Another 48 Hrs.

Another 48 Hrs. (1990)

Runtime: 95 minutes

Directed by: Walter Hill

Starring: Eddie Murphy, Nick Nolte, Brion James, Kevin Tighe, Ed O'Ross

From: Paramount

I decided not to wait so that's why tonight I am talking about this film and the original. The Letterboxd review is below:

Minutes after I finished watching the original 48 Hrs. I decided to see this sequel, set 8 years later. I had seen it once before but when the end credits rolled here it turns out I barely remembered this. As sequels go, of course it's not as good as the original but boy could it have been worse.

Via contrived circumstances (not the only contrivance in the movie, either) Reggie Hammond (Eddie Murphy) is just now getting out of jail, years after he originally expected to. Several bikers are looking to kill him, because one of them is the brother of the first movie's villain and also, they were hired by The Iceman... who isn't Val Kilmer but instead is a mysterous drug dealer connected to Hammond via something in the first film, and only Jack Cates (Nick Nolte) believes the man of ice exists, causing problems on the job.

The plot is pretty goofy at times and I could carp about various things. There is a mystery as to who The Iceman actually is; it's a character you see that is later revealed to be the main villain; I am not quite sure if I buy that person's identity but I will admit it is nice that the story is different this time instead of just being a carbon copy of the original, but Cates and Hammond not liking each other again seems a little forced.

What helps this movie get a 3 star rating is the action. Besides it being the typical bloody violence of Walter Hill, it seemed to be influenced by 80's Hong Kong action. Between the incredible amount of glass that gets shattered throughout to seeing multiple people get blown back at least 20 feet via a single gunshot, I'll have to agree as it does remind me of such things as Jackie Chan, Chow Yun-Fat and John Woo. That is not a bad thing to try and emulate. While this is not as good as the first adventure we had with the duo back in '82, at least I still thought this movie was fine and not a waste of time.