Review: 'Rush Hour 2' breezy fun

By Paul Clinton
CNN Reviewer

(CNN) -- Jackie Chan's movies are the cinematic version of M&Ms: They melt on the screen and not in your mind, leaving you with a pleasant rush afterwards. The movies aren't about much -- simply an endless variety of pratfalls, double-takes, and slapstick -- and they rarely make much sense, but they do move like a speeding train, leaving you free to put your mind into neutral.

His newest, "Rush Hour 2," fits right into the Chan oeuvre. It looks like, sounds like, and plays like a continuation -- not merely a sequel -- of the original "Rush Hour" (1998), which also co-starred Chris Tucker. It also was one of the most successful movies that year.

In his American movies, Chan usually plays the "fish out of water" character, from "Rumble In The Bronx" (1996), his first successful United States film, right up to last year's "Shanghai Noon."

But with Tucker and the "Rush Hour" franchise (yes, you can bet your last yuan there will be a third), Chan's found a new variation on another old formula -- the road picture. Not just any road picture, either, but the Bob Hope/Bing Crosby "Road" pictures of the '40s and '50s. These seven films, including "Road To Singapore" (1940) and "Road to Utopia" (1946), established a comedic genre. They featured the faintest of plots, but were long on sight gags, humor involving popular culture and the hilarious chemistry between Hope and Crosby, two stumblebums usually vying for sarong-clad Dorothy Lamour.

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Both "Rush Hour" movies hit all the same buttons as those "Road to ..." films. Chan and Tucker even sing a little -- with an emphasis on little. Certainly, they're not as good as that crooner Crosby, but their howls even make Hope sound like Pavarotti. "Rush Hour 2" also has its own version of the standard Lamour character. Here, the exotic femme fatale is Isabella Molina, played by the beautiful Roselyn Sanchez.

Flying legs, cracking jokes

This time out, the boys are in Hong Kong. Chief Inspector Lee of the Hong Kong Police (Chan) and his ol' buddy, James Carter of the Los Angeles Police Department (Tucker), are supposed to be on vacation in Hong Kong, with Lee acting as tour guide for his American friend. But work keeps getting in the way as Lee drags Carter from one crime scene to the next, always promising that this "is the last one."

But when the American embassy is bombed, killing two U.S. Customs agents, Lee and Carter become embroiled in the action. We're off!

Jackie Chan becomes embroiled in the action in "Rush Hour 2"

This time they're on the trail of "superbills" -- high-grade counterfeit U.S. $100 bills - being distributed by Ricky Tan (John Lone), the head of the dreaded Fu-Cang-Long Triad, and his American partner, Steven Reign (Alan King).

Legs fly, torsos spin and heads are cracked as da boys take on the Chinese mob. Then the mysterious and seemingly corrupt U.S. Customs agent Molina enters. Of course, she's really an undercover agent for the Secret Service -- or is she? Just like Lamour in the original road pictures, you don't know until the final reel if she's with the boys or out to get them.

Adolescent energy

The action moves from Hong Kong to Los Angeles and then to Las Vegas, never missing a beat or a punch. Chan continues doing his own death-defying stunts while paying homage to the greatest physical comedians of all time, Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton.

This is one reason for Chan's phenomenal success. Combining action with slapstick, pathos with humor, and all of it with plenty of adolescent energy, Chan is an amazingly likable "everyman" caught in these over-the-top situations.

As with all of Chan's films, the best is saved for last. During the closing credits, the audience is given the treat of outtake after outtake of Jackie getting the stunts wrong, and proving once again that Hong Kong's greatest action star is his own best special-effects secret weapon.

What a "Rush."

"Rush Hour 2" opens nationwide on Friday, August 3, and is rated PG-13.