The Jackie Chan comedy level is always like the Paralympics. Only in reality, they have problems with their limbs, and in the movies, he has problems with his brains. Therefore, it’s both a sin to scold and nothing to rejoice about the sequel to last year’s “Rush Hour.” It is known in advance that teenagers will like it. So, different kinds of “disabled” are needed.
Simply, when going to them, one must responsibly realize that the level of plot development will not rise beyond complete seriousness in official conversations like: “We received information that Ricky Tan is holding a ball on a ship. - I will fulfill my duty, comrade general.”
People with “brain disabilities” have difficulty perceiving changes. So, in comparison with the original, everything remained almost the same in “Rush Hour 2.” Two partners, the yellow Jackie-hero and the black Chris Tucker-comedian. While they are defeating the mafia, the crystal-honest Jackie is constantly rushing forward, and the dim-witted Tucker is distracted by girls. The best girl still goes to Jackie in the end, but Tucker still saves him with his humor. The humor is based on the fact that Tucker doesn’t know Chinese at all, and Jackie speaks English with a terrible accent. The jokes also haven’t strayed far from racism, sexism, and homophobia. In between - fights, chases, and high society life.
But what will attract teenagers no less is the appearance of diversity, small changes in familiar details. The action in “Rush Hour 2” is already openly aimed at the main global entertainment complexes, Hong Kong and Las Vegas. In Hong Kong, there will be bamboo, massage, and a karaoke bar, in Las Vegas - a casino. The reason for the movements is an unshakable intrigue. An American black policeman came on vacation to Hong Kong to visit a Chinese policeman friend, and there the Chinese mafia blew up the American embassy. It is necessary to investigate, which is what these two “disabled” people do. The diversity is based on how exactly the fight takes place in a massage parlor or in an expensive casino, with towels flying off naked butts, or with chips scattered on the green cloth, that is, under the feet of the fighters. The brawl at the very beginning on bamboo scaffolding is relatively fresh, not only for idiots. But that’s why it’s at the beginning, to lure us, to lure…
Everyone has already resigned themselves to the inevitability of such “disabled” Olympics, including John Lone in the role of the main villain Ricky Tan. But, when they have already lured you in, there is still hope that someone will feel sad when remembering that some fifteen years ago Lone shone with Bertolucci in “The Last Emperor,” with Cronenberg in “M. Butterfly,” with Alan Rudolph in “The Modernists.” Someone will miss one of the jokes below the belt.
Well, and then in general - a complete guarantee of unity of the entire assembled public, regardless of disability, on the final credits. This is the best thing about “Rush Hour 2.” First, the awareness that such nonsense will finally stop, and, secondly, the accompaniment of the credits with frames of supposedly unsuccessful, unincluded in the film takes. In the film, Jackie Chan easily slipped through the hole, but on the credits he gets stuck in it. He can’t pronounce the memorized phrase in any way, he got stuck on the words “Madison Square Garden.” Chris Tucker ran up incorrectly and crashed, a girl calls him right during filming…
All this, of course, was also filmed specifically, but this is, at least, some hint of a normal parody, the normality of which was in principle promised for all an hour and a half.