Another 48 Hrs. (1990)

Starring: Nick Nolte and Eddie Murphy with Tisha Campbell and Bernie Casey
Grade: B+

Jack: “How do you remember where this girl worked after 7 years in prison?”

Reggie: “7 years in prison, you remember every story you ever heard about pussy. Trust me”.

For someone that hasn’t been to prison, I can totally see where Reggie is coming from.

Summary

In a desert bar somewhere, Malcolm Price (Ted Markland) looks out the window to wait for two bikers to show up. Bartender Tom wants to know if he wants a beer while he’s waiting, but he grabs a whiskey bottle from the counter instead and sits down. The bikers enter, grab some beers, and sit down with Price. One of them is Willie Hickock (David Anthony Marshall) and the other is Richard “Cherry” Ganz (Andrew Divoff), the brother of Albert Ganz from 48 Hrs. Price pulls out a briefcase and offers 50 now and 50 more when they kill Reggie Hammond (Murphy). Cherry is down because he knows how Reggie used to be in Albert’s gang and ratted Albert “to the cop that blew him away”, bringing up the climax of the film’s predecessor. A cop car pulls up, and a female cop walks in while the other calls in for warrants to search the motorcycles there. The cop greets Tom and turns to the other men. Cherry and Willie introduce themselves, and the cop asks if she knows them. Cherry shoots her right out of the front window. The other cop exits his car with a shotgun, but Willie shoots him down. Tom tries to call the police, but Price shoots him before he can.

At a dirtbike race at the Hunter’s Point Raceway, Tyrone Burroughs (Brent Jennings) offers Arthur Brock (John Del Regno) the $100,000 deal, with $50,000 in a briefcase for starters on behalf of “The Ice Man”. Brock gets mad because the cash is in 100s, which he didn’t want. Tyrone still goes on about how he doesn’t get the rest of the balance until “the guy” is killed. Presumably, it’s Reggie. Brock accepts and starts grabbing the cash. San Francisco Police Inspector Jack Cates (Nolte) appears and points his gun at them. Right away, Brock starts firing, so Jack shoots him. In the middle of the shootout, Tyrone runs and the stray bullets set off a gas tank that Brock was standing behind. It causes a massive explosion and fiery death for Brock. Jack chases Tyron onto the raceway, but he can’t get a clear shot, allowing Tyrone to escape with the money. Afterwards, the fire is put out and Jack searches through the remnants of Brock’s stuff. In the duffel bag with some money left over, Jack finds a picture of Reggie. Inspector Ben Kehoe (Brion James) talks with Jack and sees the destruction he caused. Jack insists Brock shot at him, and Kehoe believes him, saying they just have to find the gun. Inspector Frank Cruise (Ed O’Ross) approaches and says he checked Brock’s locker because he worked at the raceway, and Brock seemed fine. They haven’t found his gun. Another cop explains to Internal Affairs Lt. Blake Wilson (Kevin Tighe) how Jack took out a “local” and a bullet hit the gas pump, burning Brock to a crisp. He says Jack claims it was a “righteous” shot. Wilson has been running into Jack a lot lately, so he’s not surprised to see him. Wilson approaches Jack in private to ask what happened, so Jack details how he was on a stakeout and was getting close to nailing “The Ice Man”, a story Wilson has heard Jack say before and laughs it off. They know he’s the biggest drug dealer in the Bay Area, but they don’t have prints or a description of him. Wilson comments that Jack is the only person on the force that believes the guy exists. Wilson says the man isn’t real and wants to know what happened here. Jack saw an exchange, which he says is probable cause. Brock had a gun and shot, so Jack shot back.

Jack is sure the gun has to be in there with the ashes because he didn’t touch anything.

