Review: "Rush Hour 2" Improves on the Original (Happy B'day, Chris Tucker)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 113 (of 2007) by Leroy Douresseaux

Rush Hour 2 (2001)
Running time:  90 minutes (1 hour, 30 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for action violence, language, and some sexual content
DIRECTOR:  Brett Ratner
WRITER:  Jeff Nathanson (based upon the characters created by Ross LaManna)
PRODUCERS:  Roger Birnbaum, Jonathan Glickman, Arthur Sarkissian, and Jay Stern
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Matthew F. Leonetti
EDITORS:  Mark Helfrich and Robert K. Lambert
COMPOSER:  Lalo Schifrin

COMEDY/ACTION/CRIME

Starring:  Jackie Chan, Chris Tucker, John Lone, Ziyi Zhang, Roselyn Sanchez, Harris Yulin, Alan King, Jeremy Piven, Saul Rubinek, and Gianni Russo with Don Cheadle

The subject of this movie review is Rush Hour 2, a crime comedy and action film from director Brett Ratner and starring Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker.  The film is a sequel to the 1998 film, Rush Hour.  In the new film, Chan’s Lee and Tucker’s Carter are on vacation in Hong Kong when they get caught up in a counterfeit money scam.

Chief Inspector Lee (Jackie Chan) is once again the foil for Detective James Carter (Chris Tucker) as Carter comes to Hong Kong on vacation and spends much time subjecting Lee to verbal barbs.  The rest and relaxation is cut short when an explosion kills two American agents.  Lee learns that this case may be tied to crime boss Ricky Tan (John Lone).

Tan is a former policeman and was the partner of Lee’s father until Tan betrayed him.  Lee and Carter follow the case back to Los Angeles, where they meet Isabella Molina (Roselyn Sanchez), a sexy customs agent.  Isabella informs them that Tan is part of an international scheme to launder 100 million dollars in counterfeit U.S. currency.  Lee and Carter head to Las Vegas, the epicenter of Tan’s scheme, for an explosive showdown.

Rush Hour 2 is Rush Hour, but with some improvements.  The screen chemistry between Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker, which was quite good in the first film, is even better this time around.  It’s as if three years haven’t passed between the first film and this one.  They have a near-flawless rhythm and flow, and their performances turn this flimsy joke of a crime plot into action/comedy gold.  Rush Hour 2 does have one big problem – there’s not enough of it.

7 of 10
B+

Thursday, August 09, 2007

Updated:  Saturday, August 31, 2013

The text is copyright © 2013 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for syndication rights and fees.

-------------------------------

Review: "The Hunted" - White Ninja for Dummies

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 68 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux


The Hunted (1995)
Running time: 111 minutes (1 hour, 51 minutes)
MPAA – R for strong bloody ninja violence and some sexuality
WRITER/DIRECTOR: J.F. Lawton
PRODUCERS: John Davis and Gary W. Goldstein
CINEMATOGRAPHER: John Conroy
EDITORS: Robert A. Ferretti and Eric Strand

DRAMA/MARTIAL ARTS with elements of a thriller

Starring: Christopher Lambert, John Lone, Joan Chen, Yoshido Harada, Yôko Shimada, Mari Natsuki, and Michael Warren

J.F. Lawton wrote two very successful movies – the hugely popular film Pretty Woman (which sent Julia Robert’s career into orbit) and Under Siege (the action film that briefly put Steven Seagal on the A- list), and he created the TV series V.I.P. Thus, he may never be remembered for the film he wrote and directed in the mid-90’s, the so-so Far East martial arts drama/thriller, The Hunted. It’s the story of an American businessman (Christopher Lambert) who witnesses the assassination of a prostitute(?) and earns the ire of her assassin, Kinjo (John Lone), a ninja killer with a rep of legendary proportions. His self-appointed protector is Takeda (Yoshido Harada), a samurai whose family has a centuries old grudge against Kinjo’s clan.

The film is combination of a few things, none of them very well done. Half the film is a low rent martial arts drama and revenge story that borrows Asian customs in the sort of half-assed way syndicated television series do. Basically, an American filmmaker makes a thoroughly mediocre version of what a Hong Kong, Chinese, or Japanese director would make. The other half of the film is a crime drama. A critic in the midst of reviewing the Coen Bros. Miller’s Crossing once said that every American director who aspires to greatness has to do a mob movie or movie about organized crime. This is Lawton’s attempt at it with ninja’s replacing the Irish, Jews, and Italians of American mob pictures.

The really offensive thing about this film is that Paul Racine, the American played by Lambert (of Highlander fame), ends up saving the day. After nearly two hours of grinding an ancient grudge between Japanese clans, the Westerner ends up the last man standing, and he gets the Japanese girl. I have to admit that I really liked this film the first time I saw it, except for Racine coming out on top, which is politically correct in terms of making big bucks at the American box office. Upon second viewing, I realized that this is a tepid flick that goes on for too long. Although it has lots of potential and a few interesting scenes, The Hunted struggles just to be an average flick.

3 of 10
C-