Rush Hour 2 (film)
Info and Spolier
Rush Hour 2 is a 2001 martial arts/buddy cop film, starring Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker. A sequel to Rush Hour (1998). It was more successful at the box office than its predecessor, a rarity in the film business. Rush Hour 2 grossed over $226 million dollars at the box-office, becoming the 4th top grossing film of 2001. Directed by Brett Ratner
Taglines:
Get
Ready For A Second Rush!
The Mouth Of The West And The Hands Of The East Are
Back!
---- SPOILER ---
Plot
The
story of Rush Hour 2 continues from where the original left off, with Chief Inspector
Lee (Chan) and Detective James Carter (Tucker) traveling to Hong Kong on a vacation.
Carter is interested in having a good time; soon after they arrive, a bomb explodes
in the American Embassy. Inspector Lee is assigned to the case, which becomes
personal when it is discovered that the man behind it is Ricky Tan, his father's
former partner. Tan, who played an instrumental role in his father's death, who
is now the leader of the Triads, the most deadly gang in all of China.
The American and Hong Kong authorities soon get into a fight over the jurisdiction of the case. Lee learns that Ricky Tan will be attending a dinner party on his boat. When confronted, Tan claims that someone is trying to frame him. Tan's underling, Hu Li, appears and shoots Tan, and he falls off the boat. In the chaos, Hu Li escapes, and Carter and Lee are sent back to Los Angeles.
Carter tells Lee every case has a rich white man behind it, and the man is Steven Reign, a hotel billionaire. Carter says he saw Reign on Tan's boat and that his calm demeanor during the shooting was suspicious. They set up camp inside the Reign Towers, finding a Secret Service agent named Isabella Molina (Roselyn Sanchez). Molina tells the two men that Tan is money laundering $US 100 million dollars in "Superbills" (high grade counterfeit $US 100 bills) and asks them to find the trail.
Lee and Carter pay a visit to Carter's old friend, who tells them a customer recently came in to his establishment with a suspicious amount of hundred-dollar bills. Carter checks them out and confirms that they are Tan's counterfeits. They trace the money back to the Triads, who are waiting for them and knock the two cops unconscious. Then they depart for Las Vegas. Lee and Carter wake up inside one of the Triads' trucks and escape. After finding out where they are, they realize that Tan is laundering that $100 million at the Red Dragon Casino.
At the Red Dragon, Lee and Carter split up. Carter makes a commotion and distracts the security forces while Lee attempts to infiltrate the back area to find Tan's engraving plates (which were used to make the counterfeit money). Hu Li captures Lee, places a small bomb in his mouth, and gags him. She then takes him up to the penthouse, where it is revealed that Ricky Tan faked his death and is still alive. After saying a few words, he departs, leaving Hu Li to do whoever she wants.
Molina then takes out a gun and attempts to arrest Hu Li. In the ensuring fight, Hu Li kicks Lee out of a window and he falls out onto the casino floor. Molina and Hu Li then fight, and Molina sweeps the trigger (that triggers Lee's bomb) out onto the casino floor. Hu Li finally manages to gain the upper hand and shoots Molina once before jumping out onto the casino floor. After a frantic search, Carter and Lee end up together. Carter starts pulling the tape off Lee's mouth. Lee manages to spit the bomb out seconds before Hu Li finds the trigger and detonates it. Carter then fights Hu Li while Lee goes to stop Tan from taking the engraving plates.
In the penthouse, Reign opens a safe and takes the plates. Tan appears and stabs Reign to death. Lee confronts Tan, taking Reign's gun. Carter appears, having triumphantly knocked Hu Li out. After a tense standoff, Tan knocks the gun in Carter's direction as Lee fires the gun, which nearly kills Carter. In the ensuring chaos, Lee accidentally kicks Tan out the window, who falls to his death outside. Hu Li then enters, holding a bomb. Lee and Carter leap out of the window with their jackets just as the bomb goes off.
The film ends at the airport. The Secret Service and Molina thank Lee for his work. All three are going their separate ways, Carter to Los Angeles, Molina to New York, and Lee to Hong Kong. After Isabella walks away, Carter gives Lee $10,000 he won from gambling. The two of them decide to take another vacation in New York City.
Trivia
Aside from Lee and Carter no other characters or actors from the first
film appear. On the DVD release of the film, a deleted scene featured Philip Baker
Hall reprising his role of Captain Diel from the first film. Carter speaks with
the Captain about his stay in Hong Kong and his involvement in the Triad case.
Director, Brett Ratner states while he would have loved to include the scene in
the final cut (essentially giving Hall a cameo appearance), it did not advance
the plot. Therefore, was left out.
The Red Dragon Casino in Las Vegas owned
by Ricky Tan (John Lone) and Steven Reign (Alan King) is actually the Desert Inn
hotel and casino. There were red lights shined at the hotel to make it a scarlet
color. Following the closure of the 50 year old Las Vegas Strip property in August
2000 by new owner Steve Wynn, the Rush Hour 2 production moved in and redesigned
parts of the property as a Chinese themed casino/hotel for the movie. Shortly
after the movie wrapped production in Las Vegas the buildings used in the film
were imploded to make way for the new $2.7 billion dollar Wynn Las Vegas resort.
Futhermore, the Red Dragon is the name of another movie that Brett Ratner directed,
as well as the name of a real casino in Mountlake Terrace, Washington, USA.
Prop
gaming chips were produced for the film, ranging in denominations from $1 to $1,000,000.
These are much sought after by both film fans and gaming collectors.
Zhang
Ziyi only speaks English two times in the film, being her famous line "Some
apple?", as she didn't know the language at the time of filming. Jackie Chan
served as her translator on the set.
Zhang Ziyi's character name, "Hu
Li", means "fox."
Both Rush Hour films began in Hong Kong and
ended in a US airport.
In a chase scene, as Chris Tucker is running up the
stairs, an old Chinese woman gets blocked by him, and she shouts "Step aside,
Kobe!" with reference to Kobe Bryant. Tucker said on the Jay Leno show that
during filming, many locals mistook him for Bryant.
Box office
Rush
Hour 2 opened on August 3, 2001 in 3,118 North American theatres, and it grossed
$67,408,222 USD ($21,619 per screen) in its opening weekend. It ended its run
with $226,164,286 USD, making it the fourth highest-grossing movie of 2001 and
the highest-grossing martial arts film of all time.
Running time 90 min.
Language English
Budget US$90,000,000
The film's total worldwide box office take was $347,325,802 USD.
Cast
Jackie Chan as Chief
Inspector Lee
Chris Tucker as Detective James Carter
John Lone as Ricky
Tan
Ziyi Zhang, as Hu Li
Roselyn Sanchez as Isabella Molina
Alan King
as Steven Reign
Harris Yulin as Agent Sterling
Kenneth Tsang as Captain
Chin
Don Cheadle as Kenny
Biographies of many famous footballers
Link to Football Central our football internet magazine
A
site listing some films and other elements of culture set in Las Vegas