Rush Hour 3

I wasn't expecting much walking into the theater. I mean, since it took them six long years to come out with the third installment, you'd think that this time around, the series has pretty much run out of energy. Plus, all of the bad reviews that I read before seeing it, didn't exactly make me feel that I was going to be impressed.

On the contrary, I was surprised by the performances of both Chan and Tucker. The story is fun, the characters are interesting, the comedy is sharp, and the action sequences are well done.

It was fun to watch the interplay between Tucker and Chan. Tucker being the outrageous, loud, and amusing Detective James Carter. And Chan, the straight-laced, 'good guy' Inspector Lee. The charisma is still there, just like it was since the first Rush Hour movie. This one seems to have plenty of more laughs and an even more exiting climax towards the end of the movie than the previous two. I definitely recommend seeing 'Rush Hour 3', for the comedy and action elements, and especially for fans of the series like myself.

Rush Hour 3, the sequel I've been waiting for, it's been 6 years since our last Rush and I couldn't wait to join Chris and Jackie once again for their awesome comedy and action. I saw Rush Hour 3 a few days ago and I have to say that while I was definitely entertained, this still didn't feel the same as the previous Rush Hour films. It had great comedy, don't get me wrong, Chris Tucker is still so much fun to watch on screen. Jackie adds a little more comedic edge to his role this time; but it seemed like Jackie and Chris are not clicking as well as they used too. It almost seemed like they were meeting for the first time watching them on screen. Not only that, but this movie seemed more rushed and the story wasn't as well developed as the first two Rush Hour films.

In the beginning it seems like Lee and Carter are not on good terms, Carter seems to have broken off Lee's relationship to his ex girlfriend, Isabella. After an assassination attempt on China's Ambassador, Lee and Carter are about to face the Triads', China's deadliest gang. They are looking for a list in Paris and Lee and Carter are on the case to find a beautiful woman who might hold the secret. Things get a little more tricky when Lee has to his own brother who is the leader of the Triads'.

Rush Hour 3 is all in good fun, standing on it's own, if this was the first Rush Hour, it would have been fine somewhat, but just comparing it to the first two films, this wasn't as good. But that's just my opinion. But I think if you loved the first two Rush Hour films, you should see this, it's still a fun film and has great comedy, there is a little less action, a warning in advance, but it's all good if you are looking for a fun film for the end of the summer.

6/10

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.

With all the complexities of the final installments of this years trilogies, this should be a welcome change of pace. Probably the worst of the series, but really not bad. Highly predictable were as I told the people I was sitting with who was behind it all and who the accomplices were. The movie in a whole is about an hour and twenty minutes. It has pretty humorous parts throughout and some good action scenes, but in all honesty, they could have been better. The chemistry between the two leads is still there which makes these movies fun in the first place. This was an unneeded yet entertaining entry into the series, but it is basically the love child of the first two. The outtakes as usual are the best part of the film. To wrap it up, if you enjoyed the first two, you will probably enjoy this one as well. Sure, you can see everything coming from a mile away but it still makes you laugh and still entertains. Take this for what it is and you will have a good time.