Rush Hour 3 (Jacki Chan)

IMDB Info:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0293564/

Ever since Chris Tucker mentioned “Rush Hour 3″ at the end of “Rush Hour 2″, I have to admit that I have been waiting with anticipation to see what America’s favorite interracial movie couple will do next. Man, was I disappointed.




Brett Ratner opens up the third installment of the wildly successful Rush Hour franchise with standard fare—Chris Tucker singing while serving his duty as a traffic cop (punishment for some misdeed) and Jackie Chan being the professional and serious cop protecting Ambassador Han (from “Rush Hour 1”). This movie is like a Rush Hour reunion, bringing back characters and references from the rest of the Rush Hour trilogy. Even Han’s daughter Soo Yung from “Rush Hour 1” reappears, played by Jingchu Zhang. Carter’s Corvette also makes a guest appearance. The theater erupted with laughter when the movie revealed that Lee had been dating Isabella (the hot FBI agent from Rush Hour 2) and that Carter totally cockblocks him by accidentally shooting her in the neck, reducing her to a cashier at “El Poco Loco”. It was some good old random humor, but sadly the remaining tone of the movie declines to such a low level that the only fitting adjective is “random”. Or retarded.


The jovial music and the obvious chemistry between Chan and Tucker displayed in their familiar joking banter lured me to think initially that this may be just as good as its predecessors. The chemistry is really what carries this movie—Jeff Nathanson’s jokes are banal and hackneyed, relying on the talent of Tucker and…well, Chan’s pronunciation to bank laughs. In all honesty, Jackie Chan’s English has improved immensely in this film, and it seems as if he has lost none of his agility and reflexes, as is clearly shown in the first ten minutes of the movie. Chris Tucker hasn’t really changed his character at all; except for adding a little bit of a Chinese Zen attitude, he is still the same brash and loud unwitting LAPD cop. Though the characters haven’t seen much development, the audience still loves them. The way Chris Tucker’s face lights up when he sees beautiful women is freakin’ hilarious. Too bad that the writers made the relationship between Lee and Carter as superficially dysfunctional as the one between Will Smith and Martin Lawrence in “Bad Boys II”. Nathanson even makes Carter say to Lee, “Fine, I’m not your brother *sniff*”.

“Rush Hour 3” is a must-see, if only to serve to remind the audience never to trust a film with 3 in the title. To be fair, if you loved Rush Hour 1 and 2, you should watch Rush Hour 3. It always feels good to be reunited with beloved characters, just to see that they are alive and well. It seems to me that this is a repeat of “Ocean’s 12”; the cast had a ton of fun and forgot to invite the audience. I expected some laughs going into the movie, and I got those, albeit cheap ones. Certainly not the laughs worthy of the 7 million dollar paycheck that Brett Ratner got to direct the movie, but then he didn’t write the script. And I also hear he’s dating Serena Williams, so I’ll give him a break. Go watch “Rush Hour 3” so that you won’t be left out of the loop, but don’t expect much coherence from it. The movie ends abruptly and the conflict is ultimately resolved without really requiring Carter and Lee’s services. They don’t see it that way though, as they dance off screen to Edwin Starr. Conclusion? Fast dumb gags and faster action.