Rush Hour

The Chinese Consul's daughter is kidnapped and the FBI steps in to investigate the case. The Consul doesn't trust them however, so he calls in an old friend and police inspector from Hong Kong to aid in the rescue of his daughter. Not wanting to work with outsiders, the FBI pairs him with a cocky, loudmouthed L.A. street cop who dreams of becoming a federal agent but doesn't work well with partners. The formula is tired and predictable, but it's redeemed to a surprising extent by the effective pairing of Chan and Tucker who are an ideal action-comedy duo. Lots of gimmicky action scenes and big time laughs, with the added bonus of a script that doesn't require a lot of thinking. ***

I recently saw this movie, and I was surprised at how good it was despite some of the *obnoxious* loudmouth phrases by Chris Tucker. I think he got a little too mouthy at some scenes. But other than that the movie is pretty good.

The plot is after consul Han Solon's daughter is kidnapped, a close friend of Han's, Detective Inspector Lee(Jackie Chan) is sent in to help because Han does not fully rely on the work of the FBI alone. So an LAPD officer James Carter(Chris Tucker) is sent in to help keep Lee out of trouble. It had some very good lines passed between the actors, and you could tell they were having a fun time together acting. Some of the martial arts/karate that Chan does in the film is impressive, just like in all his films, and Tucker does a good job playing the loud mouth(even if he did get out of hand sometimes). I'm going to definately see the sequel, Rush Hour 2. I would give this film 3/5 stars. It's a good movie to just rent out, or watch on tv some night.

I love a good buddy-cop flick and it'd been quite some time since I'd seen one, so when I saw this floating around on Hulu I knew I needed to rectify passing on it for so many years. Chan and Tucker make for a great pair, and while the story here is pretty generic, it's their chemistry that keeps you glued. Come for the jokes and fun action sequences, not the story.

When a diplomat's daughter is kidnapped in the US, a Chinese policeman Lee is sent to help the FBI with the investigation. Not wishing his help the FBI arrange a LAPD officer Carter to keep him out of trouble. However with both Lee and Carter keen to be involved in the investigation, they set out on their own to find the girl overcoming both bad guys and cultural differences.

This is yet another buddy cop movie where different partners must overcome their differences to solve a crime. Here the difference is the black culture and the Chinese culture. The story is very unlikely but it makes enough sense to get by, all it needs is to hang in and create lots of set pieces. Which it does - there's not as much action for Jackie Chan as I would have liked and his fight scenes feel toned down in favour of Tucker's manic comedy (this was partially reversed in RH2). This is a shame because Tucker is funny but his manic antics can get a bit irritating in large doses - it needed more of Chan.

However it is funny and Chan does hold his own and get to show how fast he is. His fight scenes don't feel as inventive as in other films but he has a good chemistry with Tucker. The bad guys are quite characterless but it doesn't really matter as the lead duo manage to carry the film.

Overall a good buddy cop movie that is a good vehicle for both Chan and Tucker and plays on both their strengths to good effect. However as with RH2 most of the funniest moments come in the closing outtakes, which can't be a good thing.

Even though this movie might be a bit conventional, it's thoroughly entertaining, with nice action scenes, cool martial arts fighting & a good sense of humor. I didn't find any of it boring. It's a good concept, to combine the humor of Chris Tucker with the martial arts of Jackie Chan. This movie is for anyone who's into action, martial arts & humor. 7/10