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Review: Rush Hour 2
Even though it's only the second movie in the series, Chan and Chris Tucker have already achieved a lot of the chemistry that worked so well for Mel Gibson and Danny Glover in the Lethal Weapon series. Chan and Tucker don't act as well, and the plots and writing are weaker, but they're funnier, and Chan's martial arts tricks, gags and maneuvers are, as always, amazing. It was a nice touch to pair these two -- who do a non-stop series of black/Asian riffs on one another -- with Crouching Tiger's brooding and beautiful Zhang Ziyi.
This movie is neither balletic or inventive, but nobody expects it to be, and it makes no claims for itself that it doesn't fully deliver on, a rarity this summer. The movie is fast-paced and good-hearted. Tucker is a bit shrill, but he gets off a furious string of put-downs, double entendres and racial spoof lines, and plays well off of the good-natured Chan, who can kick-box 20 bad guys but can't yet say "Madison Square Garden" on the first take. The settings are neat too -- the movie skips from Hong Kong to L.A. to Las Vegas as Tucker and Chan track down one of the mysterious Hong Kong Triads - yes, they're in Lethal Weapon also -- bent on flooding the U.S. with counterfeit money.
The plot is even more ridiculous than the first Rush Hour but it doesn't matter. It's striking to see the impact Hong Kong cinema has had on American movies, from this comedy to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon to The Matrix. Jackie Chan deserves a lot of the credit, bringing the genre to the attention of Hollywood studios and many moviegoers.
This is an honest Grade B comedy, playing off a few very good lines, lots of well-choreographed martial arts battles -- one goes up the side of a building under construction, another takes place in a steam bath with combatants clad only in towels. Chan and Tucker obviously have a lot of fun working together, and it comes through in the movie. There is always the sense of two cultures sparking off one another in funny ways, as Chan struggles to deal with hip-hop and Tucker mangles phrases from his Chinese-English dictionary.
Nobody will say this is a great movie, but it was plenty of fun. Chan's hilarious, self-mocking outtakes are, as always, well worth sticking around for. He brings the audience into the movie-making process in ways that are open and appreciated -- everybody in my theater stayed behind. He seems to be reminding us -- and maybe himself -- not to take things too seriously. CT Throwing in my 2 bits on this just because I can (complain all you want posters! I'm abusing my privilage!) I enjoyed the flick a lot. I walked in, and was entertained. Final Fantasy and Moulin Rouge were the last 2 movies that I can say that about. The action sequences are nothing compared to CTHD, but damnit, they're fun. Many shots are super spoofy and just really funny, but I only saw maybe one shot that looked really fake (and thats including the shots that were supposed to look fake). Tucker and Chan are terrible actors, and half of the jokes are the bland Saturday Night Live caliber comedy that I would leave the theater over, but then they hit a zinger. Dammit I laughed and had a lot of fun. Then I went home and watched Romeo Must Die to see some real action.
You'll have to forgive Katz, he thinks fart jokes are highbrow comedy.
Of course, there's comedy itself in picturing Katz, Mr. Corporations 'R Evil himself, running up to the window to hand his money over to the corporations (AOL/Time-Warner in this case).
Yeah, Jon, you want to see everybody out on the street protesting for your silly causes, but you can't even resist seeing some cheesy comedy on opening night? Get bent.
Everyone usually sees only what they want to see. It's not even because they don't understand the objective truth, they're just not comfortable with it. Likewise, it's not that you can't think of a black comedian who doesn't fit the aforementioned "style", it's that you don't care to. That is truly telling. Quite frankly, I could probably name ten black comedians off the tip of my tongue, and I'm just a run of the mill vitimin D deprived white guy. On the off chance that you're actually telling the truth, take a break from the MTV and HBO, you might be shocked at how big the world really is.
--Jimmy has fancy plans; and pants to match.
Sorry, but the plot was actually GREAT, and yes, Chris and Jackie ARE good actors. It's amazing how there seems to STILL be a anti-Chan bias even among geeks and longtime fans in western culture. The same fanboys who will rave about how great Akira was will then turn around and unfailingly undercut Jackie Chan with off the cuff comments like, "Grade B plot" and clumsy references to acting skill.
It's like every film reveiewer has a compulsion to go out of their way to assert that a Chan movie had to have some weakness of plot or direction or acting. This wasn't mere escapist fare, it was as strong a plot as any of the movies this summer or last. Perhaps its threatening to see an Asian style film start to really take ahold in the West. Maybe you just wouldn't recognize a good plot in a Jackie Chan film if it bit you in the ass.
If this movie were filmed by John Woo, or if it was animated, it would be held up as a tour de force of moviemaking. Chan kicked ass this weekend and everyone who saw the movie without consciously wearing a "Reviewer" hat knows it.
Don't blame me - I voted for Howard Dean. http://dean2004.blogspot.com
So it's not a huge movie, and you're going to have to go to your local art-house theater to see it, but the funniest movie of the summer is "MADE". I know, I know, that's not saying much this summer, but any movie that has Dustin Diamond in a cameo playing himself has already achieved something awesome. The movie has some flaws (Vince Vaughn's "annoying guy" act gets, well, annoying) but overall it's better than any of the big movies at your local googleplex. See it, Katz!
Tracy Morgan would occasionally play Betty Curry on SNL.
Wayne Brady is the guy who sings the best songs on ABC's Who's Line Is It Anyway, and is appearently getting a new sitcom or variety show.
And A for singular. I might make the same observaiont about any individual I could put in any group. For the record, Wayne Brady is probably about as *contemporary*, as opposed to *popular*, as a comedian can hope to be. One has to do with a place in time, as per your objection to Bill Cosby, and the other mass appeal, or popular if you prefer. Few individuals will be able to beat Bill in a popularity contest, in fact such a contest might be an interesting poll of sorts. Of all comedians Bill Cosby, Richard Prior, and Eddie Murphy would all be near the top, so would Jerry Sienfeld (personally I find him about as funny as a dead kitten in a sack, but that's me).
