This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

Another 48 Hrs. (1990)** (out of 4)Jack Cates (Nick Nolte) has been trying to catch a criminal known as The Iceman for over four years when he's involved in a shooting that might cost him his badge. The only bit of evidence he's able to get is a picture of Reggie Hammond (Eddie Murphy) and it becomes clear that he has a hit out on him. Jack and Reggie hit the streets one more time to try and find out who The Iceman is.ANOTHER 48 HRS. is a sequel that everyone wanted but it was released to horrid reviews and lukewarm box office receipts to say the least. There's no question that this here is one of the worst sequels to a great movie that has ever been made. Revisiting this film so many years later it's not nearly as bad as I remembered but at the same time you can't help but scratch your head and wonder what went wrong.What's so shocking about this movie is that Walter Hill returned as director and you've got Nolte and Murphy back as well. Even more shocking is that the entire film is pretty much a carbon copy of the original. This one here features graphic violence. It contains dirty humor. This one tries to work as a crime drama. You've got everything here that made the original successful but all of it falls flat on its face here.It's really too bad because Murphy and Nolte certainly have the chemistry for a series of films but the screenplay really lets them down. Instead of doing anything new we once again get Murphy singing Roxanne. Really? We have the two of them chasing the criminal's girlfriends again. We've got them fighting in a redneck bar again. There's an action scene dealing with a bus. Everything that we saw in the first picture is here again.It's amazing to see how much of the first film is copied here yet none of it works this time around. The movie is loud and obnoxious but it's just downright hollow without much going for it. The action scenes look great but there's just no tension or style to them. There are some funny bits but certainly not enough to keep the film more entertaining. ANOTHER 48 HRS. isn't a horrible movie but it's certainly lacking everything that made the original so great.

"Another 48 HRS." came out in 1990, eight years after the original. Like the first one, it's a crime thriller starring Nick Nolte as Jack Crates, a tough guy/alcoholic cop in San Francisco who hunts down cop killers by enlisting the services of a convict (Eddie Murphy). The killers this time out are violent outlaw bikers, but Cates' real target is the elusive "Iceman," the drug kingpin of the area. In the eight years between the movies Murphy became a mega-success and so holds top billing in this one.The first half struck me as better than the first film, but then it devolves into almost shockingly bad in the second half. It's what-were-they-thinking bad. A good example is the scene where the two bikers drive their cycles through a movie screen during a nude sequence. Why sure! The only thing I can think of is that director Walter Hill was shooting for mythic cool-ness in the manner of "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly." Unfortunately, he ended up with laughable dreck. To add insult to injury, the revelation of the Iceman is lame. Would a real drug kingpin keep an exhausting full-time job? Isn't the purpose of being a drug kingpin to make loads of money so you can kick back and enjoy the high life? Moreover, the conflict-habituated relationship of the protagonists really starts to grate on the nerves by the second half.There's another scene in the first half that's a cool action scene on the surface; that is, until you think about it. It's the sequence where two bikers attempt to kill someone in a mini-bus by riding alongside the vehicle on either side while blowing holes into it. All the driver has to do is swerve to one side or the other and – voilà – both bikers are taken out. Lastly, there's just something trashy about this film. While the protagonists have admirable qualities underneath their gruff exteriors, the majority of the characters in the film seem like the dregs of society. I'll take 1984's "Beverly Hills Cop" over the two 48 HRS flicks any day. It's all-around better with more likable characters and redeemable qualities. The film runs 93 minutes and was shot in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Folsom, California, as well as Las Vegas, Nevada. GRADE: C-

A rehash of the first one, but still a poignant, gripping story that glues you to your seat from the start to the finish. This cast interacts with absolute precision, whether walking around a room or interrupting each others' wisecracks. The script and direction meld into a strong movie. What's best is that not one character ever withdraws tongue from cheek. I found the acting to be sensational, the dialogue incredible and the director's abilities to be up to par and then some. It reminds me of some of those sombre German films that were popular back in the 1990s. An awesome, good surprise for me this little movie was, so that I highly recommend it. Rating equals 7 out of 10 stars.

Nick Nolte and Eddie Murphy return for this sequel, as Jack Cates and Reggie Hammond must re-team to stop a powerful drug kingpin named the Iceman who is trying to kill them both, for different reasons. Jack is under suspicion for murder after killing a crook shooting at him, but the gun can't be found. Hammond is being released from prison when the bus carrying him is attacked, and he is almost killed. Both realize that they must unite again(despite lingering resentments) to save their lives, reputations, and recover some stolen money.Heavy-handed film must(as other critics have noted) set a record for smashing more glass than any other film in history. Identity of the Iceman will come as a surprise, but not a good one. Story is barely memorable, though the actors do their best to recreate the humor from the first that made it so popular(but not with me). Otherwise, routine.