Running Out of Time 2

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Running Out of Time 2 is the slighter, fluffy bunny sibling of Running Out of Time. It is not a bad movie but it suffers in comparison.

Teresa's company, PFA will be signing merger papers next week. Any bad publicity could ruin the deal. In the last two weeks, three art objects, insured for five million dollars by PFA, have been stolen. Teresa says pay the claims. The Thief calls and offers to redeem the pieces for twenty million dollars. If he is turned down, he will steal more, scaring away their customers, thus queering the big deal.

Meanwhile, police and firemen are called in to stop a jumper, our Thief. Inspector Ken is sent to talk the man down. Instead the Thief engages Ken in Heads or Tails. Ken can't win and is ready to jump. Ho saves the day but the Thief escapes.

Inspector Ho has been investigating the burglaries and, noticing the coincidence that all pieces are insured by the same firm, has illegally tapped the PFA phones so he and his men intervene in the ransom deal. Ho will deliver the money. The remainder of the movie is the Thief leading Ho on a dance around Hong Kong. He even takes the twenty million right out of the police station!

In Running Out of Time, Cheung (Andy Lau) was dying of cancer. He had four weeks to avenge his father's death before his own. Here, the company, PFA, may not be able to complete their merger next week. It's not the same.

Waise Lee provided menace in the original. Here, Ekin Cheng stands in for Andy Lau. He's a thief but not evil. He just likes the challenge. There is no villain for he and Ho to ally against. There is no sense that anything really bad will happen.

Several scenes from Running Out of Time are rehashed. There is the hostage negotiation on the skyscraper roof introducing the Thief. There's Ho and the Thief pursuing the briefcase though nearly unconscious, and there's the bit where the Thief hails a taxi only to find it driven by Ho. Ho and his boss, Assistant Commissioner Wong Kai Fa bicker even more than they did in the original. It is not an improvement.

However, it is not all leftovers. Inspector Ken is a gambling addict, vastly in debt to his bookie. He seeks out the Thief to lose at Heads or Tails and seems to have no trouble finding him, which no one else in the department can do. Ken is harassed and assaulted by his bookie. Only Ken is in danger and only Ken matures. Really, it's as if he is the protagonist and the scenes without him are amusing filler to eke out the 95 minute running time.

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