That sequence alone is worth a dozen Charlie's Angels. It is a tribute to the force of footwear (and females!), a sonnet to the elastic capabilities of spandex, a kick in every meaning of the word.
And if there's going to be a Rush Hour 3, the filmmakers need more of the Ziyi/Sanchez women warriors to punch up the sagging cross-cultural buddy humor of the Chan-Tucker partnership.
In the way that Jurassic Park 3 primarily appeals to those who don't tire of watching computer-generated dinosaurs chase and eat humans, Rush Hour 2 primarily appeals to those who don't tire of ethnic jokes and to Chanatics, as we Jackie diehards style ourselves.
One need not have seen the original Rush Hour (Hong Kong cop teams with LAPD counterpart to recover kidnapped child) in order to follow the sequel.
This one opens on the turf of Hong Kong Officer Lee (Chan), who has invited Carter (Tucker) to his city for a vacation. Ignorant of Lee's round-the-clock work ethic, the American cop thinks he's there to party.
As in the first installment, nimble Chan plays Kung Fu King while Tucker plays Kung Foolish jester. While Tucker's all-squawk style becomes increasingly irritating in the follow-up, not so Chan's all-action acrobatics, which are infinitely entertaining.
A scene in which they spider up the bamboo scaffolding surrounding a Hong Kong high-rise and then cling to suddenly untethered canes (sailing back and forth like human pendulums) is imaginative, and a welcome respite from the revving of Tucker's motormouth.
(Despite my low threshold for Tucker, I confess that his karaoke performance of Michael Jackson's "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" did make me smile. Faintly.)
Without fully exploiting the Hong Kong scenery, the movie jets to L.A. for an unbilled cameo with Don Cheadle and then to Las Vegas for dueling high heels. What more can one say about a film in which the outtakes (shown during the final credits, as is Chan's custom) are more fun than the preceding 85 minutes?
Carrie Rickey's e-mail address is crickey@phillynews.com.
RUSH HOUR * *
Produced by Arthur Sarkissian, Roger Birnbaum, Jay Stern and Jonathan Glickman, directed by Brett Ratner, written by Jeff Nathanson, photography by Matthew F. Leonetti music by Lalo Schifrin, distributed by New Line Cinema.
Running time: 1 hour, 28 mins.
Lee. . . Jackie Chan
Carter. . . Chris Tucker
Ricky Tan. . . John Lone
Hu Li. . . Zhang Ziyi
Isabella Molina. . . Roselyn Sanchez
Parent's guide: PG-13 (violence, profanity, sexual references)
Showing at: area theaters
