This movie had such a great cast, but it was so completely underutilized. Other than the occasionally humorous utterance by Chris Rock, the dialogue was, well, mostly bad (the "frog" speech by Pesci was the only other exception). The political statements, telling us that guns are evil unless Mel or Danny have them, were understated and easy to miss but still pretty annoying. And the typical one-dimensional portrayal of Chinese characters is on full display here. I know they all look alike to a lot of Americans, but come on. "Fly lice"? So solly, but the honorable dilector does not know Chinese don't all have accent.
The one part of this movie that held my attention was Wah Sing Ku, killer for the Chinese mafia (not, as a previous reviewer erroneously pointed out, Japanese Yakuza), played by the veteran Hong Kong action star, Li Lian Jie, aka, Jet Li. A world-class wushu practitioner, Li had a few opportunities to showcase his talents. Words like breath-taking and awe-inspiring do not begin to describe his skill.
*SPOILER*
The utterly maddening part of this movie is that it somehow wanted us to believe that a couple of out-of-shape, over-the-hill cops could beat in hand-to-hand combat a well-conditioned, young wushu master who has trained for his whole life and (the movie suggests) killed people much tougher than Riggs and Murtaugh. Yes, I realize it was their movie, they had to win, the bad guy had to lose, etc., etc., etc., but I'm afraid my suspension of disbelief isn't quite that pliable.
*END SPOILER*
Other than Li's portions, this movie deserves to be placed in that mountainous pile of mediocre, killing-time formula movies. See it if you're bored, or see it for Li's action sequences and fast-forward the rest.
The one part of this movie that held my attention was Wah Sing Ku, killer for the Chinese mafia (not, as a previous reviewer erroneously pointed out, Japanese Yakuza), played by the veteran Hong Kong action star, Li Lian Jie, aka, Jet Li. A world-class wushu practitioner, Li had a few opportunities to showcase his talents. Words like breath-taking and awe-inspiring do not begin to describe his skill.
*SPOILER*
The utterly maddening part of this movie is that it somehow wanted us to believe that a couple of out-of-shape, over-the-hill cops could beat in hand-to-hand combat a well-conditioned, young wushu master who has trained for his whole life and (the movie suggests) killed people much tougher than Riggs and Murtaugh. Yes, I realize it was their movie, they had to win, the bad guy had to lose, etc., etc., etc., but I'm afraid my suspension of disbelief isn't quite that pliable.
*END SPOILER*
Other than Li's portions, this movie deserves to be placed in that mountainous pile of mediocre, killing-time formula movies. See it if you're bored, or see it for Li's action sequences and fast-forward the rest.