--Jimmy has fancy plans; and pants to match.
I'd like to see more "pure" Jackie Chan movies. If Hollywood can't stop getting in his way in these American movies, they should just import and dub/subtitle his East Asian efforts and bring them over here.
When Jacki was here in Australia about 5 or so years ago making a couple of films that I was lucky enough to work on, he was adamant that he would never work in the US again (I think the last film he did in the US before then was Cannonball Run!). He hasn't got anything against the US as such, just his style of film making conflicts totally with the more professional, organised and unionised style of Hollywood filmcrews. Basically the guy is (or was) an insane workaholic, when he works on his own Hong Kong productions there's hardly a job on set and post production that he doesn't do. ;-)
I remember being on set one day watching him go about setting up a stunt scene. He correographed the stunt, wrote the lines to go along with it, directed the other actors then carried the camera to the top of a scaffold to set the camera angle he wanted. Later that evening, whilst he was in the studio where I was recording his voice-overs for a previous film, he broke the session so that he could look at the rushes from the previous days shoot. I thought he'd have an editor or an assistant do all the menial work for him but he grabbed the film cans and ran upstairs to the edit bench, laced up the print and sound himself. When I asked if he needed any help he got shitty and explained that he had an edit bench in his hotel room where he edited the film each night. He even did sound effects in the foley room later on when he wasn't happy with what the sound editors had done.
The main reason he doesn't (or didn't) like working for Hollywood was that union regulations wouldn't let him doing anything but act, he had to just sit in his trailer until his was called and they didn't appreciate his input into the correographing of fight scenes theat he felt were lame.
I guess things have changed a bit now, he's close to 50yo now and the injuries were starting to take there toll five years ago, so I guess that doing films like Rush hour are something akin to retirement for him
One more thing I have to say is, he really is one of the warmest, most genuine guys you could work with in the film industry, not one hint of pretentiousness at all he treats everyone he works with equally and is funny as hell.
The dude rocks all round.
I agree with the review, I went to this movie to laugh a lot and go "oooooh" at Jackie Chan's stunts, and that's exactly what happened. If you're the type of person that can't shut up about how fake wrestling is when you're at "WWF smackdown" party, then don't go see this movie. Everyone knows the plot is crazy, everyone knows the stunts are ridiculous, but it's really fun, and if you can relax and have a good time, you'll laugh your ass off.
~ now you know
And that was the stinker of the summer.
Being a "non white", I can honestly say I do not refer to people of my ethnicity or ANYONE for that matter by a derogatory term. The people you refer to that call each other "nigger" are actually calling each other "nigga" (there is still, however mute, a difference). It is a slang term that came from rap culture. There are many people (namely black people) that find even this offensive and I agree with them as it is something that trivializes the fight for equality.
He must have meant Drunken Master 2. That is fairly recent, and in the US it goes by the title "The Legend of the Drunken Master".
If you don't know that there WAS a previous DM, then it is easy to mix up.
I had a good time watching this one and hope Katz is right about it being a franchise (something they elude to in the outtakes.)
= 3235
Empire Online has an announcement here: http://www.empireonline.co.uk/news/news.asp?story
Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
didn't you see the bold CT before that? that was commander taco typing there.. he butt in, but didnt' space it apart, so blame him.
Also, why should Katz get to post his movie reviews here, whereas if a reader just submitted his/her review, there's probably zero chance it would make it on the page? I don't think Katz's writing about non-sociopolitical topics is sufficiently unique to get put up for public consumption. Thousands of readers are just as capable of generating such observations. Maybe this is criticism of all movie critics, but I don't read their sites, where Katz's reviews belong, either. :-)
This is a great place for movie reviews. I'd rather come here than "aintitcoolnews.com" because this site is nice to look at, and aintitcool is a textbook example of how to make a web site that is bad to look at.
that'd more accurately be "Rumble in Vancouver". That's where the movie was filmed.
. --- If you're looking for free e-mail you won't find it here! http://www.noemailhere.com
The Taco is abusing his privileges again! I'm complaining! Er, what was the article about? Oh yeah. Jackie Chan rocks. His martial arts may not be pure coreography, but nothing I've seen so far even comes close to his talent for spoof and sellf-parody in martial arts movies. I have yet to watch a JC movie without having a good laugh. At the ending credits scenes if not anything else. :-)
Chris Tucker: Ok, I'll do every black stereotype I know, including the classics like what kind of music we listen to and how good we dance. And Jackie, you can be the butt of all my Chinese jokes.
Jackie Chan: Very good! And I will go up to black people and call them nigger because I don't know any better, and they will want to kill me and that will be a good excuse for me to show that I can kick their asses.
Honestly, I love Jackie movies (Shanghai Noon and Drunken Master were better, recent offerings) but the only humor in the first one was a bunch of stupid racist stereotypes.
Katz and I actually agree that this movie was hilarious.
Maybe I'll send some winter coats down to hell for L.B.J. to wear.
"A plan fiendishly clever in its intricacies"- Homer Simpson
What you find annoying, others find funny. I suspect we're looking at a culture gap here.
Out of all of the cast and crew, the only notable Taiwanese were Ang Lee (the director) and Chang Chen (the desert pirate). Everything else was a colloraborative effort between mainland Chinese and Hong Kong folks.
There are a huge number of yeast infections in this county. Probably because we're downriver from the bread factory.
Tim Medows.
Tracy Morgan (Unless dressing up like Oprah Winfrey is too hip-hop and edgy for you).
Wayne Brady.
I might add, that you only requested A black comedian, and did not qualify the remark further. But in reality, would it even matter? You seem to insist on things existing in such appallingly simple terms. As if Chris Tucker is only one way, or anyone else for that matter. I can virtually guarantee that viewed in a similarly harsh light everyone, you and I included, would appear little more than a caricature.
