ANOTHER 48 HRS is the sequel to the hugely successful Eddie Murphy/Nick Nolte team-up 48 HRS, and the producers at Paramount clearly followed the old "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" adage because this one copies almost exactly the same formula as the first film. Walter Hill is back directing, Murphy and Nolte are back as the leads, and the storyline is virtually the same as in the first.
Sadly, the law of diminishing returns hits this film hard, making it a shadow of his predecessor (which I found to be only an averagely entertaining movie at best). Every scene, situation and shoot-out is overly familiar, and absolutely nothing that happens - even in regard to the twist involving the villains' identity - is a surprise. Murphy's high-wire, sometimes frenzied acting helps add much needed energy to the production, but Nolte is sleepwalking and indeed appears half asleep in this movie.
Still, on the plus side the pacing is fast and quite a lot of the humour works well. Hill's directing can't be faulted, and he's fleshed out his supporting cast with a number of familiar faces from the '80s: Kevin Tighe as the IA man, Brion James and Ed O'Ross cast against type as cops, and an early role for WISHMASTER's Andrew Divoff as the baddie. It's just a shame more original material couldn't be found to sustain all of this.
Sadly, the law of diminishing returns hits this film hard, making it a shadow of his predecessor (which I found to be only an averagely entertaining movie at best). Every scene, situation and shoot-out is overly familiar, and absolutely nothing that happens - even in regard to the twist involving the villains' identity - is a surprise. Murphy's high-wire, sometimes frenzied acting helps add much needed energy to the production, but Nolte is sleepwalking and indeed appears half asleep in this movie.
Still, on the plus side the pacing is fast and quite a lot of the humour works well. Hill's directing can't be faulted, and he's fleshed out his supporting cast with a number of familiar faces from the '80s: Kevin Tighe as the IA man, Brion James and Ed O'Ross cast against type as cops, and an early role for WISHMASTER's Andrew Divoff as the baddie. It's just a shame more original material couldn't be found to sustain all of this.