New Frontiers of Asian and Latino America in Popular Culture: Mixed-Race Intimacies and the Global Police State in Miami Vice and Rush Hour 2

Rush Hour 2 (2001) and Miami Vice (2006) are urban action films that feature an interracial police duo seeking to bring down an international smuggling ring directed at a U.S. market. They also share a unique similarity: the intimacy and/or embodiment of Asian and Latino cultures within a narrative about U.S. global policing. These films feature Asian and Latino characters that work for the U.S. but retain links to their countries of origin. The intimacy of Asians to Latinos also conveys a series of illegal transnational transactions that must be put down, demonstrating the power of the U.S. as a globalized police state.