OxfordPress.com

Grade: B-

Verdict: Get ready for “Rush Hour 3.”

Details: Starring Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan. Directed by Brett Ratner. Rated PG-13 for profanity and violence and sexual innuendo. One hour, 28 minutes.

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Review: “Rush Hour 2” may not give you the same, well, rush as its predecessor, but you know how people say they could listen to, say, Kevin Spacey, read the phone book? Well, I could watch Jackie Chan kick the phone book's butt.

Luckily, “Rush Hour 2” is more entertaining than the phone book.

Chan and Chris Tucker are reunited as Inspector Lee and Detective Carter in this formulaic but fun sequel to their 1998 blockbuster (nearly $250 million worldwide). The plot has something to do with counterfeit money and something to do with undercover FBI agents and something to do with dangerous Chinese gangs and even something to do with the mysterious death of Lee's father who was also a police officer.

However, this time, Carter is on Lee's turf. He's come to Hong Kong for vacation. A little sake, a lot of girls. But a bombing at the American Embassy puts the pair back on active duty. Their prime suspect? Ricky Tan (John Lone), a powerful gang lord who used to be Lee's father's partner.

Hmmm.

And guess who shows up as as Tan's Number One gun (um, swordsperson?) “Crouching TIger, Hidden Dragon's” Zhang Ziyi, here channeling her hidden dragon lady.

Director Brett Ratner does little more than turn on the camera and turn loose the cast. There are the usual spectacular fights (you can tell which ones were staged by Chan; they're the ones that depend more on creative use of martial arts than on stuntmen). And there're the usual comic riffs between the leads. This time, look for a lot of mangled language jokes.

Tucker's jiving chatterbox can become tiresome — reportedly, even he is ready to do something else — but he still gets in some great zingers. His use of the race card as a diversionary tactic at a casino is one of the boldest and funniest scenes in the movie. Further, his jittery energy makes a fine counterpoint to Chan's sly stillness. It's that yin and yang thing.

While this may not be the best way to introduce Zhang to a broad American audience, she again demonstrates that unmistakable camera-loves-her charisma. And, of course, there's Chan — a thing of beauty and a joy forever. Especially when he's wiping up a massage parlor with the bad guys.

Sure, "Rush Hour 2" looks cheap and sounds cheap and wastes Don Cheadle in a pointless cameo. But did I mention it's got Jackie Chan?

— Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, (none)