--Jimmy has fancy plans; and pants to match.
Don't you know who I am??!!?? I'm JonKatz for godz sake, fsck the MPAA!!
:wq
there is nothing wrong with using stereotypes in humor. they don't promote them, they make fun of them.
so please let go of your white guilt and drop your pc pretentiousness.
hesitation that Bruce Lee is the father of the modern martial arts movie. Heck, Samo and Norris even got their starts in acting appearing in Bruce Lee movies. (Yes they are that old, and so is Chan)
Jackie Chan himself got his start in movies as an extra in Bruce Lee movies.
:wq
A review of a Jackie Chan movie by JonKatz, and no comment like, "Now, if only Chan and Tucker could bust into prison and free Dmitry while battling the evil creators of the DMCA!" :-)
There is no longer anything that can be done with computers that is nontrivial and clearly legal. -- Paul Phillips
Having seen a lot of Chan's movies, I have to agree. Even if it's only a split-second part of a fight scene, he'd prefer to have it done the best he can do rather then even have a small bit of it be bad. Does he always get his way? Well, it depends. If he's making the movie with HK producers, yes. They realize that he knows what he is doing. If it's with Hollywood, you can practically forget it. Look at "The Big Brawl" for the first example of Hollywood screwing up Chan.
I won't say he completely ignores the plot, but it does usually take a back seat to the butt-kicking scenes. But then, I don't go to a Chan movie to see plots worthy of Shakespeare. I go to see Jackie Chan use an entire prop-room's worth of stuff against his opponents.
Kierthos
Mr. Hu is not a ninja.
I'm not one for spelling flames, but the irony of this one just got the better of me... When posting a link to a dictionary site, shouldn't it be a requirement that one properly spells the word he's attempting to define? Try "privilege".
The unsig!
Yeah, Shrek was terrible. It was plain disgusting. One of the worst movies I have ever seen.
But Rush Hour2 was really fun. Go see it.
To my surprised, he hadn't flubbed! But upon closer inspection, I noticed he got her name backwards.
Katz got it right. It *is* Zhang Ziyi.
Can you actually call a plot original that starts out by saying "Once upon a time..."? The humor itself may not have been very good (better than expected), but the fact that its a children's movie makes the jokes even funnier. These are jokes that probably made parents cringe but forget about it when they relized that their kid doesn't get it.
he was adamant that he would never work in the US again (I think the last film he did in the US before then was Cannonball Run!). He hasn't got anything against the US as such,
:)
:D
Since you've worked with him I'm sure you'd like to know what happened.
In today's radio show(again) he told us his unhappy event when filming 'Cannonball Run'. He and another HK actor had to wait 10 days to shoot a 1/2 hour film, and the Hollywood staffs then was very disrespectful to him - just told them to talk 'anything' for 1/2 hours and then they could leave. Already top movie stars in HK, they felt so unhappy and they spoke foul language(in Chinese) during that boring 1/2 hour session(while their face act otherwise). Unfortunately the few minutes clips that they spoke foul language was being used.
Katz has discovered posting a reverse review saying great movies suck and sucky movies are great result in massive posts and pageviews as people angrily post about how off base he is.
His job isn't to write good reviews, it's to get pageviews.
I was born and raised half chinese (the other side being filipino, so no I'm not a white guy trying to be asian :] ). I just wanted to point out that Katz did manage to properly refer to Zhang Ziyi, and that for some chinese it is a little offensive to have their names "graciously" rearranged in the western style. Oh, and someone there incorrectly botched Chow Yun Fat's name if I recall-- would have ended up Yun Fat Chow, or some such nonsense.
Gah.. bastard anonymous thing.. The prices we pay not to check our email..
For sure. Almost every movies from Jackie Chan has the outtake scenes at the end. However, he risked his life for those scenes. Except Rush Hours 1 and 2, and Shanhi Noon which was filmed with American Safty Coordinators. Other movies of Jackie Chan from the 90s had more dangerous scenes. So, if you want other *non* Jackie Chan movies to provide outtake clips, then audiences should ask... Can those actors *dig* it? =b
I think the thing I find most annoying about these posts is the way that they exaggerate everything out of proportion, and then get modded up. Have you actually read any of the reviews properly? Have you seen the movies? If you have, why are you saying that Katz "hated" them? I agree that he often seems a little off-base and perhaps expects too much of movies, but he is normally quite coherent in his explanations as to why he didn't like them, and generally will amend his opinions with comments on why they are subjective and could be disagreed with.
A word can paint a thousand pictures
I thought Danny Glover's acting performance in the Lethal Weapons was atrocious, and certainly outshined by Jackie Chan (who plays the equivocal straight-man role).
What I like about RH2 over LW is that Chan is a badass cop, and Tucker has the attitude, and together they manage to solve the crime. They both bring value to the table. It seemed in LW that Gibson was always doing the Maverick cop crazy-but-it-works routine and Glover just got dragged along and whined about it.
And Zhang Ziyi looked very nice in this movie... I think I like the modern Triad look better than the traditional Chinese look. At least on her.
Run a pencil-and-paper RPG campaign with your far-off friends: Gametable!
And Mr. Levine, if you don't like Katz's articles, TURN THEM OFF.
Why is it that every time a review comes out, all these people come out of the woodwork to find little errors. Is it jealousy? Do you think you could write a better review and are jealous that he gets paid money for his?
/. should be told when the review their reading is factually acurate, or not. If he can't get the facts straight, what's the use of his opinion of them?
Have you been reading his reviews? I'm especially fond of his review of Jurassic Park 3, in which he admits he didn't even sit through it. I have, and could, write better reviews. I'm not jealous of the fact that Jon gets paid to write. I'm annoyed that he's so pretentious and sloppy about it (and getting worse.) I've been reading his 'reviews' on this site for a while and have let bigger errors slide. I pointed out the picky things that I did, because if he can't get details like that right, what use is the review? Why should people pay attention to his reviews if he cannot get the details of what he saw right?
