Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		3.5
Overall		3.5

Rush Hour 2 Blu-ray Movie Review

No Rush

Reviewed by Michael Reuben November 10, 2016

The delayed arrival of Rush Hour 2 on Blu-ray is a textbook example of the screwball release patterns that routinely leave the format's fans scratching their heads. The film is the middle chapter in a buddy-cop trilogy of which the first and third installments have been available on Blu-ray for a long time. Rush Hour 3 was issued in 2007, during the format's infancy, followed by the original Rush Hour three years later. For five more years, however, the second installment remained MIA while fans grew increasingly impatient. Eventually, Warner Brothers' foreign affiliates decided to take matters into their own hands, and RH2 appeared on Blu-ray in October 2015 in several overseas territories (a list of releases can be found here). Still, the disc continued to be withheld from the U.S. market, apparently so that new extras could be created. Since Warner's discs are region-free, many U.S. fans simply ordered RH2 from abroad to complete their set.

Now, over a year later, RH2 has finally appeared in America, and the wait wasn't worth it. The sole new extra is a 20-minute retrospective documentary, which doesn't even occupy the same disc as RH2. Someone must have run the numbers and concluded that it was cheaper to put the documentary on its own disc and bundle it with the existing version of RH2, rather than re-author the title from scratch. So the Blu-ray of RH2 now being offered to the American market turns out to be identical to the disc that has already been available abroad for more than a year. It even has 2015 file dates. If you imported it from Germany or Japan, there's no reason to replace it.

To add insult to injury, RH2 isn't even being sold separately here, although it may be at a later date. For the moment, the only way to acquire it domestically is to buy the Rush Hour Trilogy, thereby also purchasing (or repurchasing) the first two films. Even worse, Warner hasn't favored RH1 and RH3 with remasters using AVC and higher bitrates. The discs in the Trilogy are repressings of the same bit-starved, VC-1/encoded releases from six and nine years ago, respectively.

The Rush Hour trilogy turns on the unlikely pairing of martial arts legend Jackie Chan with American comic Chris Tucker, who was previously best known for his motor-mouthed portrayal of Ruby Rhod in The Fifth Element. In the first Rush Hour, Chan's Hong Kong police inspector Lee and Tucker's L.A.P.D. Detective James Carter were forced together by Carter's superiors to solve the kidnapping of a Chinese diplomat's daughter. At the film's conclusion, Carter is accompanying Lee on his return to China, where the pair plans to take some much-needed vacation. RH2 opens with the oddball duo cruising the crowded streets of Hong Kong to the familiar strains of the Beach Boys. But Carter's vacation is interrupted when Lee is pulled into the investigation of a fatal bombing at the U.S. Consulate General. Naturally, Carter follows him into the fray.

RH2's screenplay is by Jeff Nathanson, who would go on to bigger and better things with Catch Me If You Can and The Terminal, but here he is simply filling in the lines already traced by the first Rush Hour (co-written by Jim Kouf and Ross LaManna). Carter and Lee repeatedly chase and threaten—or are chased and threatened by—a rotating series of bad guys and goons, engaging in extended fights featuring Chan's trademark martial arts choreography and seasoned by Tucker's shrieking slapstick. The plot, such as it is, has something to do with counterfeit money, and the action begins in Hong Kong but eventually leads Carter and Lee back to the familiar Los Angeles environs where they were first paired up. And then, for good measure, they head to Las Vegas.

The film boasts an entertaining rogues' gallery of villains played by John Lone (The Shadow), the late Alan King (Cat's Eye) and Zhang Ziyi as a sadistic hitwoman, whose delicate features barely hint at her bloodthirsty appetites (it's an intriguing change of pace for the actress who so memorably played the rebellious heroine of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon). A pretty Secret Service agent portrayed by Roselyn Sánchez circulates in and out of the story, along with her boss (Harris Yulin), and both of them may or may not be trustworthy. It's an essential element of the Rush Hour series that, no matter how much they drive each other crazy, in the end neither Carter nor Lee can depend on anyone else to save themselves from peril.

