"Rush Hour 2"

NON-STOP ACTION is certainly nothing new to Jackie Chan who made his screen debut in 1962 at the age of eight. In a career spanning almost 40 years he has kicked, punched, jumped and flipped his way to more box office records than any other Asian film star. But what really put him in the top bracket is the film "Rush Hour," which became a phenomenal success raking in close to 34 million dollars when it opened and earned for the producers nearly 250 million dollars worldwide. What makes his films so well liked? For instance incredible stunts. Then he works hard to add comedy throughout the film to take the sting out of the violence.

Then most of them have a story line that is thin no doubt but it is always with a degree of conviction that it is not your usual cops and robbers shindig. You have the underdog detective who could be a lonely man with not much in his apartment and unwittingly at times gets caught in the cross fire between international crooks and deals. He comes out of it hurt but smiling. Which is why his movies are fun to watch and you are able to digest the shootouts, blood and gore with a pinch of salt. Warner Bros' "Rush Hour 2" is no different. Collecting a record 68.5 million US dollars in its first three days (with close to 3000 shows) at the box office it is touted to be the biggest grossed with the exception of the Titanic. According to Mr. Sridhar Viswanathan of Celebrity Films Pvt Ltd, which is distributing this film,"So far we have done about 15 Jackie Chan films and our association with his films goes back to 1992. We have also distributed over 200 titles including popular ones like terminator 11, Rambo series, and Jurassic park." Celebrity Films is an offshoot of Oscar Films which is a production as well as a distribution company. Some of its successful films in Tamil being

"Vaanathai Polae",                                                                                                               
"Kadhaluku Mariyadai", 
"Sooryavamsam", "Love Today", 
"Tullatha Manamum Tullum", 
"Nattamai", "Priyamanavalae", 
"Amarkalam", among others. 

What is nice about his films is that, says Mr. Viswanathan, there 
is action, comedy and fun. There is violence but you never really 
feel  it because Jackie himself comes across as someone who  does 
not believe in mindless gore. He is such a fine person, he  adds. 
And,  he says, he is expecting a lot from India, from the  public 
and  would  love to come here. In fact plans were  even  made  to 
present  him during the release of the film but the incidents  of 
September 11 put a halt to all that. The film has already  opened 
in   Bombay  and  that  too  in  25  theatres  -  such  are   the 
expectations.  Shot  in Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Hong  Kong  it  
covers  all the places in a medley of imagescolourful and  exotic 
in  parts.  This film, Mr. Viswanathan says, is one of  the  rare 
sequels,  which  is already doing better than the  first  It  all 
starts when the U.S. embassy in Hong Kong is bombed while  Carter 
(Tucker)  is  settling down to a vacation and Lee (Chan)  to  his 
police  duties.  A lead brings them to a local  bar  filled  with 
triad members and more importantly the most feared gangster Zhao. 

A clash breaks out and they lose Zhao and Lee is then  determined 
to  catch  the  gangster  despite the  fact  that  Carter  is  on 
vacation. So begins the confrontation of one of the biggest cases 
in their careers and they get increasingly involved in a criminal 
conspiracy  involving the deadly triad. The adventure  takes  the 
viewer  through  moments  of fun,  tremendous  action  and  heart 
stopping  stunts through the streets and highways of  Hong  Kong, 
Los  Angeles and Las Vegas. The casino scene towards the  end  is 
truly worth watching. Pageantry and pomp interwoven with fun  and 
dynamite. How they use their talents and wiles to trap one of the 
world"s most feared gangsters is what the film is all about. 

Also in the cast is Zhang Ziyi of "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon" 
who  plays a key role and is rather magnificent. Makes  one  wish 
more women were like her- courageous and a fighter all the way. 

CHITRA MAHESH 





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