As a reviewer, he has a great deal of latitude to give his opinion of what he saw, and I respect that. But, if he's gonna go beyond opinion to report what he actually saw, he should do so accurately, or not at all. People who read
Some people have a way with words, and some people, um, thingy.
In Rush Hour 1, the script was a little tighter and made a little more sense.
Funny; I didn't like the first Rush Hour; I only watched the second one because I was getting into the cinema for free. I thought it was a much better. Not sure why...
Chris Tucker was funny once again
Oh, yeah. Now I remember. Can't stand Chris Tucker. His high-pitched sreaming throughout the movie drove me fucking spare. In the second one, though, I was mentally prepared, so it didn't bother me as much. If I were to watch the first one again, I might enjoy it more.
What was the point of the "Snoopy tattoo"
So we could zoom in on her semi-naked bod? Best reason I can think of.
Why did the customs agent say she got rid of Lee and Carter when she really sent them to find the plates?
I'd assumed that she was sending them on a wild goose chase. Although now that you mention it, she wasn't. So: dunno.
Why did Ricky Tan look younger than Lee even though he used to be Lee's father's partner?
Must be a Jackie Chan thing. Anita Mui played his mother in drunken master 2. That would have been silly if it weren't for a fact that any Anita Mui movie is a cause for celebration.
My big question: why was Chris Tucker ahead of the Great Jackie in the credits? That's just not right.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Have you seen the movie? Well I have and let me tell you, everybody in the audience was laughing their head off from the start of the movie right to the end. It's been a long time since I went to a theater and saw everybody reacting that way to a movie. Hell I might see it again and I haven't went twice to see a movie since the first Jurassic Park. That, coupled to a couple of great action sequence, makes this an amazing summer movie that goes out and accomplishes even more than it set out to do. A must see.
Hardly. Most people don't consider martial arts films to be the ultimate in filmmaking. When people go to see a martial arts film, they in general aren't going to see it for the plot. They're going so that they can see the hero beat the living crap out of all of the bad guys.
Let's be honest here. A typical kung fu movie has the following plot:
1. Good guy is bullied somehow by the bad guy's gang or the government. This results in either his friends or his family being killed, and then...
2. Good guy trains hard at kung fu either at shaolin or from some old guy that initially refuses to teach him until he is swayed out of pity or persistance. This causes...
3. The good guy gets his "Revenge(tm)" on the bad guy. The "Revenge(tm)" ends in either...
(a) The good guy killing all of the bad guys with no problems, or
(b) The good guy getting stomped by the bad guys until his teacher/girlfriend jump in to protect him. They get beat, and in a fit of godlike endurance and skill the good guy kills all of the bad guys.
Invariably, the plot is peppered with Chineseisms that us dumb roundeyes are doomed to only partially get (read: nationalism, honesty, rising to the call of duty, defending ones fellow man at your own potential cost) much like our understanding of Japanese budo consists of something on the order of "raw fish, wierd sex acts, and hot nubile women."
So. Anti-asian? No. Anti-chan? No. Cookie-cutter plots? Yes. But who cares? It's a kung fu movie. That's what I couldn't understand about america's fascination with crouching tiger. For all of it's beauty, IT'S A KUNG FU MOVIE. It's what you would have gotten if the Shaw Brothers had a budget. Sheesh.
Maybe I was smoking crack during that movie, but
I found it to be minimally funny. The only value
I found it to truly possess was amazing computer
graphic rendition.
With that being said, I'm wondering how great Rush
Hour 2 could possibly be if you place it just
below Shrek in bang-for-buck...
A year spent in artificial intelligence is enough to make one believe in God.
You are right, this whole "equality" thing is just some hippie fad.
People like Samo, Jackie Chan, Chuck Norris and Jet Li would all acknowledge without hesitation that Bruce Lee is the father of the modern martial arts movie. Heck, Samo and Norris even got their starts in acting appearing in Bruce Lee movies. (Yes they are that old, and so is Chan)
Woopty Doo Basil, what does it all mean?!
Perhaps this message is enough to help you "keep up".
The unsig!
Jackie Chan deserves a lot of the credit, bringing the genre to the attention of Hollywood studios and many moviegoers.
Along with Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris, etc...
Wrong. While Lee, Norris, etc. brought in the martial arts genre, Jackie Chan single handedly invented the Comedy-Kung-Fu genre.
Most other martial artists make serious movies.
-- Give him Head? Be a Beacon? :P)
(If you can't figure out how to E-Mail me, Don't.
Umm, yea but... If I remember correctly, Katz really panned Final Fantasy. Now he's saying it's pure gold? That's it, I give up, I'm outta here...
I agree with Katz on this one. Jackie Chan's movies are always fun, and although I enjoyed Rush Hour 2, it wasn't as good as Rush Hour 1 or Rumble in Toronto -- I mean Rumble in the Bronx. In Rush Hour 1, the script was a little tighter and made a little more sense. Rumble in the Bronx had some of Jackie's best stunts, particularly in the gang fight scene with Stigmata by Ministry playing in the background.
Rush Hour 2 felt, well rushed, where the script needed a little more polishing. This makes sense because I heard that Chan wasn't happy with the results of the stunts in the movie. The first act was pretty painful, but the movie got better in Act 2 and 3. But the script could have benefited from a rewrite (or perhaps this was just an editing problem). What was the point of the "Snoopy tattoo"? Why did the customs agent say she got rid of Lee and Carter when she really sent them to find the plates? Why did Lee carry around his dad's badge all the time (he took it to the US on a spur of the moment trip with Carter)? Why did Ricky Tan look younger than Lee even though he used to be Lee's father's partner?
