The Pink Panther 2 - Plot

Plot

When a master thief, the Tornado, begins stealing expensive artifacts the Government of France assembles a Dream Team of International Detectives to solve the case. Inspector Clouseau (Steve Martin) is reassigned from his task as a parking officer by Chief Inspector Dreyfus (John Cleese) to join the Dream Team in Japan, site of the Tornado's recent heist. While meeting with Clouseau, Dreyfus ends up being the victim to one of Clouseau's blunders; Clouseau discovered the wires Dreyfus set up in his office and set them off, bringing elite unit operatives. Oddly, Clouseau had the password to call them off on his medal (which seems to an electronic device): "Damburgert". At the airport, as soon as he is officially leaving France, news breaks that the Pink Panther Diamond has also been stolen (which he said would happen the very moment he left). Clouseau travels back to the scene of the crime, where the other members of the Dream Team, Inspector Pepperidge (Great Britain), Vicenzo (Italy), Kenji (an electronics specialist from Japan), and Sonia (Aishwarya Rai) (a researcher and criminology expert from India), are gathering. They go to Rome to investigate a black market fence, Alonso Avellaneda (Jeremy Irons), who deals with The Tornado. Assuming he is The Tornado, the Dream Team question him while Clouseau snoops around. Avellaneda successfully vindicates himself by demonstrating that he lacks a bullet-wound to the right shoulder – the Tornado was shot in that shoulder during a theft over a decade ago. After they leave, Avellaneda meets with the Tornado himself (Johnny Hallyday). The Tornado reveals that one of the people on the Dream Team works with him.

Later on that night, Clouseau and his partner, Ponton (Jean Reno), spy on Avellaneda, using a bug they planted at the table they were sitting, as he takes a date out for dinner. Unfortunately, the mission is compromised when they find Vicenzo and Clouseau's love interest, Nicole (Emily Mortimer), together at the restaurant. Having been banned for burning down the restaurant three months earlier, Clouseau disguises himself as a dancer and attempts to switch the bug to Nicole's table. In the process, he ends up burning down the restaurant again, thanks to knocking down a flambe a waiter is holding. At the same time, The Tornado steals the Pope's ring, an act which begins to turn public opinion against the Dream Team. When Clouseau's attempt to recreate the night the ring was stolen ends badly, he is voted off the team, with only Sonia sympathizing with him. Shortly afterward, Clouseau is called to an office where they see the Tornado has killed himself, and left a suicide note claiming he destroyed the Pink Panther – regarding it as being so beautiful that he could not bring anyone other than himself to own it – and left the other treasures to be recovered. Examining a key they found in the Pope's Chambers, they successfully match the DNA of the victim with DNA of the Tornado acquired when he was shot, and thus believe themselves to have solved the case. However, Clouseau is unconvinced and believes the Tornado was not the thief.

For their victory in recovering the stolen items (minus the Pink Panther), a celebration is thrown in the Dream Team's honor. Clouseau, after seeing something on Sonia's car's licence plate, tries to convince Dreyfus that the real thief is still at large, but is ignored. Dreyfus relays to the group that Clouseau told him Sonia was the thief, and the group, treating the idea as a joke, works out a plausible explanation for how she could have done it; as the Tornado's ex-lover, she would have in-depth knowledge of his methods, and has set up a plan. She would make the Tornado steal all the other artifacts so all attention would be drawn to him. Then, Sonia could set him up, make him come out of hiding, kill him, forge a suicide note, and keep the Pink Panther, which was the only fencible artifact as it was the only treasure that could be broken down and sold off as smaller items rather than in its most famous form. Nicole suddenly realizes that Clouseau's story may actually be feasible, prompting Nicole to ask Sonia to conclude the joke by showing the contents of her purse, Clouseau claiming that the Pink Panther is in her purse. Disgusted by this indirect accusation, Sonia attempts to leave the party. As Sonia tries to leave, Nicole again asks her to take everything out of her purse. Sonia pulls out a gun, and after initially threatening to shoot Nicole, she shoots Clouseau, but the bullet hits the medal of honor he had received, ironically killing a waiter due to a ricochet. She then runs upstairs, with Clouseau and the rest of the Dream Team chasing her around the building, all but Clouseau making fools of themselves through various accidents caused by Clouseau's clumsiness.

Finally cornered, Sonia threatens to destroy the Pink Panther, and Clouseau successfully goads her to do so. Sonia is subsequently knocked out by Ponton when she tries to flee during the distraction caused by the Pink Panther's destruction. Clouseau reveals that she had destroyed a fake gem he had switched with the real one before his departure from France (a rather unexpected clever idea from him), and that the Tornado, a master thief and a recognized authority on valuable gems, would have recognized this; therefore, his suicide note—where he praised the beauty of the gem in his possession—was forged and he was actually murdered. He reveals that he had given Sonia's car a ticket one day before the Pink Panther was stolen, contradicting her alibi of having been delayed to the crime scene because of her flight. Following the arrest of Sonia, Dreyfus tries to claim credit for having appointed Clouseau to his parking job, but Clouseau, remembering Dreyfus told him to deny this to anyone who asked, rebukes the claim. Clouseau later marries Nicole, though the wedding is short-lived after Dreyfus fires the cork out of the Champagne bottle onto a security device, causing elite unit operatives to storm the party in a manner similar to an earlier event in the film; the batteries in Clouseau's medal were dead, so he couldn't give the password. Clouseau and Nicole ditch the wedding and head for the airport for their honeymoon with the animated Pink Panther watching them leave. The film ends with the Pink Panther looking into the camera and winking (like in the original film series) as he walks into the chaotic wedding and closes the door.