Wilson sees Cruise pick up something from the ground, but he says it’s burnt metal from the gas pump. There is no gun. Wilson accuses Jack of fucking up, but Jack is adamant Brock shot at him, so Wilson reiterates to Cruise to do a full scan of the place to find anything relating to a gun. Jack goes to the prison to speak to Reggie and finds him shooting hoops by himself. Reggie hasn’t seen him in years, which bothers him because he thought they were friends. Jack apologizes and says he’s been busy. They discuss times changing, Jack’s new haircut, and how he quit drinking and lost weight because of it. Reggie asks if the warden chose Jack to let him know that he got another five years on his sentence, but Jack dispels this. He’s still getting out tomorrow. However, when Reggie is released, they have another job to do. Reggie doesn’t want to be involved. He just wants his money like he was promised. Jack plays hardball and says that he won’t ever give him his money back unless Reggie helps him. Reggie reminds him how he gave it to him in good faith and how Jack said Reggie could trust him. Jack laughs and reaffirms his stance, prompting Reggie to hit him in the face with the basketball and attacking him. He tells the warden it was self-defense, but the warden knows no one is going to buy that. Reggie is incensed. He spent two years in prison and never denied that, but the charge of robbing payroll that landed him in there for his current five-year stretch is something he still claims innocence on. Despite Reggie pointing out how there are murderers that have spent less time in prison than him, the warden puts him in isolation until his time is up. He goes in and immediately turns on his Walkman to sing “Roxanne” loudly. Meanwhile, the bikers from the opening ride into San Francisco and head into a bar. Price sits down with Tyrone, who says the Ice Man is distressed because of their recent incident in the desert, as he’s not sure if they will be around to finish the job. Price assures him there won’t be an issue, but Tyrone criticizes them for not being as professional as they claim to be because it was so reckless. Price goes on about how they’re outlaws that don’t play by the rules and live like how Americans use to live.

Tyrone bypasses this because he’s just the messenger who was told to tell Price to take precautions. The other part of it was getting him backup, but that was Brock. Even so, he gives Price a bag of dynamite. Price knows what to do with it, as he used to be a marine.

Tyrone tells Price to come to him if he has any trouble. Cherry grabs some girl because he’s looking to fuck, but she assures her that she doesn’t do all that. Cherry says he’s looking for Angel (Page Leong), so she tells him that Angel doesn’t work there anymore. She’s dancing at a place in North Beach. Cherry suggests her instead, but she’s not interested. He won’t let go of her and Willie points a gun at her, but Price grabs them to leave. Following this, the review board determines Jack had insufficient probable cause. Based on a review of Jack’s case history and an ongoing investigation from Internal Affairs, the review board determines the shooting was a wrongful action. After the ruling, Wilson tells Jack that he will have to recommend to the district attorney that he gets prosecuted for manslaughter. He says he wishes they would have found the gun but is just doing his job, even though it’s obvious Wilson is enjoying every second of this. Jack’s lawyer tells Jack that Wilson’s personality profile on him calls Jack an obsessed cop whose record shows his history of stepping over the line. It’s likely the DA will choose to prosecute Jack on the third degree. After he leaves, Kehoe tells Jack he’s screwed, but Jack thinks finding the Ice Man will exonerate him. Kehoe tells him to give it up because that’s what put him there in the first place, but Jack says he’s talking like Wilson. Kehoe tries to give him a reality check. Jack has no leads, the department has no leads, and this whole thing looks like manslaughter. Back at the prison, it’s time for Reggie to be released. On the way out the door, prisoner Kirkland Smith (Casey) wants to talk to him from his cell, so Reggie stops. He wants to make sure Reggie will keep his promise and that the white cop who saw him yesterday, meaning Jack, won’t be a problem either. Reggie assures him that he will and that Jack isn’t a problem. However, what he agreed to may take longer than he initially said. Kirkland doesn’t want to hear it. He tells Reggie to get the money and keep his word. He kept Reggie alive in the prison for 5 years, so he wants him to make it right. Plus, he can still get to Reggie on the outside.

Reggie continues on, and the guard asks what that was all about. Reggie passes it off as an old football bet, which he doesn’t buy. Either way, they get Reggie’s stuff for release. The warden gives him $100 cash and a free bus ride to San Francsico, compliments of the state of California. He gets the rest of his stuff in an envelope and starts to freak out because he can’t find his James Brown tape but eventually does. Jack waits for him by the exit door and wants to finish their conversation, but Reggie tells him to stay the fuck away until Jack gives him his money. Nevertheless, Jack is still firm in his stance. Reggie thought he was a straight cop and asks what’s going on, so Jack tells him about how he’s been chasing the drug dealer known as the Ice Man for the last four years and he found out last week that the Ice Man wants Reggie dead. To prove it, Jack holds up the picture of Reggie that he found in the bag at the raceway and reveals that some man was being paid to kill Reggie. Jack comments that Reggie is the best lead he’s had in four years. Even so, Reggie refuses to help him while he holds onto his money. Jack says that he’s going to lose his badge and might go to jail, but Reggie feels better hearing this. Jack refuses to beg, but Reggie wonders what he’s going to do because it’s not like Jack can whip his ass or shoot him in front of the prison. He adds that this is no way to treat the best lead he’s ever had. Trying to move on, he tells Jack that he will come visit him in 5 or 6 years and gets on the prison bus to leave. Jack storms off in his piece of shit Cadillac that he’s still driving. Looking through binoculars in the distance is Cherry. He recognizes Jack as the cop who killed his brother. He comments to Willie how great this is because this job is going to allow for him to kill Jack and Reggie. Willie looks through the binoculars and sees the prison bus is now driving off. Jack drives to a diner and looks at a sketch of Tyrone. He goes through these small booklets to determine the exact shape of his features to get a more accurate description. At the same time, he sees the prison bus drive by the diner. Cherry and Willie pull up to the diner, and Cherry knocks on the window to get Jack’s attention. Jack turns around confused, and Cherry waves for him.