The movie was funny though. Chris Tucker was funny once again, and Jackie Chan still excels at physical comedy. Chan also gets bonus points for doing the incredible stunts himself -- which should embarrass American "action stars" like Swartzenegger, Willis, Stallone, Reeves, etc. In an industry where any person with access to a harness, a computer to digitally remove the harness, tons of explosives, and sunglasses can be called an action star, it's cool to see Jackie Chan do his own stunts and make them look breathtaking.
Insert simplistic political, ideological, or personal proselytization here.
Can you understand what they're saying, or did they overdub the voices. I can't really remember his parts in the film, apart from watching pr0n on the TV in the dashboard ;-)
Chan and Tucker don't act as well, and the plots and writing are weaker, but they're funnier, and Chan's martial arts tricks, gags and maneuvers are, as always, amazing.
I live in Hong Kong.
Chan pioneered a new style of martial art movie ever since his first movie in Hong Kong, Drunken Fighter,(Many years ago, you probably haven't seen it) which added comedy elements in martial fighting.
Jacky Chan said in a local radio that he had a hard time working with Hollywood movie makers. He doesn't like they took everything too seriously. For example he proposed to use a silver-dye paper gun for a gun-kicking shot. The Hollywood producers didn't like it, but he argued the kicking scene just took 0.02 sec and nobody would notice.
That's his style, he'd rather put more effort to add more action and fun in action movie, then to spend time to build the plot.
Frankly I don't like watching weak-plot movies but his work is still very entertaining.
That's "allude", Picky Boy.
Nobody will say this is a great movie
... Kengineer
Wrong again, Katz!
This was a great movie!!!! Everone should see this, it puts planet of the apes and it's godawful ending to shame.
one of the mysterious Hong Kong Triads - yes, they're in Lethal Weapon also --
Lethal Weapon 4, actually, but who's counting.
Jackie Chan deserves a lot of the credit, bringing the genre to the attention of Hollywood studios and many moviegoers.
Along with Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris, etc...
This is an honest Grade B comedy, playing off a few very good lines, lots of well-choreographed martial arts battles -- one goes up the side of a building under construction
actually, it's already built with people living in it; and the building has scaffolding around it.
another takes place in a steam bath with combatants clad only in towels.
They're mostly in bath robes and it's a massage parlor.
I don't know what it will take for Katz to call a movie Grade A, or good, but atleast he conceded that this one is enjoyable. I, on the other hand, judge movies by how well they tell their story. If it's a comedy and it makes me laugh, by definition it was good. I had a good time watching this one and hope Katz is right about it being a franchise (something they elude to in the outtakes.)
Oh yeah, there was a trailer for Fellowship of the Ring in front of this one.
Some people have a way with words, and some people, um, thingy.
That was a line from the movie.
jcostom, please follow the ball:
CmdrTaco: (complain all you want posters! I'm abusing my privilage!)
Accipiter: as CmdrTaco would have you believe in his *cough* 'privilage' *cough* abuse.
What's more ironic a flame about bad spelling, or a flame about spelling that flames the original flame? Certainly the irony of the latter was enough for me to respond.
Some people have a way with words, and some people, um, thingy.
[Spoilers throughout this post - if you're reading this far down, it won't have made any sense to you unless you watched the film already anyhow.] Must disagree. Here's Supercop Z (Rush Hour 2 w/o the upstaging sidekick): 1) Big boom. Same as before. 2) Meet Jackie. He's busting some perp's @$$, taking down him and his thugs. Just to show off, his cel phone goes off in the rumble, and he has enough oomph to answer it, let the chief tell the perp he's busted, salute, and put it away, all while fighting the perp. 3) He comes into the station. He meets the prick only to be told to stay the heck out. Ricky Tam's name is dropped. He's interested. Both his chief and the Treasury dild0 tell him to stand down. 4) He rousts Ricky. The Treasury undercover folk get all riled up that he's blowing the op. They try to move him aside. Good fight opportunity, only for him to realize that he's just bounced two Secret Service agents. Treasury ijit shows up again. Chan turns in his shield. "Where's your piece?" "In my locker. I never carry it." 5) Ricky contacts Chan, thanks him for rousting the Treasury tails. Invites him to the yacht for the party and asks him 'aboard'. Chan declines, but makes Sanchez's acquaintence. Later on, while sneaking around, he saves Sanchez from Zhang helping her have an 'accident', seeing as she can't kill her in an obvious fashion. He loses Zhang, but finds Ricky. Ricky confides his dilemma. Suddenly, Zhang comes out and shoots Ricky. Sanchez blindsides Zhang, sending her into Causeway Bay. Debt repaid. 6) Mr. Treasury is chewing out Chan. Afterwards, Sanchez comes over, thanks him, and kisses him. French. He's surprised, because after she quickly leaves, he spit out the note she passed in the kiss. It reads "Call me if you're in LA: 213-555-1234." On the back is written "Tomorrow". 7) Dissolve to Sanchez on the phone. She nods, then hands the phone over Zhang. Speaking to one of the thugs, "Tell her that the boss knows. Anything happen to me, happens to her. She better hope I don't get a hangnail." 8) Cut to Chan talking on his cel phone. "No, sir. I completely understand. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. I stay out of their way." Pull back to reveal he is in his car in front the airport. I gotta go right now, but I may finish it up later. It's not that hard to do. This was pretty much stream of consciousness, trying to hit the main plot points in the film (I'd change the plot, myself) but trying to show it's easy to do without Chris Tucker.
Alright, I'm a big Jet Li fan (along with Chan, and Chow Yun Fat, and many other cross-cultural performers) but "Romeo Must Die" was far from *real* action.
;)
Grab the DVD and watch it. Yes, a good movie. A nice plot. And some good martial arts, but rather fake sequences. From the football fight (complete with digital football that stood out like a sore thumb) to the fight in the office towards the end, it was all enhanced with computers. (Please, Li's talent aside, nobody can hang in the air and pull off those kicks.
