Michael_Elliott
Cannonball Run II (1984) 1/2 (out of 4) Incredibly lazy and rather pointless sequel has J.J. McClure (Burt Reynolds) and various others back and competing in another race from the West coast to the East coast.Somehow, THE CANNONBALL RUN turned out to be a huge hit so a sequel was put into production and it's amazingly just as dull as the first film. Also rather amazing is the fact that they managed to get even more famous faces to appear in this thing including Frank Sinatra who would appear in a theatrical movie for the last time. That's right, the great Sinatra ending his theatrical career on CANNONBALL RUN II. How does that happen? Was he bored? Did he need the money? Doing it as a favor?CANNONBALL RUN II is pretty much the same movie as the first, although we do get a few new actors to appear here including Telly Savalas as a gangster, Shirley MacLaine as a nun, Richard Kiel as Jackie Chan's assistant and there's also Sid Caesar, Catherine Bach, Tim Conway, Don Knotts, Tony Danza, Ricardo Montalban, Jim Nabors, Charles Nelson Reilly, Henry Silva, Doug McClure, Abe Vigoda and I've already mentioned Sinatra. Reynolds basically sleepwalks through the film and every once in a while smacks Dom DeLuise. Dean Martin and Sammy Davis, Jr. easily steal the film and thankfully they're given a bigger part than the previous movie.As I said, this is a pretty horrible movie as was the first one but with so many stars it's hard not to recommend this to film buffs. As awful as the movie is and as unfunny as it is, there's still something mildly (and painfully) amusing getting to see so many famous faces in one picture. It's really too bad that the filmmakers didn't try making a better movie though.
Nick Damian
This film is a mess from start to finish without the pretty girls and the nice cars.Yes, there was Jackie Chan and Doug McLure and Richard Keil, but they had nothing to offer the film as well as Catherine Back or Marilou Henner.This is simply a whole bunch of actors put onto a set or site with little to offer the film in any context aside of making some dumb ass comments and smiling and that's about all.The first one wasn't to good and this one is even worse.Thin plot with little to support it.The race is boring, the back story is boring, even the fact that nobody knows who wins is a real stinker.It's a letdown with a bunch of names heading this POS.
tomimt
There's a word for a movie like this: cashing. Really, you'd have to be a huge fan on Burt Reynolds, if you'd actually think, that this movie is good or even remotely funny.The "story" starts with sheik, who want's to be the fastest sheik in the world. So his son finances another Cannonball Run in order to show, that his family indeed is the fastest. And some hilarity ensues. Not.The film is loaded with good actors, who make a comeback from the first film, but really nothing can safe this film from itself, as it lacks coherent plot and funny jokes. It is just poorly together knitted pile of jokes, which probably were rejected from the first film.As I can't think of anything positive to say about this film, I'll just stop here. Condisder my point given.
ultraman007
Truly one of the greatest American films of the 20th Century. Superior comedic timing, wit, intelligence, chemistry-- a poignant social commentary on the conspicuous consumption of the mid-1980s. Hilarity only surpassed by its taut direction, superior pacing and production value, the likes of which had been unseen since Battleship Potemkin or 2001.The editing on this masterpiece (by William Gordean, famous for his genre-defining work on Tank Girl-- yes, that William Gordean) exceeds brilliance. How did they get it to look like Frank Sinatra was really in those scenes? How? How? Magic, my friend. Hollywood Magic. To think that in 1984 this film was overlooked by the Academy for the likes of trivial, petulant "movies" like The Killing Fields and Amadeus is the greatest tragedy in cinematic history. Shame on you, Oscar. Shame. On. You.
AD
