James Carter comes to Hong Kong for a holiday with Inspector Lee. However at the same time a bomber is striking key American targets. Carter and Lee get drawn into an investigation into a counterfeiting ring run by Ricky Tan and his new partner Hu Li. Before long their up to their necks in trouble again.
The story doesn't matter because basically it's this - Carter talks funny to somebody while Lee is distracted, it then all kicks off and Lee does lots of fancy moves, it then moves to a different location and the pattern repeats again. Essentially that's it - but it doesn't matter, it worked the first time and it works again here. The story is better than the first film's, although the twists don't work as well as they think they do.
The main improvement since the first movie is that there's more fighting action. In RH Jackie Chan's fighting was toned down to make room for Tucker's comedy. In RH2 Chan is allowed to have much more action and the addition of Zhang Ziyi ups the ante all the more. Tucker still gets to do his big-mouthed comedy and have plenty of banter between him and Chan, be sexual with girls and fight. It's not breaking new ground but it's quite fun.
Chan and Tucker are very good, mainly because they're having fun and comfortable with each other. Lone adds class and menace as Ricky Tan and Sanchez adds spice as the beautiful Isabella. The best addition is Zhang Ziyi - she doesn't have any character but she can certainly move! The cast also has very funny cameos from Don Cheadle and Jeremy Piven - adding laughs and class.
The only problem with the film is that it is so very formulaic and is just a simple crowd pleaser. Some of the banter is a few steps off racism (`I'll kick you back to Africa') and much of Tucker's ogling is borderline sexism. However it's all so very polished that you don't notice.
Overall it's a very entertaining blockbuster. The only problem is this - the funniest bits are the outtakes, shouldn't it have been in the film?!
