Not as good as I remember

I used to think this was better than the first back when I was a kid after it came out, but after viewing both back to back (almost 30 years later) I definitely see why the first one was so appealing with the romantasized "super" bushman goes to New York theme. And to my surprise, despite the lack of a real plot, it is still fun to watch the very charismatic Paul Hogan fumble around the big city while he makes friends with everyone he meets and punches (I still love the very 80's punch in the face sound effect) out all of the bad guys. (Best scene in the movie though is still the "that's not a knife" scene.

CD2 just doesn't hold up though. It feels like a movie full of good ideas they couldn't fit into the first one, and so you end up with these disjointed scenes strung together with seemingly little thought (still love the jumper on a ledge scene). So despite being entertaining, the novelty has worn, so the weak plot is that much more noticeable.

What really stood out this time was the drug lords down under: how many times did they react to what Dundee did with scared, complete with shaking hands holding a gun, looks on their face, and seconds later return to their "baddass" look.

Any tension they were trying to create was lost in the first show-down: you can't stand there while a man shoots up your vehicles with high precision with baddass looks, cuz it is obvious you can be taken down at any time. What's more, your leader asks why Dundee would want his mate dead, when you should be asking why a dead-eye shot didn't kill us as we stood in place giving him every opportunity to do so. The tough-guy act just doesn't work anymore, but being 12, it wasn't as obvious how contrived the whole thing was.

Having said all that, I still enjoy the 2nd one, but I'm not sure how much of that is due simply to nostalgia.