Next, Cherry pulls out his gun, shoots through the glass, and hits Jack several times, directly in the chest. Jack falls over the counter.

During the drive on the prison bus, Reggie sings James Brown to himself listening in on his Walkman. Cherry and Willie drive up to the bus, and Reggie sees them at the last second pulling out their massive guns. They start shooting out the windows as Reggie jumps to the ground. The other prisoners do so as well. The bus driver calls it in but is shot right after, so Reggie has to steer the bus. It only goes on for few seconds however because Cherry shoots out the tires, which makes the bus flip over violently. A semi-truck crashes it into as well. Cherry and Willie go over to the bus to finish the job. Reggie is miraculously uninjured during the wreckage and sees them coming towards the bus. He grabs the bus driver’s gun and starts shooting at them. They shoot back from the ground, but they are forced to run when the cops pull up. At the hospital, Jack is told he has a hairline fracture in his left clavicle, as the blunt trauma broke the skin. The doctor calls him lucky and asks if he always wears a bulletproof vest, but he jokes “only when I see my friends”. Mind you, he’s smoking in the hospital, prompting the doctor to take the cigarette out of his mouth. She continues and wants him to change the bandage on his chest every hour or hour and a half. He also has to immobilize his arm, so she gives him a sling. Though she still has to wait for his lab reports, Jack leaves because he has police business to attend to. At the same time, Reggie explains to the cops how he was minding his own business when the bikers came by and started shooting at the bus. The doctor looking at his x-rays says he’s fine, but Reggie’s head is still hurting. At most, the doctor comments how he might have a slight concussion or subdural hematoma, but he says he’s a lucky man. They still want to hold him overnight and will know more in the morning, but Reggie has no interest since he just got out. The cops say he isn’t going anywhere until he answers all their questions. The one wants Reggie to confirm again that he never saw the bikers before, and he’s sure of it.

The cop has his partner keep an eye on Reggie and exits the room. In the same hospital is Jack, who finds the cop because he wants to talk to Reggie. The cop tells Jack how he can’t help him right now because Reggie is being held overnight for observation. He talks about how lucky Reggie is, but Jack wants to get in there. So, he tells the cop that Reggie is a child molester involved in child porn, so he needs to get him to San Francsico that night to identify the kingpin of the organization. If he doesn’t get Reggie there, he says the kingpin will walk. With this audacious lie, the cop lets Jack into the room, and Jack immediately asks if Reggie wants to go on a ride in his Cadillac. Reggie still has no interest, but Jack says he just wants to help out. He jokes that he could always take a bus if he wants since he had so much luck on the last one, but Reggie tells him to stay away. Unfortunately, Jack reveals that they released Reggie into his custody. The two walk out of the room, and Jack asks if he ever saw the bikers before. Reggie tells him his memory gets better when he has money in his pocket, but Jack reminds him of the rules. As soon as he tells Jack why the Ice Man wants him dead, he’ll think about getting him his money. Reggie tells him to ask the guy he got the picture from, so Jack admits he killed him. However, he still says Brock shot first, though he’s in trouble because they can’t find Brock’s gun. Reggie doesn’t care. He should have been on his way to Florida to work at his uncle’s used car business. Instead, he’s stuck with Jack, he’s broke, he’s been shot at, he was in a bus that flipped over 20 times, he had glass all in his hair and suit, broke his Walkman, lost his James Brown tape, AND he was hit by a truck. He wants to be left alone, but Jack tells Reggie he ran into the bikers too and they shot him in the chest 6 times. The bulletproof vest saved his life. Reggie considers getting one himself as the two go to Jack’s car. Jack says he took care of Reggie’s Porsche like he said he would and that it’s in the city. Reggie knows that Jack’s word doesn’t mean anything since he already fucked him over with the money, but Jack tells Reggie he fucked himself because he stole the payroll out of the prison and how they found the money in Reggie’s cell.