Real martial arts action you need to go back to Bruce Lee, early (and not so early) Jackie Chan movies. You get the best of both serious martial arts and comical martial arts, but it's all real, even if rehearsed, martial arts. (For the most part. Chan's "Half A Loaf of Kung Fu" had some special moves never before seen in Reality. Heh.)
.SynTruth.
The explicit reason I am not going to see this film is that given that Tucker and Chan have talent, it seems pointless to use "Exotic Oriental Chicks in Leather" or whatever as a draw.
Figures that the slashdot crew would be drooling over the Tiger Lily exotic whatever stuff.
Whenever a filmmaker resorts to T&A it's cause he or she has nothing else to say.
--- Jump!! Fire!! Bullet time!! - Lego version of the Matrix
> hopefully the actress in this one has a better character.
The two main women in this movie either kick his ass, or save his ass (depending on the woman). Nicely done! And Zhang Ziyi....oh my...she needs to be in a LOT more movies!
I read an interview with her in a Kung-Fu magazine where she said she wanted to take this role to prove to herself that she could portray a character so opposite of herself, someone truly bad. She _really_ pulled it off - she's totally menacing in this movie. Also note: she's _not_ a martial artist - she's a national champion dancer, though, and that's what allowed her to do the necessary moves so well.
I also have to agree with you about the camera being in waaaay to close for most of the scenes. I think it's much cooler to actually see some connection. I think the most egregious example of this is in the recent "Kiss of the Dragon" with Jet Li. I can see what the producers were going for here by pulling in the camera so close -- they were trying to accentuate Li's amazing (and I mean, amazing) speed by turning the flick into a veritable slideshow of dark flashes, which would be Jet Li's flailing limbs beating the shit out of some bad guy. But 15 straight minutes of this technique got really, really tiresome.
And I don't care what Taco says. For reasons other than just the way it was filmed, Romeo Must Die sucked.
I think there is a world market for maybe five personal web logs.
I would turn off Katz myself if there was some way to turn off his movie reviews but still see his actual opinion pieces. Those actually have some business on Slashdot...but WTH do movie reviews have to do with science & technology reviews? Especially something like Rush Hour 2? I can understand an A.I. review, but this is a ridiculous waste of resources. I thought he/Taco/etc. would've learned their lesson after all the flames resulting from his review of Scream 3...
There was Rex Reed, who used to be on one of those Siskel and Ebert immitation TV shows. I quickly found out that if he loved a movie, it was very bad, and if he hated a movie, it was the best.
You should really check out the outtakes after the ending of FF8. Truely amazing stuff.
Yes.. It had no plot.. but hey.. Its Jackie Chan.. Do you really goto a Jackie Chan movie looking for a plot.. NO.. He delivered his brand of Action/Kung Fu comedy. And with Chris Tucker the comedy just got moved up a notch because of the chemestry they both have together. It was the first movie in a long time where I've outright laughed like hell at a lot of parts of the movie. Though if you just wanna see it for the action.. it wasn't Jackie Chan's greatest for action and stunts, it had basically more humor than stunts. But overall the movie had some great fighting sequences that were complimented by the hilarious antics of Chan and Tucker.. So.. I personally liked the movie a lot.. I'll watch it everytime it comes on the movie channels next year..
Who makes you Sig?
Sure. That's exactly what I said, AC/DC (Anonymous Coward/David Corny). You're still fighting the good fight! If you're not with DC, you're against him and all that Dasch..er, David stands for!!!!!
For what it's worth, she says "Some apple?" in very accented English to Isabella, just before whipping the the knife into the Granny Smith.
-- secret asIAN man (not Secret Asian Man)
I think it's CmdrTaco that put in that little bit about liking Final Fantasy.
I don't like movie reviews. I hate John Katz. There shouldn't be movie reviews on this site. Is this really news for nerds, really stuff that matters? Okay, now that that's out of the way, can we talk about the movie instead the same rants EVERY SUNDAY about why there shouldn't be movie reviews on this site? Oh, yeah, and the smaller subrant about what a hypocrite whoever reviewed this is for giving money to the MPAA when we should instead be burning down their homes and smashing their DVD players. Like, Woe
Today is a good day to die. They all are, though.
In most of the circles I grew up in/know, "nigga" is either used as a term of endearment (as in "that's my nigga"), or it's used to describe a certain mentality (ala Chris Rock's Bring The Pain bit). In the latter case, yes, it's used as an inflammatory remark, just like the term ghetto is.
Yes, a lot of african-americans find it offensive, but usually when applied the wrong way by one of us or by another race.But you're dead wrong with your assertion "it ... trivializes the fight for equality" - I think you need to grab a history book (or two, and not the ones that brought you through middle/high school) and read up on the Civil Rights movement.
M. R.
RH2? I thought RedHat was up to version 7.1...?
"AC/DC"???? I thought crappy metal went out a long time ago.
1. Zhang Ziyi
2. Ziyi Zhang
3. That cute Chinese actress whose name I keep forgetting...
insignificant sig
I thought it was great - great as in very entertaining. great as in epic? no, but thats not what the movie was supposed to be. I think calling it "not great" is implying it's bad
My server
God, that movie had the WORST cinematography of any movie ever made. They had one trick: take a picture of the start of an action, cut to another angle so the actor doesn't actually have to do any work when jumping or kicking or firing a shot, and then cut to a third angle to show the denoument of the action. To anybody who's ever seen a real hong kong action film (and i don't mean those stupid "wire films," either), this American trick spoils everything. The actors in these films are genuinely talented...they don't need three takes to make one action look good. Some of the best Jackie Chan movies are filmed from a very far exterior angle shot, so you can see the surreal, comic fluidity of their motions. A perfect example of this is Supercop (see the HK version if you can...the changes made for the US release are notoriously dumb, and the lip sync horrid). Michelle Yeoh's high kicks and splits as she defeats 10 surrounding opponents is filmed in such a way that you can see every limb as she does so. It's obvious that there's nobody holding her up when she jumps, she's doing her own stunts and it makes the film much higher quality.
