RUSH HOUR 2 -----------
Beginning right where the original left off, "Rush Hour 2" finds Hong Kong Inspector Lee (Jackie Chan) hosting his LAPD buddy James Carter's (Chris Tucker) vacation while trying to break a counterfeiting ring that's just bombed the U.S. Embassy. While screenwriter Jeff Nathanson's plot pulls in dual bad guys in Asian gang leader John Lone and L.A. magnate Alan King and dual babes in Zhang Ziyi ("Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon") and Puerto Rican beauty queen Roselyn Sanchez for the leads to tussle with, director Brett Ratnor wisely keeps the focus on action and comedy over story.
"Rush Hour 2" is one of those rare sequels that surpasses the original. While breaking no original or artistic ground, the problems with the first effort (over-emphasis on an unexciting plot and an imbalance between the two leads) have been fixed.
Chan and Tucker's non-PC repartee has been criticized for its reliance on racial jokes, but its delivered with no ill will ('In Hong Kong, I'm Michael Jackson and you're Toto' Chan garbles. Later, presented with a bevy of Asian beauties Tucker advises 'Never get in front of a black man in a buffet line.' Tucker's case-cracking advice to always 'follow the rich white man' proves worth heeding in this film as well.).
Chan delivers his amazing stunts with his appealing charm yet again, but this time Tucker holds his end up whether performing a hilarious karaoke rendition of 'Don't Stop Til You Get Enough' or getting directions from a non-English speaking chicken vendor. Tucker's climatic choreographed fight with Zhang Ziyi is a comedic ballet, while Chan's given a potential love interest (and plot mechanism for part 3) in Sandra Bullock lookalike Sanchez. Jeremy Piven is amusing as a flamboyantly gay Versace salesman and an uncredited Don Cheadle ("Swordfish") plays straight man to Chan and Tucker as a Chinese restaurateur/martial artist.
"Rush Hour 2" is the first commercial summer movie that's actually entertaining. Make sure to stay for Jackie Chan's habitual end credit outtakes and you should leave the theater with a smile on your face.
B
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