Coming off the back of two major plusses, an excellent trailer and the knowledge that Ziyi Zhang, the Chinese uber-babe and all round sex kitten, is in it I just had to go and take a look. Now I liked the first one, the unusual pairing of loudmouth Chris Tucker and arse-kicking superstar Jackie Chan worked brilliantly and the box office receipts testified to this. The film was funny, exciting and a good way to spend 90 minutes. The sequel however is even better.
LAPD detective James Carter (Tucker) is on holiday in Hong Kong visiting his old friend and sometime partner Detective Inspector Lee (Chan). Instead of the good times he expects however he is driven from case to case by the workaholic Lee and is ready to snap. Offered the chance of a visit to a club he accepts only to find that the place is full of Triads and that they are only there to arrest the members of a criminal group with links to a bombing at the US embassy. Queue amazing stuntwork, gripping action and Ziyi. At this point I nodded into dreamland somewhat due to her porcelain beauty and ability to look really innocent, angry and offended at the same time, but sadly her screentime was minimal and I was able to rejoin the rest of the audience. We learn eventually that the boss of this particular gang is none other than the murderer of Lee's father, something only minorly covered in the original movie, and so it becomes something personal for both of our heroes.
I hate writing reviews for movies like this. It was good, so I can't lay into it, but it didn't cover anything important or worthy of debate in the way that Magnolia, Happiness or Fight Club do. It's simply impossible to come up with anything worthwhile to say barring the usual acting/directing/scripting faloozle, and this is annoying. I really enjoyed the film, it made me laugh a lot and the interaction between the two leads was once again impressive. Given that they are obviously supposed to be good friends now we don't have to go through the Hollywood cliche that is mismatched cops again. They seemed at ease and this reflected well on the audience, who were clearly relaxed and having a good time. The fight scenes, while admittedly few and far between, were superb and owed a lot to being filmed in Hong Kong, where safety procedures are not quite as rigourous. Chan and Tucker taking on 20 of Tan's goons in a massage parlour is a stand out example of the genre as far as I'm concerned and Chan belies his 47 year old state to pull off flips, kicks and split-second fighting just as good as his mid-80's work.
But it's Zhang Ziyi (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, The Road Home) who steals every scene she's in and a small role in a big blockbuster like this is exactly what she needs to climb onto the Hollywood ladder. Speaking entirely in a Chinese dialect throughout the film she still convinces as the violent, merciless right hand woman of Triad boss Tan. For an example of my earlier point about her ability to look hurt and/or dangerous check out the scene where she is peeling an apple with a knife. Oh forget that, just gaze dreamily at her instead. |