These American Chan films have a similar failing...they never show his limbs! Watch "Shanghai Noon" and try to count the number of times you actually see him connect with his foot when he kicks something, as compared to the number of times he lashes out and then they show a guy stumbling back. Count also the number of times you can see a character's face or upper body during an attack. It may be more "graphic novel" to show action in close up, but it's also more artificial.
I want my Chan where he belongs...in the director's seat, in control of the camera for action shots, working with somebody ELSE's script (so the film doesn't have the stupid touchy-feely multiculutral nice guy feel that Chan's movies often do). Just giving him a part or letting him choreograph a fight isn't enough; for a truly great Chan film you need to picture the whole scene...after all, what would Picasso's Guernica be, looked at through a toilet paper roll?
Hey freaks: now you're ju
I have to say, Jackie Chan doing his own stunts and making them look so easy never ceases to amaze me.
The one stunt that blew my mind was when he was running through the count room because that was one continuous shot. That was one heck of a stunt to try to do in only one shot.
The plot holes I found were excuseable. Nobody goes to a Jackie Chan movie expecting an Oscar calibur script.
The outtakes at the end were a little disappointing though, they're usually much funnnier than that.
I am very much looking forward to the proposed Jackie Chan/Jet Li project that's being tossed around. These two martial arts gurus in one movie will be mind blowing. I just hope the plot Robert Mark Kamen (Kiss of the Dragon) comes up with doesn't make it more of a vehicle for one or the other, however I think being in a film with Chan will help Li out quite a bit, giving him even more exposure that he is well deserving of.
Revolution Studios expects production to begin Fall 2002 and I can't wait!
Many geeks eat sandwiches. Should Slashdot post sandwich recipes?
If you are sick of this kind of "Multi-Cultural" crap go to Vanguard News Network for good reviews of the Hollywood junk.
You people actually enjoyed this modern day Vaudeville act??? The film was straight up RACIST. Burn Hollywood, burn.
This marks the first time Jon Katz not only liked a movie, but appeared to really enjoy it!
Of course, I see this for what it is. The simple explaination is: this is not Jon Katz! It is an imposter!
I KNOW I'm right. And if I'm not, I'm STILL right...
Wow... who woulda thunk it?
--Chemguru
Crouching Tiger was a product of Taiwan.
Anywho, I thought it was interesting how Zhang Ziyi did not speak any English or Cantonese(that I caught).
A witty saying proves you are wittier than the next guy.
Nobody will say this is a great movie
Bzzzt! This is a great movie.
I saw it last night, and I was thoroughly entertained. The Plot, while certainly not an Oscar contender, is well planned and executed.
There are many scenes in RH2 that are throwbacks to the first movie. The comedy is well paced, and manages to tag along with the plot very well. (I liked Chris Tucker's rendition of 'Don't Stop Till You Get Enough' in the karaoke bar. The massage parlor scene(s) were great too.)
Tucker and Chan aren't spectacular actors, but they're not "terrible" actors as CmdrTaco would have you believe in his *cough* 'privilage' *cough* abuse. They manage to carry the movie better than you'd expect, and deliver solid performances. Plus, the outtake scenes during the end credits are always a treat to watch. (I wish more movies would include outtakes. They're great.)
Jackie Chan's fight scenes are, as always, superbly done. I always love watching Jackie fight, because the entire sequences are so well put together. If you like to laugh, and like action, you'll like this movie.
And OH, my GOD.... Zhang Ziyi is absolutely beautiful.
-- Give him Head? Be a Beacon? :P)
(If you can't figure out how to E-Mail me, Don't.
Morons like you are the reason that crap like this comes out. Stupid, obvious shit meant for people who's IQ's are in the single digits. Yuck it up loser, you're stupid.
I think that's the basic point behind his reviews... that many geeks watch movies, therefore reviews of movies are a reasonable thing to have here. Personally, I'd say that movies are a branch of geekdom just like science or technology. Besides which, movies do tend to intersect technology in a lot of ways.
For the most part, I tend to disagree with his reviews although I find them mostly well-reasoned. They're useful to me in another more important way though... they let me know when that movie I wanted to see is out. =)
It's only really a waste of resources to people who don't think his reviews belong here and feel compelled to post about it. What's the point of getting bent out of shape about it?
~ Leilah
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A gossip group just like in highschool.
Drunken Master is actually one of his older movies - I think it's from the 80s. It's just that it was only released (and dubbed) in this country recently.
Actually, a friend and I were going back and forth about that this morning. We're in BC, and we saw a show on it pre-release that I would have sworn called it a Canadian film. IMDB appears to be listing it as a US movie. (Down the page a bit, where it lists the USA subtitled version as "original".) My friend says he thought Ang Lee emigrated to Canada after making this film, but he's not sure. Do you have a link to more info on it?
~ Leilah
You hated The Mummy 2 because you didn't understand it was a spoof of itself...
You hated Planet of the Apes because it didn't live up to the original...
You hated Snatch because you couldn't keep up with it...
You liked Monkeybone and Down To Earth...
And now you're singing the praises of RUSH HOUR 2?!?!
Slashdot, or more specifically Katz, seem to defy description at times.
Cheers,
levine
Of course, you seem to just dislike the Rush Hour franchise in general so I don't suppose anything I say will particularly mollify you.
