The fastest hands in the East reteams with the biggest mouth in the West in Rush Hour 2, the sequel to the 1998 blockbuster action-comedy which proved a worldwide box office hit.

Rush Hour 2 begins with Chief Inspector Lee of the Royal Hong Kong Police (Jackie Chan) and LAPD detective James Carter (Chris Tucker) arriving in Hong Kong for a vacation.

Armed with his Chinese-English dictionary, Carter is looking forward to a much-needed vacation and to sampling some of the city's many exotic delights.

But Lee, the ever-dedicated policeman, continues with his duties, frustrating Carter no end.

No sooner do they arrive, then they are confronted with the biggest case of their careers - a bomb has exploded in the American Embassy, killing two US Customs agents who had been investigating a money smuggling ring producing millions of counterfeit 100 dollar bills.

The Hong Kong police suspect the chief architect behind the blast is Ricky Tan (John Lone), the elegant and cunning head of a deadly Triad gang.

Lee is assigned to crack the case, much to the chagrin of Carter, who is caught up in the events against his will and feels his vacation slipping away.

But for Lee, the case is personal - Ricky Tan was once his father's partner on the Hong Kong police force and played a direct role in his father's death.

With the US and Hong Kong authorities fighting over jurisdiction of the case, Lee and a reluctant Carter set off on their own to track down Tan.

But this time, it's Detective Carter who is the fish-out-of-water, and Lee now has the opportunity to teach him some lessons on his home turf.

Director Brett Ratner is convinced that the on-screen chemistry between Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker was the principal reason behind the first film's phenomenal success and he was keen to reunite the pair in a sequel.

It's a view shared by his two stars.

"Jackie Chan and I were born to work together," exclaims Tucker.

"We're best buddies and we fight just alike.

He tries to keep up with me, but I'm a little quicker.

He's a great guy.

We're like brothers, only I'm black and he's Chinese."

What the martial arts master and comedic powerhouse continue to share is their love of improvisation.

"I'm excited, man! I'm working with the biggest action star in the world," says Tucker.

"Every day, I come to the set and say 'Jackie, I can't wait.

What are you going to have me do today?' I have a lot of respect for Jackie and I don't want to let him down."

As an actor, director and stunt co-ordinator in Hong Kong cinema, Chan helped to choreograph a lot of the action in Rush Hour 2.

Director Ratner explains: "Typically you would have each fight sequence mapped out and designed and then you shoot a master and pick up the pieces.

But here we design it on the day, piece by piece.

I'm not going to tell Jackie how each kick and punch should be thrown.

I just tell him where the scene starts and ends for the purpose of storytelling.

It's a much longer process, but the results are amazing.

Jackie's been giving us all his best fight stuff for this movie."