`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. .
