On this day in comedy on August 3, 2001 Rush Hour 2 was released by New Line Cinema.
This sequel to the 1998 smash hit starring Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan they reprise their roles as Detective carter and Inspector Lee respectively. In this installment they find themselves in Hong Kong mixed up with the Asian Triads and a counterfeiting scam.
The plot unfolds with Tucker on vacation visiting Chan. His plans for a little R & R are derailed when a bomb goes off at the United States Consulate General killing two undercover custom agents. Chan is put on the case which is personal because of Ricky Tan, now a leader of the Triads, who Chan had long suspected had a role in the killing of his father, a former police officer. This distresses Tucker, who wants nothing to do with working a case. He’s on vacation.
Things get complicated when the US and Hong Kong authorities fight over legal jurisdiction. Regardless the action ensues as tucker’s room is bombed, Ricky Tan is shot and Tucker and Chan go to Los Angeles to work the case.
Of course behind every great crime there is a rich white man (according to Tucker) and this one’s is L. A, hotel billionaire, Steven Reign. With the help of an ex-con, Tucker and Chan track a load of counterfeit $100 bills back to Reign. They get knocked out and transported to Las Vegas where they attempt to find the engraving plates. It’s discovered that Ricky Tan faked his death. Tan stabs Reign, who tries to back out of the deal and admits to Chan that he killed his father. Of course this forces Chan to kick Tan out of a window and fall to his death. Chan and Tucker escape a bomb explosion. The film wraps up with the duo heading to New York to blow some of the money Tucker won at the casino.
Directed by Brett Ratner, Roger Birnbaum & Jonathan Glickman with music by Lalo Schifrin, Rush Hour 2 was met with critically mixed reviews. Despite that, the live-action comedy is the highest grossing live-action martial arts film of all time, taking in $347,325,802 on a $90 million budget.
By Darryl “D’Militant” Littleton
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