ANOTHER 48 HRS is the sequel to the hugely successful Eddie Murphy/Nick Nolte team-up 48 HRS, and the producers at Paramount clearly followed the old "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" adage because this one copies almost exactly the same formula as the first film. Walter Hill is back directing, Murphy and Nolte are back as the leads, and the storyline is virtually the same as in the first.

Sadly, the law of diminishing returns hits this film hard, making it a shadow of his predecessor (which I found to be only an averagely entertaining movie at best). Every scene, situation and shoot-out is overly familiar, and absolutely nothing that happens - even in regard to the twist involving the villains' identity - is a surprise. Murphy's high-wire, sometimes frenzied acting helps add much needed energy to the production, but Nolte is sleepwalking and indeed appears half asleep in this movie.

Still, on the plus side the pacing is fast and quite a lot of the humour works well. Hill's directing can't be faulted, and he's fleshed out his supporting cast with a number of familiar faces from the '80s: Kevin Tighe as the IA man, Brion James and Ed O'Ross cast against type as cops, and an early role for WISHMASTER's Andrew Divoff as the baddie. It's just a shame more original material couldn't be found to sustain all of this.

San Francisco police detective Jack Cates (Nick Nolte) has been tracking mysterious drug-lord Iceman. Iceman henchman Tyrone Burroughs is hiring a hit-man to kill Reggie Hammond (Eddie Murphy). Jack kills the hit-man but Tyrone escapes. Internal affairs Blake Wilson investigates and Jack is suspended facing possible charges. Reggie is getting out of prison after his 5 years. He demands to get his money from Jack but Jack refuses unless Reggie helps him. Tyrone hires Ganz and the violent biker gang to kill Reggie. Ganz is looking to avenge his brother and kill Jack. After they are both attacked, they are forced together once again.

Director Walter Hill returns with Nolte and Murphy. It is wall to wall violence. It's explosions, gun battles, crashes and kills. However, the comedy isn't there any more and the vile language has been tone down quite a lot. I still like the guys but they don't have the same chemistry. It's missing the raw energy and Murphy's humor in the original.

Were you wondering what went on? What the characters endured between movie number one and this sequel? Wonder no more - because the answer(s) lie here. Now I understand that some felt underwhelmed with this effort, but I actually thought this had a head start (if you've seen the first movie). Starts off quite incredible and with a rush. And also gives our leads some air to breathe in certain scenes (and the love-hate relationship still works perfectly).

Eddie was an unknown when the first movie was made, but he was quite well known by the time this got out. Unfortunately it did not spark another sequel. The chemistry between him and Nolte is quite a sight to behold. And the jokes work too. Maybe it was hard finding another reason for those two to have a similar relationship as they did during this movie ... action packed and again with a stellar cast (the Wishmaster himself is in this),this makes a good double bill with the first one.