Rush Hour 2

Mel Gibson and Danny Glover are back for the fifth and latest instalment of the Lethal Weapon series... hang on a second, that's not Mel Gibson! The other guy's black, but he ain't Danny Glover. Oh, I see, this is the other buddy cop movie.

They're all the bloody same, aren't they?

When you can't recall a thing about a storyline a mere half an hour after watching a film, you know that the story wasn't that important to start with. In this case, considering that the film was Rush Hour 2, which is the follow up to the strangely successful Rush Hour, the story just gets in the way of more Tucker fast talking jive bullshit and Chan's chopsockey tomfoolery.

So, instead of a long and boring synopsis (the short version: they go to Asia and get in some fights, then go to America and get into some more fights and tell each other they don't understand what the other is saying a lot) which is an insult to all our intelligences, how about I tell you what I think would make a good commercial for this DVD?

Start:

Close up on cover of Rush Hour 2 DVD on store shelf. It's the last one left.

Pull back to reveal three people standing on either side: on the left an old lady, frail looking with a walking stick. On the other side two young guys, the typical DVD nuts talking crap. ("I heard the picture is awesome, man." "Yeah, it's even got DTS! Cooool!")They all see the last RH2 DVD at the same time and the old bag grabs it first and starts to read the back.

Old bag: Hmmm, this looks interesting...

Young guy: Hey! Gimme that! The old persons section is in the back, grandma.

Old bag: Sorry punk! Get your own!

Young guy: Give it to me and beat it, Mavis!

Old bag (with sly look on her wrinkled face): Beat it, eh?...

Old bag proceeds to beat the crap out of young guys using karate and jujitsu type moves and a few swift cracks of her walking stick to their jatz crackers.

Shots of pained faces and snapped limbs.

Sales guy steps in and tries to stop her...

Sales guy: Hey! Stop tha...

Shot of sales guy flying across the room screaming...

Cut to old bag walking out of store clutching her copy of RH2 on DVD.

Voiceover: Grab Rush Hour 2 on DVD today!

Cut to old bag in a karate pose.

Voiceover: Will you get the rush? Available at all good stores and milk bars now!

End

So what do you think? It's better than anything they wrote for the actual movie.

Rush Hour 2 is set in a nice wide (and maybe a little unnecessary for this film) aspect ratio of 2.35:1 and comes with 16:9 enhancement on DVD, and I guess my first impression would be "Doesn't it look nice?" A recent flick, it looks new and clean, with oodles of picture detail and gloriously punchy colours. Problems? None really, just a little aliasing that pops up infrequently is all. Some early scenes at night and in a club seemed a little dark and a bit devoid of detail, but this may be the intended look (which basically demonstrates the uselessness of a review I guess).

In fact, do you ask people how good a picture looks before you go to the cinema? No? Didn't think so. So why should DVD really be any different? Most DVDs produced today are of a sufficiently high standard (take a look at most of Village Roadshow's recent releases for an example) that the whole video and audio review of a DVD is a bit of a wank really. Sure, we can report the occassional incorrect aspect ratio, or a pan and scan crop of a film or even a severe mastering issue, but other than that it's nothing you couldn't do yourself on the Internet these days. Rest assured that if you like this film then you'll be plenty pleased with how it looks on this DVD.

Well aren't we spoiled little brats? On this DVD we get the practically unheard of combination in Australia of Dolby Digital EX 5.1 and DTS ES 6.1 audio tracks. Now will you eat your damn vegies? Of course, both of these are backward compatible with your standard DD and DTS decoders, so don't worry too much if you don't have the latest and greatest gear for a rear centre channel.

"Enough with the bloody acronyms already! How does it sound, you bastard?" I hear you ask. Well, pretty damn spiffing, but not totally amazing. That's because even though it's a bit of an action film, there's not really that much sonically happening in it to really give all the channels a huge work out, other than the music and some shouty bits. Not that I'm complaining, mind you. It all sounds great, maybe a little anaemic at times, but with good vocal clarity and strong broad front soundstage. On a positive note for the EX track, when the score does kick in in the centre rear channel it really does add to the experience of recreating the cinema wraparound atmosphere, which is something I liked and felt worked in its favour. As for the difference between the DTS and DD, "Bugger all" would be my official judgement.

And the good news continues, with a whole swag of goodies to keep you sedated throughout a weekend. We start with a commentary from director Brett Ratner and the writer who both seem proud of what they've done and are fairly enthusiastic. Good on 'em. I say! I didn't think much of the film, but I'm happy for them anyway. They're out there doing it and living the dream, and I'm just sitting here writing about it, so who am I to criticise?

Then, covering a few different aspects of making the film, we have seven small featurettes:
Making Magic Out Of Mire (8mins 53secs)
Evolution of a Scene (21 mins in 3 parts)
Jackie Chan's Hong Kong Introduction (2mins 3secs)
Culture Clash - West Meets East (4min 50sec)
Attaining International Stardom (7mins)
Kung Fu Choreography (9mins 28secs)
Fashion of Rush Hour 2 (3min 50secs)

Although some of these don't add much to your understanding of the film, actually scratch that, there's nothing to really understand in the film, so let's say that they don't really teach you anything, it still manages to show a few interesting things. It would probably have been better as one big coherent flowing documentary, but that's just me looking for something negative to say, eh?

Using multi-angle, The Visual Effects Deconstruction sounds a lot more exciting than it is. It's a quick (48 secs) breakdown of how they created the effect of the building explosion with an intro by the Visual Effects Supervisor.

There's a bunch of deleted scenes which can be played with a commentary or not, and also in this section is the outtakes which has around five minutes of goofs (so-so quality yucks) by Chan and Tucker.

A short film (2mins 29secs) Ratner made at Uni is also thrown on the disc. The audio is just him explaining what its all about, but it's good to see it included, and would be a great idea for other releases by other directors.

There are three trailers and a typical cast and crew filmography.

Last, there are two Easter eggs that I could find. Hidden away are two trailers for Lord of the Rings. As usual, visit our Easter egg department to find out where they are.

A solid effort in all departments, except for the actual film, that is. This is yet another film where you switch yourself into idiot mode, grab lots of high fat snacks and beer and turn the dial on your amp way up for some brainless stupidity. When you want to learn a little more about the film, or just pass a few hours without having to leave your chair, you can check out the chock-a-block extra features. In a nutshell, if this DVD is anything to go by, then the studios plans to turn us all into fat, demented, deaf and lazy slobs with arses the shape of lounge cushions is right on schedule. Enjoy!