Reggie insists he was framed, but Jack doesn’t buy it.

Reggie says it’s similar to Jack’s situation with the missing gun at the racetrack, but Jack considers this different because he’s a cop and Reggie is a crook. Reggie flips out because according to Jack, everything he says is a lie because he’s a convict. Jack drives off and Reggie sees how his arm hurts because of his encounter with the bikers but tells him “Good”. At a payphone somewhere in the city, Tyrone relays to the Ice Man that they’re having trouble with the bikers, but he can’t complain to him because Tyrone isn’t the one who hired them. They agree to move to Plan B. He’s got an ex-marine on the case, but Tyrone considers him a hillbilly too. During their drive, Reggie asks Jack how much of his money he spent. Jack reveals it was $25,000, as Reggie did say he could buy a new car. Apparently, they’re riding in it, as Jack bought the same model, year, and color. Reggie notes how he’s dressed the same, has the same car, and everything else, so he asks if he’s still with Elaine. Jack gets mad and walks around it. Once they get into town that night, Jack divulges that Elaine married him five years ago after a quick ceremony at city hall. He drives Reggie to where they lived before revealing they split up. She moved to Mill Valley, so he’s been trying to sell the house, adding that $12,000 of Reggie’s money went for the down payment. When they pull up, Reggie is disgusted, as he sees that Jack left Reggie’s Porsche parked outside this entire time instead of putting it in a garage, so it’s dirty as hell. Still, Jack assures him no one would have stolen it because he had an alarm installed. He gives Reggie the keys while Reggie goes on about how much pussy he got because of the car. Reggie clicks the button on the keys to unlock it, but the car explodes. Reggie flips out, but Jack jokes and isn’t very sympathetic, prompting Reggie to promise he’s going to ask for a loan from his friends. Following this, he’s on a payphone and calls Buster first, but Buster refuses because Reggie doesn’t have any collateral to offer. Back at the department, Cruise looks at the Bay Area tracking system on the computer while Kehoe asks Jack if everything is okay because he heard about the house exploding. Jack dispels this and explains it was another guy’s car.

Jack changes the subject to ask about the bikers, but nothing has come in yet. Kehoe tells Jack to see Wilson though because Wilson was going to send someone out to get Jack if he doesn’t see him right away. Jack storms off and ignores Cruise when he asks if he’s okay. Outside, Reggie sees a cop writing up a ticket for how Jack is parked, so Reggie adds on and says the guy who drives the car hates cops and refers to them as “pussies who hide behind their badges”. He goes on about how the driver knew it was a no-parking zone and to tell the cops to kiss his ass. The cop writes up the ticket and says he’s not too smart, and Reggie agrees saying he’s a dumbass cop named Jack Cates. With this, the cop realizes he can’t do anything about it and takes the ticket away, telling Reggie to tell Jack to stop parking in front of the station. Jack goes over to Wilson’s office, and he knows about the bomb at his house and rhetorically suggests all of this is related to the Ice Man somehow. Wilson says he supports him but as supervisor of Internal Affairs, he has to remind Jack that he’s still suspended at least until the court hearing tomorrow. So, he wants Jack’s gun, badge, and police ID. He also tells Jack to get some sleep, but Jack says he has to check on a few things and makes some reports. Before he leaves, Jack tells Wilson that he doesn’t mind people checking up on cops because they aren’t above the law. However, making cops do it is bad for morale and cops. He thinks civilians should. Then, he calls Wilson a chicken shit, though he says it might not even be his fault. It could just be the job itself. Following this, Jack goes on the physical description system to try and recreate a picture of Tyrone to identify him. At the same time, Reggie calls Marvin but he makes jokes about Marvin suddenly becoming a born-again Christian until Marvin hangs up (“I just can’t picture you, you know, being no born-again Christian. I was there when you beat the bitch up now”). He calls Willie Biggs right after but can’t get him to answer.

In the station, Jack prints out pictures of Tyrone and Cherry, and Kehoe gives him files on 13 complaints involving biker types in the last 4 days. Jack gives Kehoe the pictures to run through the NCIC, and Kehoe says he will have Cruise do it. Seeing the picture of Tyrone, he says he doesn’t look like a biker to him. Jack goes outside and sees that Reggie decided to stay, but Reggie lets him know he’s not happy about this. In addition, Jack is closer to where he was at yesterday, so he’s not running anything. Reggie says he’s not working for Jack, he doesn’t like him, and he doesn’t trust him. Jack tells him to cut the bullshit. He just wants something he can use. Reggie tells him that the Ice Man technically bought Jack’s house. Reggie and Albert Ganz robbed someone for $500,000 years ago. Apparently, that person was the Ice Man and he’s still pissed about it. In a way, the man Jack is looking for bought his fucked-up car and put a down payment on his house. Jack has been riding in the car that he bought for Jack, looking for him, which “makes you probably the dumbest motherfucker in law enforcement”. Reggie tells the silent Jack to get in the car because he’s driving. He knows Jack’s arm is fucked, and he’s not getting in another wreck. He, unlike Jack, has a lot to live for.