Rush Hour 2 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Rush Hour 2 was shot on film by Matthew F. Leonetti (Star Trek: First Contact). The transfer for this Blu-ray edition was created in 2014 under the auspices of Warner's New Line Cinema group by scanning an interpositive at 2K. The resulting 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray is sharply detailed with a pleasingly film-like texture that provides a warmth to the image even when it is dominated (as it often is) by rich blues and deep grays. Nighttime blacks are deep and solid, and both the Hong Kong and Vegas scenes feature bright saturated hues with a heavy emphasis on red (the casino owned by Alan King's hotel magnate is called The Red Dragon and is decorated accordingly). Some light sharpening has been applied, but it is generally unobtrusive.The film's grain texture is finely resolved, revealing fine detail in Jackie Chan's expressive face and Chris Tucker's frequently ludicrous wardrobe. Because RH2 was prepared several years ago, before Warner's catalog division reformed its mastering practices, the average bitrate is an anemic 23.95 Mbps (with over 20 GBs of space left blank on the BD-50).

Rush Hour 2 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Warner released the first and third Rush Hour films with 7.1 soundtracks, but RH2 receives only a 5.1 track, encoded in lossless DTS-HD MA. The mix isn't likely to rank highly on anyone's list of audio "demo" discs, but it provides appropriate dynamic range and surround immersion for a modern action film, albeit one that aims more for comedy than thrills. The frequent explosions, gunfire, breaking glass and flying debris have sufficient impact to make their point, but equally enjoyable are the many smaller sound effects accompanying the fight sequences. (An extended skirmish on a bamboo scaffolding surrounding a Hong Kong building is my favorite.) The dialogue is as clear as Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker ever are; exchanges in Chinese are subtitled. Composer Lalo Shifrin resumes scoring duties from the first film, and several pop tunes make memorable appearances, especially Michael Jackon's "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough".

Rush Hour 2 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Although I do not have the 2003 "InfiniFilm" DVD of RH2 for direct comparison, the Blu-ray appears to contain most of its special features, with the omission of a trivia track and the DVD-ROM elements (including the shooting script).

• Focus Points (480i; 1.78:1, enhanced, unless otherwise indicated)
• Jackie Chan's Hong Kong Introduction (1:58)
• Culture Clash: East Meets West (4:53)
• Language Barrier (4:17)
• Attaining International Stardom (7:03)
• Kung Fu Choreography (9:32)
• Lady Luck with Commentary by Brett Ratner (1.33:1; 2:39)



• Commentary with Director Brett Ratner and Writer Jeff Nathanson



• Vintage Featurettes (480i; 1.78:1, enhanced)
• Making Magic Out of Mire (8:57)
• Evolution of a Scene—Chicken Chop (5:05)
• Evolution of a Scene—The Bomb (9:24)
• Evolution of a Scene—Slide for Life (5:51)
• Fashion of Rush Hour 2 (3:54)
• Visual Effects Deconstruction (480i; 1.78:1 & 2.40:1)
• Introduction by Visual Effects Supervisor Kevin Lingenfelser (0:32)
• Angle 1—Backplate (0:17)
• Angle 2—Miniature with Window Treatment (0:17)
• Angle 3—Miniature Fixed Perspective (0:17)
• Angle 4—Final (0:17)



• Deleted Scenes (w/Optional Director Commentary) (480i; 2.40:1, enhanced; 8:04): A "play all" function is included.
• Outside the Raven Club
• Carter and Captain Diel
• Ping Pong Paddle
• Onto the Red Dragon
• In-Flight Entertainment
• Wacky Bomb Chase
• Original Truck Part 1
• Original Truck Part 2
• Carter and Steven Reign



• Outtakes (480i; 2.40:1; 5:07).



• Trailers (480i; 2.40:1, enhanced)
• Teaser 1 (1:07)
• Teaser 2 (1:13)
• Theatrical Trailer (2:34)

Rush Hour 2 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Rush Hour 2 is a competent, if unremarkable, Blu-ray presentation. If it had been released here last year in a single-disc package, as it should have been, I would recommend it—but that didn't happen. Purchasers seeking to complete the trilogy should wait either for a sale or until Warner releases RH2 separately.