Another 48 Hrs. - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Another 48 Hrs.



Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras: :
Final Score:


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Movie
Another 48 Hrs. is pretty much your typical late 80s, early 90s sequel. It rehashes most of what makes the first movie fun, adding in “more” of everything. More guns, more girls, more villains, and more Eddie Murphy humor. It doesn’t always work, but I’ve seen a LOOOT worse sequels come out in that time frame (but then again, I’ve seen a lot better). However, this IS the first time Another 48 Hrs. has made it’s way to Blu-ray, and Paramount has decided to do it right with the new 4K remaster and the new special feature included. At least we didn’t have to suffer with an awful transfer for 10 years like the original, and finally get a double dip. And of course it is nice to see Paramount digging in deep to their catalog titles and actually releasing things that AREN’T out on Blu-ray already.

Jack Cates (Nick Nolte) and Reggie Hammond are back again. However it’s been 8 years (in real time as well as the movie) and things are pretty much the same. Unfortunately Reggie didn’t get out after 6 months like he was supposed to in the first movie. He got framed (a plot device which literally never gets investigated) for stealing in the prison, and was sentenced to several more years for a crime he didn’t commit. Jack pretty much ignored him those last several years, and now that Reggie is finally getting out on his own recognizance, Jack wants to use him for another 48 hour job to track down a mysterious crime Kingpin known as “The Iceman”.

Naturally Reggie isn’t wild about working with the “man” again, but Jack holds the half a million (or $475K after Jack used $25k to buy a new car) waiting for Reggie as a leverage. Now the two have to fight off a gang of bikers who have a hit out on Reggie for some reason, each other off some more, AND help out an inmate’s daughter (a plot line which is barely touched upon, even though it’s seen by Reggie and the inmate as a super big deal).

As I said earlier, the movie is just “more” of everything. Eddie Murphy at this point was a movie super star and he wasn’t nearly so stiff and awkward in the film. You can tell he had made his mark in the film industry and new how much humor to interject in the films vs. his very first movie. Nolte is just more of Nolte. Rasping voice, punching people in the face, looking like a miserable drunk in all of his films. He’s got that vibe that pretty much has stuck with him his entire career and he makes good on it.

The bad stems from the fact that this movie is the same run time as the first, yet still feels over bloated. The action is over done. The villains are over done, and everything about the film just reeks of “lets amp this up to level 11 and go for broke!”. I enjoyed the film as a decent sequel, but sadly it just doesn’t live up to its predecessor (like most sequels), and 48 Hrs. wasn’t exactly THE pinnacle of 1980s action movies (as fun as it was).




Rating:

Rated R by the MPAA




Video:

Paramount brings it home with another newly minted 4K transfer, and due to the fact that 8 years have passed, it looks a little bit better even. Or at least the filming style was a little cleaner and a little less grainy than the film stock Walter Hill used for 48 Hrs. The movie is a bit brighter and the grain levels seem less massive (don’t worry, it’s still a very grainy source) and none of it is chunky or digital looking. I did notice some weird screen door effects on the desert sand during the opening scene of the movie, but that went away after the shot ended and didn’t really come back. I figure it was something baked into the source material, but still, it was pretty obvious to the eye. Blacks are deep and inky and I didn’t notice more than a little bit of black crush in darker shots. Colors are bright and vibrant, and overall clarity is excellent. These new 4K remasters are generally very appealing, and Paramount did it right again.






Audio:

The 5.1 Dolby TrueHD track is powerful and punchy, adding a lot of bass to the mix with your usual 80s/early 90s action mixes. The explosion at the fuel pump during the bike race really rips the doors off the things, and the shootout at the club near the end also brings in the heavy hitters. Horner’s score is your typical 80s action track, but it fills in the beats nicely and does so with great use of surrounds as well. Gunfire hits like a ton of bricks, and dialog seems to also be a little nicer than the low center volume of the previous film’s mix.






Extras:

• New - Filmmaker Forus: Walter Hill on Another 48 Hrs.
• Theatrical Trailer

Final Score: ​

48 Hrs. wasn’t the very best buddy cop movie in the genre, but it was a solid movie with a good set of leads. The sequel kind of devolves into “every other 80s/90s action movie sequel known to man” making things bigger, more stupid, and basically just more of everything. It doesn’t always work, but it’s actually a decent action movie in a time period where GREAT action movies were being pumped out like crazy, so it sort of got side lined. The new Blu-ray looks and sounds great, although the extras are a tad meager. Still worth a fun watch if you enjoyed the first one.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Nick Nolte, Eddie Murphy, Brion James, Kevin Tighe, Ed O'Ross
Directed by: Walter Hill
Written by: John Fasano, Roger Spottiswoode, Jeb Stuart
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 AVC
Audio: English: Dolby TrueHD 5.1, German, Japanese, French DD 2.0
Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, German, Japanese
Studio: Paramount
Rated: R
Runtime: 96 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: July 6th 2021

Recommendation: Decent Watch