Movie Reviews: Another 48 Hrs.
For the last four years San Francisco cop Jack Cates (Nick Nolte) is been obsessively chasing after a drug kingpin known as the Ice Man. Cates confronts some men who he believes to be in the Ice Man's employ and kills one of them in self defence. With no evidence to prove his claims, cates soon finds himself under investigation by Internal Affairs. Cates finds a picture of Reggie Hammond (Eddie Murphy) in the dead man's possession. Hammond is due to be released from prison, but it seems that the Ice Man has put a price on his head. The pair must reluctantly work together if they are to prove Cates's innocence and protect Reggie.
The original 48 Hrs. is often credited as popularizing the buddy cop genre. If that movie was so successful, then why did it take so long for a sequel to be made? The original 48 Hrs. was released in 1981 and this movie was released in 1990. Maybe Hollywood wasn't so quick to churn out sequels back then.
This movie won't offer you much in the way of original storytelling. If you have seen one buddy cop movie, then you will already know pretty much what happens. The two main characters hate each other at the beginning of the movie, but by the end will grow to like each other. It was exactly the same in the first movie, but the mismatched partners thing hadn't become commonplace yet.
It is nice to have the villain's identity be a mystery for once. Is it the smug Internal Affairs guy who is getting on Jack Cates's back all the time? Is it one of the two cops played by guys who always play villains in movies (Brion James of Blade Runner and Tango & Cash fame and Ed O'Ross from Red Heat respectively)?
The action is fairly standard throughout. There are several mildly thrilling gunfights dotted throughout. A particularly exciting bit comes near the end where the various parties finally meet in a nightclub and it swiftly goes to hell. People are blasted clear across the room and it seemed like hardly one pane of glass was left in one piece by the end of it.
Three pointy hats.
Next time: Firewalker
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