After a few films unworthy of his talent, Eddie Murphy returns to form with what he plays best: the fast-talking survivor in a hostile world. Nick Nolte also shines in a role tailored to his shambling frame.

It's a minor pleasure to see Murphy slightly subdued. What seems more problematic is the virtual exaltation of Dirty Harry vigilantism, the storm trooper mentality and behavior on Nolte's part that the film breezily takes for granted ...

Walter Hill, who also directed the first film, surely recognizes the hollowness of what he's doing here. He also hasn't had a hit since "48 HRS.," which no doubt explains why he's once again tilling these charred fields.

Hill exercises his action muscles with numerous sequences of vehicular mayhem that get the blood pumping well enough, but the plot feels decidedly like something written on the fly that lazily rehashes what worked in the original.