A word can paint a thousand pictures
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The word 'nigger' is a.. what's the term I'm looking for... I don't know. It's a alteration of 'negro,' in any event. I'll never forget the time, when I was working for the Department of Indian Affairs, that I listened for a good ten minutes to a First Nations representative go on about how 'the white man' did this and 'the white man' did that. I stood up and said, quite purposefully, something about 'the red man's reaction' and got the expected 'do not refer to us as that, I am an Ojibwe' or some such. To which I replied 'then don't use the term 'white man.' Do you mean British, Scottish, Irish, French, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, Belgin, Slavic, Czech, Slovak, Romanian, or what?' The look on his face was priceless.
Vintage computer games and RPG books available. Email me if you're interested.
I saw Rushhour 2 yesterday and I agree that it was probably one of the best movies of the summer. The audience was laughing practically the entire time. I never saw Rushhour 1, but after this, I'm gonna go rent the DVD. I came into Rushhour 2 expecting it to be awful due to the very mixed reviews at metacritic.com but I was pleasantly surprised.
Kiss of the Dragon was nothing compared to this movie. Shrek, while I really liked it, is more of a kids movie (even with some of the adult jokes) so it can't be really compared to this movie.
The only negative part is Chris Tucker. He was just annoying for most of the movie. It seemed like he kept repeating the same "joke" over and over: Be annoying and act like you're a tough cop. What kind of cop behaves like he does? Jackie Chan was like Tucker's baby sitter.
Becauses reviewers lack the creativity to actually create a decent story, so they use their lack of creativity to critique the stories of others. Most movie reviewers only like movies about gays and retards, which is why Forrest Gump and The Crying Game were loved by critics all over.
...All I can say is that my life is pretty strange...
All the way from the beginning to the end -- even the credits.
... :)
It's definitely cold somewhere
Get off my virtual lawn, you damned virtual kids!
because in consumer tests 8 out of 10 geeks who expressed a preference said they loved martial arts films
Rumble in the Bronx was filmed in Vancouver. See the pretty mountains?
I recall that Shanghai Noon another movie with Jackie Chan, got rather good reviews when it opened. I saw it recently on cable and, boy, what a crappy movie! There were one or two mildly funny jokes (like the John Wayne one) but that's it. It didn't leave me with any desires to watch another movie starring this fellah ever again.
He's now appearing with Chris Tucker, one of the most annoying and irritating comedians out there (the only one more irritating than him being Chris Tucker.) If there is a movie to avoid this is it.
I too saw this film on the weekend and although I found to to be good, non-serious fun, this film does more to perpetuate the worst of cultural stereotypes than I'd consider good for this day and age.
For the record, I am black.
Chris Tucker struck me as another Jar Jar Binks; another character that perpetuates the myth that blacks on the big screen are incapable of evolving beyond trivial, non-serious roles. Think "sambo." I would have rather seen Chris in a slightly more serious role with much less running off at the mouth, because frankly, he talks too much and isn't always funny. Not to mention that the culture bashing in this film was disturbingly one-sided, with Asians taking the brunt of the hit from Tucker. I was as much bothered by Tucker's chopping up of Cantoneses as I was of Chan's "slap back to Africa" statement. This is a severely pandering film, and to sit in a theatre with dozens of people laughing in blissful ignorance of the most important of it's multiple themes, the issue of cultural representation, makes me nervous about the evolution of human tolerance.
Hell they (any non whites) call each other 'Nigger' ALL THE TIME... I just wish the message would be brought forth that you must first police yourself, then worry about what everyone else is doing later. But a liberal that is not liberal is not a liberal, he is someone who searches for enlightenment.
I only get offended by such crap when I realize (through other movies, or in person, or news...etc) that the definition of funny vs. some reason to loot, pillage and rape (rioting), take up all the airwave time with their bitching and moaning about the need to lobby for my tax dollars to be spent to 'put a stop to this' or somesuch hypocritical crap. Stupid liberals.
I love all of Jackie Chans films. I even like Rush Hour(the first one) even though it is not as good as his older movies. I watched his older movies many times over but Rush Hour 2 is not going to be one that I am ever going to watch again. It has its moments just like most films but overall it falls way short of my expectations.
It borrows phrases from Rush Hour but they are not as funny as they were in the original. It made me remember the good times i had watching the first movie but i dont think that this movie was up to Jackies usual standard.
Truthfully i thought that the bloopers were funnier than most of the movie itself.
So what you're saying is, you had a ball, everybody in the cinema had a ball, you all wet yourself laughing, you reccomend people go see it, but it's not a grade A movie? If it says comedy in the top right corner (or whatever) and the whole damned cinema is in stitches, I'd say it's a grade a movie.
Disclaimer: the above is true for all cases except where the audience is 8 and you're seeing a police academy film.
Send lawyers, guns, and money!
It's mainly about Jackie trying to cope with living with this mentally retarded brother. As opposed to Rush Hour 2, where he has to cope with working around his mentally retarded co-star.
chan's geek appeal? as geeks we say we have kung foo, plus we are guys and we just like to see people slaped around especially if they do it in a funny matter
The Arkie Libertarian
"When I asked if he needed any help he got shitty and explained that he had an edit bench in his hotel room where he edited the film each night."
Very warm. Very genuine.
Can you feel the heat?
I have seen and know many black people who even find using it as a term of endearment to be offensive. And when asked why they find it offensive, they commonly reply that it is disrespectful to those that were a part of the Civil Rights movement. I was unaware of its usage at that early of a time. But one still has to admit that it is hypoctical to use it, and then say only you can use it in a way that is not insulting.
Dude, I'm a chinese and I can tell you for sure that it's "Zhang Ziyi", not "Ziyi Zhang". For Chinese, the family name comes first, and "Zhang" is one of the most common family names - there's no such family name as "Ziyi". btw, it's also "Lee Ang" and not "Ang Lee".
davidcorny won't shut up until you swallow his prepackaged democrat ideas, all the while insisting he's not a democrat. Give up now, it's a waste of time. Facts don't matter, just what Tom Daschle tells him is right.