Another 48 Hrs. (1990)

Preceeded by: 48 Hrs. (1982)

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
Reggie Hammond	Eddie Murphy
Jack Cates	Nick Nolte	½
Ben Kehoe	Brion James
Blake Wilson	Kevin Tighe
Frank Cruise	Ed O'Ross
Kirkland Smith	Bernie Casey

Review

The breath of fresh air that accompanied 48 Hrs. in 1982 has completely abandoned this sequel. Although I like the idea of sequels appearing several years after their original, it makes little sense to find the main characters at exactly the same place in life eight years later. Like with Rocky II, we find that our Reggie Hammond and Jack Cates are being "plotted up" to fit into a similar situation as we originally found them in eight years earlier. That's a fairly transparent and unnoble commercial motive.

Still, the biggest problem with Another 48 Hrs. is its inevitable rooting in that lame, stereotypical action-flick formula of the 1980s. When these films worked, it was not because of their subtleness, but because of their carefree, inspiring and high-spirited nature. It was about freshness, clever in-your-face dialogue and passionate up-and-coming performers. In the early 80s, Eddie Murphy was the epitome of this, but in 1990, he and a caricatured Nick Nolte (why can't he at least speak like a human?) are on repeat, dealing with painfully one-dimensional villains and clinging on to a film style and subgenre that was well into its decline.