Round 2 has officially begun!

My Thoughts:

In the long-awaited Another 48 Hrs., Nick Nolte, Eddie Murphy, and even director Walter Hill all returned for the entertaining, funny, and arguably more violent sequel, with a story directly related to the consequences of the first film. It doesn’t have the same spice the movie’s predecessor had due to an overload of buddy cop movies that followed the original during the interim period, but the chemistry is still very much present between the leads, the insults and energy are still fruitful, the furious action is constant, and the case at hand is much more complicated than expected.

You’d never think there was an eight-year layoff between the first and second movies, as Nick Nolte and Eddie Murphy are just as good as ever and prove the first outing was no fluke in odd couple mismatching hilarity. Actually, it’s a shame we never got a third movie to complete a trilogy. I would have much rather had Yet Another 48 Hrs. (the fictional title I came up with for this hypothetical film) than Murphy’s Vampire in Brooklyn or Metro, or Nolte’s Nightwatch or Jefferson in Paris. In a parallel universe, we traded those four movies for one last 48 Hrs. Though both actors might be a lot older now, it’s not impossible to wish for a final team-up between the two. Admittedly, we’re being extremely hopeful rather than realistic, but legacy sequels are all the rage right now and streaming is itching for content, so you can never say never. Come to think of it, One Last 48 Hrs. is another great title for a potential third film in this specific case where the characters are older.

I digress…

At times, the adventures the reunited Jack Cates and Reggie Hammond go on can feel like a retread of sorts, but this is a trait that buddy cop sequels have. They know the chemistry works between the leads, so they try and recreate the magic of the first movie. In doing so, there are some situations that either callback to the original or feel a little too familiar at times when the characters could be in entirely new situations to play off of to try something different. In Another 48 Hrs., they don’t stray too far from the formula that works, so though it’s a sequel with a lot of fun and an enjoyable continuation of this world and these characters, it doesn’t shoot for the moon either. Even so, the chemistry is just as present as it was in 1982. A thorough example of both sides of the coin is in the Barnstormers bar sequence. There, Reggie wastes time with a female pickpocket who tried to get him to buy a drink, with her later stealing some guy’s wallet. Reggie makes a deal to get it back for the guy for half his money (“You ain’t got nothing now! The bitch is in there counting your money!”) and approaches the girl in the women’s bathroom, prompting a scuffle when she pulls out a knife. It was minorly amusing to see Reggie give her a chance to offer a bribe, but him going through with the struggle and giving the guy his wallet back without the credit cards didn’t amount to much. It’s just not the payoff of entertainment value we’ve come to expect not only with Reggie, but with Eddie Murphy himself. You just shrug at the whole interaction, as it felt underdone and too similar to something that would happen in the first movie. If anything, a great way to remind the viewer of Reggie’s sly tendencies would be for his bribe offer in the bathroom working, and he just slides right out the door to tell the guy that the woman escaped before buying a round at the bar with the guy’s money. Assuming this elongated moment was being used to reestablish certain character traits, this may have been the way to go instead of the average and expected direction they went in. Thankfully, Jack carried the sequence by getting information from the barmaid about Cherry, Willie, and Price’s recent appearance there.

