Not with a whimper but a bang.
That's how "Rush Hour 2" plans to wind up its Las Vegas location stay under the director of Brett Ratner, who also helmed the 1998 original.
This week's agenda includes exterior shots outside the shuttered Desert Inn -- which has been transformed into the Red Dragon, with an Asian-themed marquee to match and red lights tinting the casino's exterior Chinese red.
But the action extends from the 15th floor of the casino to the Strip below during the shoot.
In one scene, stars Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker arrive on the Strip in style -- by popping through two separate manhole covers in the street.
Only one of the manhole covers is the real thing, however; the other was specially constructed for the production. (It'll be recovered during scheduled street resurfacing.)
Meanwhile, on the hotel's 15th floor, a stunt sequence calls for an explosion, followed by a daring escape that involves a character (or, more precisely, a stunt performer) swinging from a rope and climbing down the Red Dragon marquee to a light pole -- which then swivels out over the Strip, enabling the character in peril to drop into a passing car.
Pulling all this off, of course, requires traffic control on the Strip.
The closures began Thursday and Friday night, according to Lt. Curt Williams of the Metropolitan Police Department's Special Events unit.
After leaving the Strip open to accommodate the usual weekend traffic glut, the exterior shoots are scheduled to pick up again tonight, Williams reports.
Plans call for one northbound and one southbound lane to be closed from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. between Cathedral Way and Fashion Show Drive, he notes.
"Rush Hour 2" also plans to shoot Tuesday at McCarran International Airport. Chan and Tucker will film at the airport's international terminal, according to Hilarie Grey, McCarran public affairs manager.
Meanwhile, up at High Desert State Prison near Indian Springs, "Undisputed" heads into its final full week of production with Wesley Snipes and Ving Rhames as rival behind-bars pugilists.
After spending most of last week at the closed Southern Nevada Correctional Center in Jean, "Undisputed" is back at its central location, shifting the shooting schedule to capture exteriors during sunny weather -- and interiors when the next winter storm hits.
"Undisputed" director Walter Hill has filmed prison scenes in movies as varied as "Red Heat," "Johnny Handsome," "48 HRS." and "Another 48 HRS."
But "I've never done as consistently as much time" in prison as in "Undisputed," Hill says.
"The somber nature of prison certainly does seep in -- that's one of the reasons why you're there," he comments. "But we're a professional movie company -- we're here not to go to prison but to go to work." As a result, "I don't think we've been unusually depressed" during the shoot.
Moving from the big to the small screen, an international array of television projects also arrive this week.
On the homegrown front, the Learning Channel's top-rated series "Trauma: Life in the E.R." continues its local sojourn, which runs through March 26 at University Medical Center.
It's the second Vegas visit for the show, which first visited UMC in 1997, the show's second season.
"It was such an amazing place -- very unlike any place in America," recalls Liane Thompson, executive producer of NYT Television, which produces "Trauma."
This time around, two hourlong episodes will focus on UMC's new emergency room -- "out with the old, in with the new" -- and will "show them integrating activities" between UMC's emergency room and the separate trauma center, she explains.
The Vegas episodes will be shown in October as part of the series' new fall season, which also features Tampa, Dallas and Albuquerque hospitals.
But Las Vegas remains unique, "a melting pot within a melting-pot society," the producer says.

On the overseas front, the Korean drama "Hotelier" is scheduled to shoot Tuesday and Wednesday, focusing on characters struggling to make it in the hotel business.
In addition to views of the Strip and downtown, the show's main character, Taejon, will drive a classic convertible down the Strip, according to Charles Kim of the production company, Report Korea. "Hotelier" airs on South Korea's MBC network.
The show's other locations include an older residential area on Cincinnati Avenue, just north of Sahara Avenue and the Strip. Kim notes that four of the featured performers worked with a dialogue coach before shooting to improve their English.

Germany's Center TV, meanwhile, is scheduled to begin a weeklong visit Tuesday for "Meine Hochzeit (My Wedding)," according to Patty Moyer of Las Vegas Public Works, which issues film permits.
In addition to establishing shots of Las Vegas, the show will focus on two weddings -- one at the Stratosphere, one at the Golden Nugget.
From Britain, the BBC's Natural History unit is expected Tuesday through Saturday for "Land of the Mammoth," part of its "BBC in the Wild" programs.
Various shots will establish Las Vegas as a flourishing desert metropolis -- a far cry from the days when mammoths roamed the area.
And a Nescafe commercial is scheduled to complete a two-day shoot today, filming along Casino Center Boulevard between the Fremont and Binion's Horseshoe, according to Moyer.
While Las Vegas has been a location hotbed lately, keeping productions coming our way is the Nevada Film Office's ongoing mission -- and the reason why NFO officials recently attended the annual Location Expo in Southern California.
The expo provided "a lot of good leads," according to NFO director Charles Geocaris.
But "everyone's talking strike and that's the big worry we have," he acknowledges.
Although "a lot of people are working now," possible strikes by union writers and actors could disrupt production halt production in a few months. (The current Writers Guild contract expires May 1; the Screen Actors Guild contract deadline is July 1.)
"Everything is gearing toward the next few months," Geocaris says, "and then coming to a halt."
Carol Cling's Shooting Stars column appears Mondays.