split-second perfection of these scenes, combined with the balletic grace with which they are executed, makes him one of the truly unique talents working in movies today. Luckily, in his move to mainstream American filmmaking, Chan has been able to find behind-the-scenes talent good enough to match his own. The screenplay by Jeff Nathanson, though no world-beater when it comes to originality or depth, does posses a playful spirit that works well in the context of the genre. Likewise, director Brett Ratner keeps the action percolating along at a lively, often dizzying clip.

As with most Chan films, however, `Rush Hour 2' seems to go on for about a half hour too long – even though its running time barely clocks in at a very short 90 minutes. Perhaps this type of material really can't be sustained much beyond an hour before the repetitiousness of it begins to take its toll. However, that is certainly a minor quibble about a film that, for the most part, provides plenty of laughs, some kick-ass performances and action sequences that, as per usual for a Chan film, will, quite literally, make your jaw drop. .

Action-comedy legend Jackie Chan teams up with the amusing Chris Tucker in this off-beat sequel to the 1998 hit, Rush Hour. Both actors create likable characters with slightly more depth to them than the average comedic archetypes. Tucker is a loudmouthed clown from the LAPD, and Chan is a quiet, methodical Chief Inspector from Hong Kong. Not just racial stereotypes, their characters are developed just enough to make you want more from them - particularly Chan's.

The plot begins to develop in earnest about 1/3rd of the way through the film and takes a few predictable twists and turns until reaching a climactic conclusion. John Lone plays Chan's father's former police partner and the leader of the Triads - a huge Hong Kong gang. He plays his character like a Chinese Chris Walken and, along with Ziyi Zhang, his beautiful but psychotic partner, provides a nice dramatic balance to the lunatic Tucker and straight-man Chan. The story evolves to expose a counterfeiting plot in which the Triad, the US Secret Service, and others are all somehow involved.

Chan and Tucker have great chemistry and, with a good supporting cast, they make this sequel work. Rush Hour 2 is a fun, lightweight action film suitable for teens on up.

Rush Hour 2 is just like the first Rush Hour. You still get all the action and comedy as the first one. Except that their is a new mission for Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker. Overall, this movie is pretty decent. I would suggest this movie.

Some might say, hearing about Rush Hour 2: 'Not another sequel! / Not another cop buddy film!' and so on. But with these kinds of films, it is not so much originality at all. It is about being entertained. I mean going to this film and wanting to see something original is like going to see The Bridges of Madison County and rooting for violence, massive shootings, flying body parts and intense profanity. Either way: THAT WILL NOT HAPPEN

Almost all things being equal, there were only two things that could screw this one up (actually three). The script or the actors. The third thing I was talking about is actually something that was in the original Rush Hour as well. Chris Rock. I have seen a handful of films with him now and find him a bit annoying at times. But this time I did not feel like that at all. Either I have become immune to his overdone behaviour all the time, it has become less worse or I'm simply getting to the point in my life where I'm accepting the fact that there are people like that in life. Either way, I thought he was better than in for instance Money Talks (and maybe even the first Rush Hour). Anyway the other two things that could have seriously screwed up this film were the script and the actors, but I must say that although the film was not too original, the story held up very well and so did the actors. The reason for that is probably that the tone of the Rush Hour films has (so far) been more comedic. It is not supposed to be serious, it is supposed to be more like Die Hard, with a couple of big explosions, a lot of fighting (less shooting than in Die Hard here) and jokes. Well as in the first one the jokes were delivered well, from beginning to end, including the bloopers. As far as the film went, I must say I thought the ending was great and I also enjoyed the last two bloopers very much. This film proves that, if the jokes and the acting are good enough they even can make up for small losses in story quality and other bad things, like action film clichés. It is kind of funny that there are films in which clichés can be really disturbing and ruin almost your whole film experience. In others however (like in this one) clichés are present, though they not ruin your experience of the matter at all. I guess it is all in the approach of the material and the cast and crew involved.

Jackie Chan (as Inspector Lee) did was he is supposed to do in this film, be funny and do a lot of fighting. There were a few difficult stunts here but not one that really made my jaw drop to the floor. I would never say this was due to the ageing of Chan like others do, because I do not know whether that is true and second of all, I did not mind that there were a few less 'jaw dropping stunts'. It did in no way hurt the film.

To finish it all of, I have to give credit to Roselyn Sanchez, who did a great job on this film. I could just not figure out if she was supposed to be one of the 'good guys', or the 'bad guys'.

I would really appreciate it, if the makers could bring back Roselyn Sanchez for Rush Hour 3 if they'll ever consider making another instalment. Although I don't think they have to consider, Rush Hour 3 will definitely be happening. So, Jackie and Chris: BRING IT ON FOR RUSH HOUR 3!

8 out of 10

Note: this review has been amended to remove some sexist comments I included at the time. Apologies for any offence caused. I was young and stupid at the time, thinking I was being 'cool'.