Nolte’s trademark gruff delivery and subsequently Jack’s blunt responses to people never get old. You can’t help but laugh when the barmaid gives him shit for the cops responding a day and a half after she called and Jack simply responding with, “You gonna tell me what happened, or are you gonna bitch a little more?”. To his surprise and ours, she hits him with “I’m gonna bitch a little more!” in a great exchange. Along with their straight to the point conversation, all of it finishes off with a bar fight after Jack readies the viewer talking about how he doesn’t want to get into one because of how cliché it is. Then, he starts things with a beer bottle to the head of the guy who approached Jack for putting him in jail for two years for being caught with a minor. It makes the otherwise middling scene worth it with some mild entertainment, though not necessarily original. Even so, it allows for Murphy to take over in the end by getting the whole bar’s attention with a few gunshots in the air and a funny speech stating, “Knock this shit off! I have been having a very bad day! I just got out of jail this morning, already I have been shot at, I was on a bus that flipped over 17 times, bitch tried to stab me in the bathroom, and somebody blew up my Porsche! I am in a bad goddamn mood!”. Just to remind the audience of the lawless violence of the 48 Hrs. series that is part of its trademark, someone tries to call his bluff, so Reggie shoots the man in the kneecap with no hesitation. Even Jack is shocked, which tells you a lot about where he’s at. The old Jack would have laughed at this more than likely, but this Jack gets mad at himself after they exit the bar for getting into the aforementioned bar fight. Naturally, he still shows his old self when he closes the trunk and punches Reggie to get even with him for the basketball incident in the prison, but he’s still ready to move on rather than ask for an all-out fight like last time. Still, Reggie is calmer this go-around and refuses to engage, telling Jack the deal is off at this point. Instead of going back and forth with Jack, Reggie is almost disappointed and just leaves, doubling down and telling Jack to stay the fuck away from him regardless of his tip working in finding Angel at the hotel.

It’s funny to hear Jack still retaining bits and pieces of his old school mindset by arguing that he was just trying to get even and Reggie shouldn’t take getting sucker punched personally.

Regardless of this, and some of the classic Jack Cates moments that happen in this sequel like having Kehoe take the wheel while he reads the file on the bikers and then retaking it and backing up into traffic instead of going around the block because “it’s too easy”, Jack has surprisingly evolved and it’s cool to see. Quitting drinking and sporting a shorter haircut to match a new attitude, Jack is a lot less miserable this time around. Eight years is bound to do that to someone. From a character and casting standpoint, it’s fitting that Jack got married and divorced from Elaine during the interim. Based off what we saw in the first movie and how unhinged Jack used to be, what he’s turned into since does make a lot of sense. It also shouldn’t surprise us that Elaine left before she could see it because she was there for the worst of Jack. In addition, she didn’t have much of an impact in the first movie’s story in general, so it’s not like the fans were craving for a return. With that being said, a single scene of reconciliation or Elaine seeing the improved state Jack is in and giving him credit would have been cool to see in the closing moments of the film. From a fan perspective, a tease of a possible reunion between the two would have been sweet. Then again, context is key once again. This is the year 1990. Eddie Murphy is one of the biggest box office attractions in Hollywood. Not only was he going to get an even more substantial role for this sequel since he was the one who pushed for the film and its story, giving Jack the final scene instead of what we got wouldn’t have worked. Everything relates to Jack and Reggie as a team, and where they are in their lives at this point, which can also be seen as an allegory for the movie stars themselves. Murphy becoming the bigger star in real life at the time coincides with Reggie finally one-upping Nolte’s Jack when he is able to steal Jack’s lighter in the closing moments of the movie. It’s an excellent callback to the first movie that carries a lot of meaning in hindsight, with the first movie ending on an on-the-ball Jack outing Reggie for having it and asking for it back, which proved he still has a leg up on him. In the sequel following all these years, Reggie is able to take it, and Jack doesn’t realize until after he’s gone, getting a laugh out of him as he takes it in stride.

The scene may not have been written with this intention in mind, but real-life happenings coinciding with it is a unique gift to this sequel’s legacy in hindsight. It’s like a passing of the torch in a way.

A notable letdown of this sequel compared to the first movie is the antagonistic side of things. The team of bikers never clicked nor did off-kilter messenger Tyrone Burroughs. With Tyrone, he is a constant presence until his random demise, but it’s handled in a very strange way where we’re not sure what to think of the guy. He’s merely a courier between the Ice Man and the bikers, but he has a heavy presence and general mysteriousness about him that makes the viewer think he has a larger role in what is to come. Surprisingly, he doesn’t, despite all the intrigue surrounding him. It’s just continuously built up until an odd scene where Cherry and Willie meet with him over the Ice Man getting Price. After Tyrone defends the Ice Man’s thought process and how Angel messed everything up by giving information to Jack and Reggie in the back of the police car, Tyrone calls the two hillbillies for not realizing this was just business because the cops were getting too close with Price’s actions. Unexpectedly, Cherry shoots Tyrone’s ear off. In a totally out-of-character moment, Tyrone just takes it and starts laughing at them. They shift in and out of this weird closeup of Tyrone that gets right in his face at a cartoonish angle, and he sounds maniacal asking if they are happy now and how it still doesn’t change the job they were hired for. What was going on here? There’s not a single moment before this that would make sense of Tyrone turning into this psychopath for a one-off moment, considering he hasn’t performed a single violent or evil action himself in this entire movie. Him just no-selling his ear being shot off and laughing in the real villains’ face is bizarre. It doesn’t fit anything that was previously presented to us about the character. Had Tyrone been twisted from the beginning or established himself as something more than just the overarching villain’s messenger than it wouldn’t have been too much of a jump. How it came off however was simply perplexing. This is a character who is sly, but he’s no psycho. Tyrone is someone Jack and Reggie should have apprehended at some point to lead to an entertaining interrogation scene or a chase that leads to an eventual shootout.

