This time things are different. Things have changed now.
Eddie Murphy has top billing and not Nick Nolte.
Did much else change for this Sequel? The Film is 1990's Another 48 Hours, which reunites the Cast and Director. It features new Writers, which means that the Film has about 12 Writers total, when you add the WGA-required credit for 'Based on Characters Created By.'
That idea- and it is a fair one- is why Dan O'Bannon has a Writing Credit for Alien: Romulus in 2024, despite the fact that he died in 2009.
It's not like that Film would revive the dead for real though.
In any event, this Story takes a bit of tweaking to make the time gap from 1982 to 1989 work. As you might recall, Murphy's Character was going to be released in 6 months.
Don't worry- Eddie Murphy has the official Story credit here, so I'm sure it's all good.
Is this Sequel- which I technically own 2 copies of- worth a look back or is it more '80s excess? Let's find out...
In the Film's opening, we don't get a hot desert road.
We get a hot desert- period.
A biker is waiting for another biker- Andrew Divoff- to arrive.
They set up a scheme to kill one man- Eddie Murphy's Reggie Hammond!
Right after that, we catch up with Nolte as he pursues some bad guys in a shoot out at a Motocross Race.
Yes, there's an explosion.
In the burning debris, he finds the picture of Reggie alongside some money in a briefcase.
We learn through awkward exposition that Nolte has spent the last 4 years trying to catch a drug dealer known as The Iceman, but had no luck.
A guy from IAB (aka the Internal Affairs Bureau) is on his butt, pleldgeing to press manslaughter charges for the shoot-out.
He's played by a famous That Guy Actor- Kevin Tighe. You know he's not a nice guy here.
Murphy is just now getting out of Prison. Yes, you read that right.
Between Films a phony Payroll Robbery Charge was tacked on to his sentence.
He also owes money to a Fixer in Prison- Bernie Casey.
Our Leads meet up and it's not friendly as Nolte hasn't visited since the extra charges were added.
The Bikers see them both men and try to kill them.
They shoot Nolte- who was visibly not bleeding- and make the Prison bus roll over 18-20 times (according to Reggie).
Both men survive and meet up in the Hospital.
Do you like rehashing the Plot with mild differences? Great.
As the guys look for who's out to kill them, they have a showdown in a Bar that ends with Murphy pretending to be a Cop and shooting the air...and a guy's leg this time.
Meanwhile, Nolte knows that Reggie can identify The Iceman apparently. He never stops to ask him to draw a sketch of him.
Mind you, the Film was apparently 120 minutes just 2 weeks before release. The Studio chopped out 25 minutes- a la Daredevil- so maybe that's explained.
More familiar beats, including them briefly fighting again, talking about the money from Reggie's original robbery and a chase from a sleazy Motel into the Streets where they lose the bad guys.
As part of the B-Plot with Casey, Reggie gets his money from Nolte- who thinks that his time as a Cop is nearly over- and gives the cut to his Daughter- Tisha Campbell in her pre-Martin days.
The Bikers grab both of them to deliver to The Iceman.
Nolte finally figures out that The Iceman must be a Cop and narrows down his suspects. He follows the one he makes the Audience think it is, but apparently knew that it was really his friend Ben (Brion James).
A shoot-out ensues.
Big shock- Murphy is held at gunpoint by the bad guy and Nolte shoots him...again. This time he shoots Murphy in the shoulder first though.
The End.
The Film is fun, but it is not fresh.
I liked 48 Hours. It's definitely worth a look back, especially as younger people reacquaint themselves with Eddie Murphy's Filmography in the wake of Axel F.
This Film is very, very familiar.
I will say that the overall Story- by Murphy- does feature some nice twists and turns.
The Film is a great example of Films that don't change up all that much for Sequels- like Ghostbusters II, for instance- and still kind of get away with it.
There's plenty of fun and excess here. It is a bigger Film all around, as evidenced by the fact that the Budget was 4x bigger!
It is a bit disappointing that they didn't do more to mix things up. If you were really daring, have Murphy have been released and he's a Cop, with Nolte in jail for some crime he didn't commit.
If you're not that daring, at least do something like Nolte is saved by Murphy.
Another 48 Hours is a decent, if all too familiar Sequel. It doesn't break new ground, but it does break lots of glass.
Next up, I cover a Sylvester Stallone Film...or three. First up, the Film that he took in place of Beverly Hills Cop. Stay tuned...
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