Rush Hour 3

So again we are back with a sequel of the Rush Hour series. The first two were pretty good comedy movies staring both Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker as cop partners with a typical plot with good action mixed with comedy. This one follows the same structure, but how does it hold up?

If you liked the first two, you'd probably enjoy this one. There's quite a few decent action scenes and again Chris Tucker's character delivers a lot of the jokes and Jackie Chan's still got the awesome moves and stunts but is it just me or was the action a bit tamer compared to the other two? Not that its much of a problem since I still enjoyed it but just something I noticed. Anyway, usual plot including a kidnapping and this time they go to Paris, and the two meet up with a person who wants to be like a spy.

It was very good and I'm glad the series is still working but perhaps the series should end here. It's hard to tell, but usually 3 movies is enough and the first one started like 10 years ago so its a rather large gap. The movie delivered a few laughs, some action scenes, and for what it was I thought it stayed true to its previous movie structures. I'm glad that Chris and Jackie still work well together, but to be honest I think the series should end with this one before it goes overload and loses what made it fun in the first place.

Should movies make money, then the Hollywood rule of thumb is to make another, and another, until the franchise runs out of steam. The original Rush Hour was a Jackie Chan vehicle of sorts to break into Hollywood, and it made a lot of money with the mis-pairing opposite Chris Tucker in a buddy cop movie formula filled with action and comedy. Rush Hour 2 was made 3 years later and made even more money, but it took 6 years for the second sequel to be made, and 9 years for the entire trilogy to be done (pray tell, will there be another sequel?)

Is the franchise tired? Probably, yet probably not. Face it, it's Jackie Chan, and most of his films (with the exception of missteps such as Around the World in 80 Days) make Hollywood studios smile. You can rely on him to deliver the goods in any action comedy, but age unfortunately has caught up with him, not to mention as well the safer-than-safe minimal risks that studios in the West tend to take with its stars. The action sequences in Rush Hour 3 look a bit tired, tame, and very uninspiring, and what Jackie Chan can probably still do, has been whittled down to sequences that are just a pale shadow of what could have been.

Which leaves us with the comedy, thankfully still having its moments especially for those punchlines which deliver. Tucker again gets most of the snarky lines, and a target for those politically incorrect jokes, while dishing some of his own. If there's any hint of rudimentary character development after these years, is that his James Carter, besides having been relegated to traffic duties, managed to "half-chinese" himself, and no longer is that helpless cop who without his gun, can't kick a ball for nuts.

The plot is no rocket science, and in fact, the previous two movies just had something which could coast along from scene to scene, providing a platform either to get our heroes Lee (Chan) and his brother-from-another-mother James (Tucker) into fisticuffs, or provide something for laughs. The first had a kidnapping of a Chinese Consul's daughter which the duo had to investigate in the US, while the second brought them to Hong Kong on the trail of a counterfeiting scam. The third pits the detectives against Triads, and brings us full circle with the return of that little girl in the original movie, who's now all grown up, played by Chinese starlet Zhang Jingchu.

Zhang Jingchu follows in the footsteps of fellow compatriot Zhang Ziyi who starred in the previous sequel. But unlike Ziyi, Jingchu's role is sans martial arts, despite her character being a kungfu instructor. It's unfortunately a purely flower vase role, though she looks more fleshed and healthier than her druggy role in Protégé. Yvan Attal's supporting role as a French cab driver is actually more of a scene stealer - listen out for those jibes at America, though it's a little of a cop out how that eventually plays out. Some of the more totally insane moments involve those deliberate lost in translation moments, which are the more enjoyable moments in this movie.

Rush Hour 3 is similar in structure with its predecessors, and it does seem a tad familiar at times in the way the story gets developed, with only a change in locale, now set in Paris. It's basically an attempt to reunite the two stars in order to make another dent in the box office, so though they're back, this movie can't be taken all too seriously. It plays out like a cartoon for adults, though the local distributor decided to edit portions of the French revue scene to obta in a rating that everyone can go to.

If anything, stay behind for the outtakes, which triumphs over the main offering, hands down.

I thought this movie was actually good. It was everything I expected it to be,funny and full of intense action. I do not understand why people are hating on this wonderful film, but the jokes I guess could be said that they have been done before. Either way the whole audience was laughing in the theater I went too. It deserves be watched.

Jackie Chan's fights were cool too. His fights fall short compared to other the movies he has done, but for a movie like this they are considerably good. I thought the story was pretty basic though, but I didn't go in expecting an epic movie like Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, etc. I went to laugh and i did. Chris tucker just kinda does the same thing like the movie. But isn't that why we love Rush Hour?

Director Brett Ratner returns to his element, offering a third fun, funny, and violent slapstick installment in the Rush Hour series.Rush Hour 3 sees Inspector Lee and Detective Carter back together again, trying to save the lives of a Chinese ambassador who may be on the brink of cracking open a massive organized crime syndicate called the Triads, the ambassador's daughter, and a woman with a very dangerous secret. The biggest problem, however, is the return of somebody from Lee's past with the potential to derail the otherwise stalwart Inspector. Most of this takes place in Paris, providing a different setting and a few opportunities to exploit cultural stereotypes that are new to the series.

The film is jam-packed with the wild, mildly provocative humor the series is known for, and the silly but entertaining martial-arts slapstick that is Mr. Chan's trademark. Chris Tucker gives his best performance in the series, delivering a lot of comic punch and playing a nice complement to Chan's sombre and serious Inspector Lee.

Rush Hour 3 delivers exactly what fans of the series look for - a simple linear action-thriller liberally decorated with a lot of cleverly written comedy and the amazing physical performance of Jackie Chan. It is better than many of Ratner's recent efforts, and a worthy entry in one of the very few comedy series I have enjoyed.

I wasn't expecting much from this movie, I decided to see this movie with my friends.

Boy, this movie surpass my expectation (my expectation were low...say at the level of Scary Movie 3 and 4 at best). So anyway, you've got your B level action-comedy movie and it does it quite well.

Jackie Chan (Who plays as Lee) acts well as usual (have some problem for pronouncing things but I didn't mind that) and Chris Tucker is still hilarious and he's still loud as ever. The jokes were great and I had my shares of laughs and chuckles, the only problem I have with the comedy is that sometime they try to stretch it far to much and you're ending up saying "We get it already", but the comedy succeed quite well. The action scene were always a thrill and the car chase was very fun (there was a bit of laughter in the theater).

There's a lot more comedy (which some jokes were cheesy) in this movie than action, but in the end I didn't mind, I still felt entertained and happy to spend my 15$ in this movie.

So this is the end of my simple review, go watch this movie with low expectation and in a mood for some good laughter and action and you'll enjoy it. I give it 7/10, it's not amazing but it's still quite entertaining and worth your money.