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Rush Hour 2
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The laughs come as frequently as kicks and punches whenever Jackie Chan is fighting. With Chan, kung fu always turns into dangerous slapstick. Chan elevated himself from cult Hong Kong figure to Hollywood celebrity by teaming with comedian Chris Tucker for the funny-buddy movie, Rush Hour. Their reunion in the sequel, Rush Hour 2, comes with high expectations. Boasting leads as likable as Chan and Tucker, director Brett Ratner's action-comedy has a boost over its blockbuster peers.
Tucker delivers plenty of Hip Hop sass as a Los Angeles cop who's bewildered by the habits of his Asian friend. Chan is solid and agreeable as the veteran Hong Kong detective. But the disappointing truth is that Rush Hour 2 suffers from the same uninspired storytelling found in most of this summer's big-budget movies. In fact, Rush Hour 2 struggles just to connect its kung fu sequences in a believably dramatic manner. The movie slows every time Chan pauses to catch his breath and practice his English.
Repeating a story line made popular in the 48 Hrs. and Lethal Weapon movies, Rush Hour 2 leaps into action without explaining how LAPD Detective James Carter (Tucker) ever met Hong Kong Detective Lee (Chan) in the first place. Ratner and screenwriter Jeff Nathanson assume audiences have already seen the first film and are plenty familiar with detectives Carter and Lee.
Trouble follows the girl-crazy Carter while he's visiting Lee in Hong Kong. After two Americans are killed in an explosion inside the U.S. embassy, and a second bomb tears apart Lee's police station, Carter and Lee track a triad gang lord (John Lone) they suspect of ordering the attacks. It's not long before the gang lord's sultry henchwoman (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon star Zhang Ziyi) targets the detective buddies. Later, a pretty secret service agent (Roselyn Sanchez) confirms to Lee that the release of $100 million in counterfeit U.S. dollars is the reason for the recent attacks. It appears somebody will do anything to protect his shipment of fake money.
As the kung fu henchwoman, Hu Li, Ziyi shows herself to be just as tough as the boys. Following in the footsteps of veteran Hong Kong action women like Maggie Cheung, Brigitte Lin and Michelle Yeoh, Ziyi's boundless energy brings Rush Hour 2 a welcome jolt. What her performance lacks in dialogue, Ziyi compensates with charisma and physical presence. After her screen debut in the costume adventure Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and her follow-up performance in the poetic drama The Road Home, Ziyi appears at ease with Rush Hour 2's popcorn hijinks. She swings her stiletto-heeled boot like a deadly weapon and throws a dagger with pinpoint accuracy. Every time Ziyi appears, she brings Rush Hour 2 some much needed style and sex appeal. It's clear she'll be an asset to any director smart enough to cast her.
Like all of Chan's movies, Rush Hour 2 has plenty of acrobatic kung fu, synchronized fighting and daredevil stunts. Punches are delivered with comic-book gusto. Kicks occur with childlike glee. The action is consistently outrageous. When the bathrobe-clad heroes confront the gang lord's thugs in a massage parlor, it's clear Rush Hour 2 is not to be taken too seriously.
Chan has plenty of charisma and Rush Hour 2 needs every ounce of it to hold its tale together. With his shaggy black hair, pug nose and deadpan facial expressions, Chan is a clownish action hero. But what makes him unique is how he unites his comic intelligence with his fast-moving feet. Chan is a kung fu version of his idols, silent film comedians Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd.
Rush Hour 2 possesses the crisp photography and elaborate sets one expects from a Hollywood production. Its story might be Hong Kong pulp, but Rush Hour 2 looks worlds apart from badly dubbed martial-arts movies shown on late night TV. What's disappointing is that Rush Hour 2 fails to harness its countless explosions into one extraordinary stunt by Chan. When compared to Chan's earlier movies -- he plummets from a clock tower in Project A, hangs from a speeding bus by an umbrella in Police Story and stages a climactic battle on hot coals in Drunken Master II -- Rush Hour 2 is surprisingly tame.
Still, Tucker's motor-mouth banter and Michael Jackson parody matches well with Chan's freewheeling action. The language barrier gags have surprising staying power. The friendship between Chan and Tucker is believable. The Hong Kong skyline becomes as much a character as the film's bickering detectives. So it's disappointing when Rush Hour 2 relocates its story to Los Angeles and Las Vegas.
Chan's gravity-defying stunts have a way of compensating for a film's dramatic shortcomings, but Rush Hour 2 never stops feeling like a movie that was made without a script. The final battle assumes added importance in an action movie like Rush Hour 2. So it's especially frustrating how Ratner finishes the film with another, seen-it-all-before explosion.
Some people might tell you that a "chop-socky" action movie like Rush Hour 2 invites lower expectations. But Chan's long-time fans know otherwise. Rush Hour 2 fails to make a lasting impact, because its kung fu stunts aren't outrageous enough.
CityBeat grade: C.
