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Review of Rush Hour 2 (Lalo Schifrin)

FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:

Buy it... if you appreciate Lalo Schifrin's distinctly retro, jazzy style of action but seek the original Rush Hour material in the context of a larger orchestral ensemble.

Avoid it... if you expect much consistency in development during any of these Rush Hour scores, because Schifrin shifts rhythms and progressions so often that the general sense of style is all that holds them together.

FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:

Rush Hour 2: (Lalo Schifrin) Whether you like them or not, the pairing of Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker turned out to be more of a success in Rush Hour than anyone could have predicted, with the film grossing over $250 million worldwide. Their haphazard methodology and inherent culture clashes combined with Chan's dazzlingly choreographed martial arts moves to produce a winning team despite Tucker's astonishingly irritating vocal inflections. For the director and producers of the Rush Hour phenomenon, an equally important element of the original film's success was the stylish score by legendary jazz composer Lalo Schifrin, who remained best known for his hit television themes and scores for such shows as Mannix and Mission: Impossible (along with similar film scores for the Dirty Harry franchise, among others). Schifrin's score for the original Rush Hour was a sort of novelty item, overshadowed obviously by the slapstick action in the film but nevertheless of interest to Schifrin's fans and those few who collect such comedy action music with a hint of 70's style. Director Brett Ratner insisted beyond all else that Schifrin be employed for the sequel, stating, "Lalo was as important to Rush Hour as were Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan, which is to say that he was indispensable. There's no movie without him." As Ratner suggests, the role of this 2001 sequel was to produce a larger scale version of the original, adding that "for Rush Hour 2, the idea was to expand on the original idea with the addition of a more classical, symphonic approach." Ratner continued by reaffirming that Rush Hour 2, with its more worldly shooting locations, was an opportunity for Schifrin to revisit the same kind of ethnic material heard in his Enter the Dragon score, a work that remains one his more popular to date.

The director was indeed correct in his assessment that Schifrin would be given a larger palette with which to work. Because the setting of this film is rooted in Hong Kong this time, Schifrin does reuse elements from his Enter the Dragon score, but in an even more contemporary fashion. The music for Rush Hour 2 contains some very good action cues, as well as an inspiring opening title sequence with a robust variation of the franchise theme after only about 20 seconds of introduction. The larger action sequences make use of three distinct elements. First, the full orchestra, which sounds as though it numbers near 90 members, is highlighted by dynamic brass performances. Second, the Eastern ethnic elements include an erhu and the mandatory gong, which seems, more than anything, to satisfy generic perceptions of an Eastern setting. Finally, as to be expected in any of Schifrin's scores, the ensemble includes a rhythmic section, with sax, drums, and electric bass mingling in nearly every cue. Schifrin succeeds in creating several minutes of completely authentic Chinese underscore, even with an appropriate mutation of the title theme to soloist levels in "Isabella," and these moments offer a break from the nearly constantly snazzy tones of the rest of the score. Outside of "Mu Shu Parlor," Schifrin's music maintains an almost constant sense of movement, usually slightly dissonant in layers and almost always jazzy in rhythm. The Western jazz can sometimes interfere with the Eastern orchestration, but the power of the full orchestra driving home an atmosphere of depth often compensates for this awkward mesh. The album is an interesting arrangement of the score, breaking it into two halves; in the middle are two loungey jazz pieces right out of Las Vegas and perhaps more along the lines of what you'd expect to hear on a Schifrin album. More importantly, however, the two songs (followed by some tedious loungey material by Schifrin himself) signify an important split on the product.

Whereas the first half of the album contains all of the stimulating action and ethnic cues of substantial volume, the second half dwindles in inspiration until it reaches a surprisingly drab conclusion. The mass of strictly jazzy music exists in that second half, sounding like an almost entirely different score altogether. Therefore, the first six tracks of 20+ minutes of music will easily be the highlight of the album for any listener. It's in this portion that you hear most of the title theme performances, which, as in the third score in the franchise, are unfortunately too few in their full statements. Ironically, had the second half of the score been left off entirely, the album would have rounded out to a typical 30-minute presentation of the best music from Rush Hour 2. The only negative attribute of the first half of the album is Schifrin's career-established tendency to avoid lengthy harmonization, opting for a quickly shifting key and a jumpy series of progressions. The second track contains a fluttering of the higher woodwinds that is extremely unfortunate, but otherwise, the fully orchestral moments of Rush Hour 2 could be enjoyable even to the ears of a long-time Schifrin detractor. The performances by the musicians in Los Angeles are crisp, especially on the sax, and the group handles Schifrin's shifty and frenetic movements well. The recording is also extremely sharp, with a perfect amount of reverb presented in the final mix. This score is a substantial improvement over the original, but it is still too short in consistently strong content to make for a noteworthy album. The franchise of three scores is ironically one of the few in which the music arguably got better as each film rolled along, and it's no coincidence that this general improvement mirrors the enhanced role for an orchestral ensemble in each successive score. It's still a shame than in all three scores together, the dynamic statements of the title theme with that full ensemble are frightfully few in quantity, because that theme is pure Schifrin style in all of its glory.  ***

TRACK LISTINGS:

Total Time: 52:30

• 1. Rush Hour 2 - Main Title (2:21) • 2. Out of the Way (4:12) • 3. Mu Shu Parlor (3:55) • 4. Parlor Fight (3:18) • 5. Undercover Agents (3:01) • 6. Isabella (4:47) • 7. Lil Darlin'* (4:23)

• 8. Shiny Stockings** (6:43) • 9. Nevada Mood (3:16) • 10. The Cosmo is Las Vegas (4:05) • 11. Like Father, Like Son (5:31) • 12. The Sword and the Spear (2:19) • 13. The Dragon and the Treasure (4:14)

NOTES & QUOTES:

The insert includes a list of performers and a note from the director. The CD itself has a sparklingly beautiful coloration.

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The reviews and other textual content contained on the filmtracks.com site may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Christian Clemmensen at Filmtracks Publications. All artwork and sound clips from Rush Hour 2 are Copyright © 2001, Varèse Sarabande and cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 8/27/01 and last updated 1/18/09.