Having Cherry and Willie reconfirm how they are going to do the job for the Ice Man, they take Tyrone’s advice of going after Kirkland’s daughter to get to Reggie, and then inexplicably kill Tyrone even though they are agreeing on the deal was just dumb. It literally just felt like an excuse to add to the body count of the movie, killing off a memorable supporting character to add to the drama even though it doesn’t fit the story since they’re all on the same side. Now, making the brother of Albert Ganz one of the main villains isn’t a bad idea. Cherry being thirsty for revenge and being hired to kill Reggie and Jack by default does add to the drama of it all since it’s instantly personal. Nevertheless, the zero depth, evil biker gimmick hits B-movie levels of over-the-top villainy, just blowing people away left and right for no reason, along with his nearly identical partner Willie. There’s very little interest on this side of the coin. Granted, Albert Ganz was a total psychopath that didn’t do much outside of killing or fucking, but James Remar was quite memorable in the role because of the energy in his performance and the wickedness of his aura. Basically, he’s just a better actor than Andrew Divhoff. Other than these two crazy sons of bitches being brothers because of their insane approach to everyday life, there’s not much else that connects Albert and Cherry. Them being related is kind of a stretch. It’s possible that the biker thing is tired in general, but that’s not an excuse. They still could have done more with Cherry and Willie to establish some sort of personality outside of killing and fucking again. Yet, the screenwriters didn’t even try. The only thing we learn from them is their affiliation with the Western Brotherhood Motorcycle Gang and along with 7 outstanding warrants, they hilariously have 72 outstanding traffic violations. Granted, they are later linked to 15 deaths according to Kehoe’s research, but by then it falls on deaf ears because we don’t really care. The consistency of senseless murder makes the viewer numb to the violence. If Cherry apparently makes his brother Albert Ganz “look like Gandi”, we need to see more depth and a showcase of his evilness to prove how lost of a soul he is.

The loud way they do things with Cherry just makes him look like a run-of-the-mill, one-dimensional bad guy in a Chuck Norris movie. Then again, who knows how much was lost in the final cut of the film? Apparently, the original cut for Another 48 Hrs. was 145 minutes long and then cut to 120 minutes. A week before it was released, it was then recut to 95 minutes, sacrificing a lot of story and character development surely. Anyone would have preferred more plot development than continued closeups of the band playing at Barnstormers. Do they really think we give a damn about the music playing? This recut must have changed the entire movie. Going along with this, there’s not even a mention of the main characters establishing to the audience that they only have “another 48 hours” to accomplish their mission, a layup of a line to set up the action of the plot. As corny as it would be for some, without a line like this, there doesn’t seem like a deadline. Obviously, Jack’s court case puts them on some semblance of a schedule, but there is nothing concrete or directly said, which does hurt the urgency of the narrative.

The red herring of Wilson not being one of the villains got me. It might have not even been the intention with the character, but the smug look on actor Kevin Tighe’s face while feigning sympathy for Jack at every turn will make the viewer’s blood boil to no end. He’s so frustrating that you just assume he’s one of the bad guys. Evidently, he’s merely just a chicken shit asshole. Watching Wilson go out of his way to act like he’s feeling sorry for Jack following the criminal trial date officially being set on him and Jack not even listening and just punching him in the face was so satisfying. He should have beat him with a lamp or computer monitor on top of it. You know what’s even more frustrating? Wilson is just flat out doing his job and he’s good at it! His testifying of Jack’s professional attitude being that of a police officer who “takes it upon himself to violate department regulations and suspects’ civil rights” is begrudgingly correct. As much as we love Jack Cates, the evidence of his general personality and what we’ve seen him do on the job between two movies does vindicate Wilson’s testimony. As a fan of the protagonist and the two movies in general, that’s saying something! The nail in the coffin was Jack’s lawyer having the audacity to argue that Wilson’s remarks have nothing to do with the incident at hand. Are you kidding me? Any jerkoff knows they are trying to show off Jack’s well-known patterned behavior. Disbar this man ASAP. He practically lobbed this one to the DA to knock it out of the park.

