Happy Friday, Dave here with a quickie of a review for you. I really thought some of the other guys would post a review of this, and I thought, well, I've got lots of junk to do today, so I wouldn't bother, but now, it's the afternoon already and nobody's posted one. So, what the heck, here's a quick impression.
I guess the most important bit of info to impart to you is that we all loved this film. Harry, Robo and I were really happy throughout the whole thing, and I think Father Geek liked it a good deal as well. Fairly close to unanimous and enthusiastic approval.
For every film I see, I use different standards of judgment. A drama, to me, is the sort of thing that I nitpick on plot and character development, dialogue and such. But, I don't judge a drama by the quality of its comedy or action content. For comedy and action flicks...well, you probably understand what I'm saying here. Enough said about that. Different films have different objectives, and if a film meets the objectives it sets out to meet, and doesn't pretend to be something it isn't, well, it's at least halfway to success. The other half, I think, is being either interesting and compelling, or just generally entertaining.
RUSH HOUR 2, to me, and I think to the other guys I saw it with, was a complete success. I wasn't thrilled about the first in the series, but I think that in this second feature, the chemistry is really working well. It's goodness, distilled for greater effectiveness. Refined entertainment. Firing on all cylinders. Make up your own similar metaphor.
It made me happy and made me laugh, in other words. That's all I wanted from the film, and I got it. Jackie Chan is as magnetic a personality as the world will ever see, and Chris Tucker, as sometimes...a bit much as he can be, is very likable, not overly over-the-top. Both just deliver great comic performances, and they're balanced really well against each other. Usually I expect Jackie to carry films on his own, with his own refined comic timing and amazing kung fu, but Chris, while he obviously can't hold his own on the kung fu front, well, I was actually really glad that he was in this film. At least half of the laughs I got out of this film were from him, probably more than half.
I'm still surprised with how entertaining RUSH HOUR 2 is. Maybe it's just the crappy summer of film that we've been having, but I don't think so. I think it's just that Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker make a great team on screen. Happily, this film opens on a weekend with sparse competition, so it'll probably make a ton of dough. Word is that both guys want to do at least another, and there is even talk that there may be a fourth. Who knows if the formula can be kept fresh that long, but at the very least, the second RUSH HOUR movie will always bring me happy thoughts. Even better an endorsement can I give to it, actually...I'd be willing to pay full price to see it again, and I'll be picking it up on DVD when it comes out.
