Rush Hour 2 | Film Review | Slant Magazine

FILM MOVIE REVIEW

Rush Hour 2 *½

by Ed Gonzalez on August 4, 2001 Jump to Comments (0) or Add Your Own

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Jackie Chan lost his grace years ago and Chris Tucker has the voice and personality only a blind/deaf canine could love unconditionally. Still, fools rush in to celebrate their bland vaudeville routines. When speaking to a colleague last week, I suggested that great movies (Apocalypse Now Redux) are worthy of lengthy discourse. Rush Hour 2 isn't even bad enough to merit a lengthy tirade so why mince words when this film is too bland to even deserve this dismissive paragraph? Despite the film's preponderance of cheap racial jokes (Tucker's Detective Carter accidentally punches Chan's Inspector Lee, his apologia grounded in a brother's opinion that all Asians look alike), the film is all equal opportunity. Carter may want to bitch slap Lee back to Bangkok but Lee later returns the threat by saying he wants to bitch slap Carter back to Africa. How droll! Zhang Ziyi is the film's saving grace if only because the beauty has a way of sweetly knocking Tucker into silent surrender. In those precious, post-kick moments, Rush Hour 2 achieves a near state of bliss.

Director(s): Brett Ratner
Screenplay: Jeff Nathanson
Cast: Jackie Chan, Chris Tucker, Chris Penn, Don Cheadle, Roselyn Sanchez, Harris Yulin, Alan King, John Lone, Zhang Ziyi
Distributor: New Line Cinema
Runtime: 100 min.
Rating: PG-13
Year: 2001