Much like Tyrone, Kirkland was built up as someone more compelling than he actually was. This guy punches through the glass at a conjugal visit yelling “Repay your debt to me!” like some Roman emperor and is incensed at Reggie “keeping his word”, hurdling constant threats towards him to the point where we are led to believe that Reggie has to do something life-changing once he’s out of prison to make good on his promise. In reality, it’s legitimately just a timing issue that Reggie was honest with him about. Without spoiling it, what Reggie actually ends up doing for Kirkland isn’t stressful at all and seems completely blown out of proportion in the grand scheme of things. If anything, it turns out to be kind of sweet. There’s a lot of these promises in this sequel that come off as undercooked. No one is expecting this sequel to knock our socks off and be this genre-changing movie, but the number of times they tease the audience like this only to let the air out of the room is so constant that it has to be noted. The climax’s series of twists however did at least make up for some of the letdowns of the screenplay, even if it was far-fetched when you look back to the original movie to make sense of it all. To the sequel’s credit, once we get back to our regularly scheduled programming when Reggie rejoins Jack at the red-lit hotel after being threatened by Kirkland over the phone and coming to a truce of sorts with Jack (“I thought you quit for the 5th time”), the movie is off to the races. It doesn’t reach the level of camaraderie the first one gets to, but it’s close enough. On top of that, there are countless amusing dialogue exchanges between the two that result in bickering or are just generally funny observational stuff that make this revisit worthwhile, like the two meeting with the scary Kirkland and Reggie shooing Jack away on account of having “black stuff” to attend to with him. Anytime these Jack and Reggie mess with each other it just works, as it should be for any buddy cop that does things right.

For instance, Reggie acting like he’s giving Jack’s behavior a pass because of his recent injuries only to punch him in his wounded arm after Jack confirms it’s the left (“NOW we’re even motherfucker!”) was the mean-spirited hilarity we’ve come to expect with these two. Actually, the recurring gag to “get even” between them is one of the biggest highlights of this sequel, as is the callback to Reggie trying and eventually succeeding in stealing the lighter which has been present since the first movie. Nevertheless, the friendship between them is still there. Don’t get it twisted. Even if Jack is difficult with Reggie and vice versa, the locker room scene where Jack proves that he’s always been straight with him and tells Reggie he did his best was a cool moment, reminding the audience that Jack is still secretly a good dude just giving his friends a hard time. Reggie knows it too. If we never get that highly coveted third movie, the way things end between them in the closing moments of Another 48 Hrs. is still good enough to make us smile when Jesse Johnson’s “The Boys Are Back In Town” play us into the credits.

Though it shouldn’t take away from the suspenseful, eggs-in-one-basket decision to storm the courthouse for Reggie to identify the Ice Man, Reggie suggesting it could be a dirty cop didn’t necessitate Jack to jump the gun like that. It made for a great cinematic moment, but why wouldn’t Reggie just stick around at the department and see if he just recognizes anyone there while sitting at Jack’s desk? Couldn’t it have technically been this easy, or am I crazy in thinking this? On a random note, I don’t think I’ve ever seen so much glass break in a film before. The number of times someone goes through a glass table or window or whatever else, especially in the climax at the Bird Cage club, reaches comical levels of insanity. Even so, we’re here for it. That and the stunt work of the finale is incredibly well done. Along with the eerie callback of Jack waiting in the lobby at the hotel before Ganz and Billy Bear killed the two cops in the first movie mirroring the same thing when he waits in the lobby so Reggie can go upstairs to meet Angel was a great moment, leading to an even better shootout. The tag team match between Jack and Cherry and Reggie and Willie going on at the same time until the bikers escaped was very exciting too, even if we are left wondering how many bullets Cherry has in his gun since he fires that pistol like 100 times (“I killed you!”).

Another 48 Hrs. is a worthwhile sequel. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. It’s an absolute joy to see Nick Nolte and Eddie Murphy ride through San Francisco again and bicker to no end while trying to take out murderous criminals once more. It doesn’t reach the heights the first movie did all those years back, but it still has plenty of moments that bring us close enough, making us realize how lucky we are to revisit this world after an 8-year layoff period. Funny and action-packed, the mismatched star duo gives us a fun action comedy that strengthens the overall story of the two-film franchise and is a solid addition to the subgenre it helped start, even if the return is arguably uninventive.