Rush Hour 3 Review
Posted by Chad Webb on 08.13.2007
China may have banned it, but I'd like to know what the French thought.
Chris Tucker: Detective James Carter
Jackie Chan: Chief Inspector Lee
Max von Sydow: Varden Reynard
Kiroyuki Sanada: Kenji
Noemie Lenoir: Genevieve
Jingchu-Zhang: Soo Yung
Tzi Ma: Ambassador Han
Henry O: Master Yu
Roman Polanski: Detective Revi
Directed By: Brett Ratner
Release Date: August 10, 2007
Running Time: 90 minutes
Rated PG-13 for sequences of action violence, sexual content, nudity and language.
Rush Hour 3 a cinematic mixed drink. Don't misread that sentence though. I don't mean I had mixed feelings about the film, and I am not referring to the mixed reviews mainstream critics are giving it. What I mean is literally take two cups of Rush Hour 1, blend firmly with one cup of Rush Hour 2, and you receive Rush Hour 3. This is more than just a superfluous and hackneyed sequel, it is worthless and lazy. It is one of the biggest disappointments of the summer, and without a doubt, one of the worst films of 2007.
The utterly pointless copy of a plot picks up three years after Rush Hour 2. Three years bizarrely feels like three days to me. Chief Inspector Lee (Jackie Chan) is once more protecting Ambassador Han (Tzi Ma) during his stay in Los Angeles. He is preparing to make a speech that could lead to dismantling the Chinese Triads, but before he can divulge too much info, a sniper guns him down. He is alive, but safely in the hospital with guards on hand. At this point, Detective James Carter (Chris Tucker) is a traffic cop due to some previous mishaps, but he joins Lee anyway, and both men promise Han's daughter Soo Yung (Jingchu Zhang) that they will find the man responsible for the heinous crime. The case takes them to Paris, France where the duo must pursue the Triad assassin Kenji, and a mysterious list of the Triad leaders.
The list of flaws is a mile long. This week I had revisited the first two films. I was ready for more laughs and more action. The first Rush Hour was a healthy buddy cop offering with plenty of humor and a satisfying plot to assemble an average flick overall. Rush Hour 2 consisted of the same type of premise, but the jokes were better, and the stunts were more creative. Still solid. Instead of attempting anything remotely different, Director Brett Ratner and Screenwriter Jeff Nathanson must have ripped out pages from the previous scripts, and stapled them together with a couple new pages in this blatant excuse for money.
Back in 1995, Chris Tucker appeared as Smokey in Friday, a hilarious comedy that launched his career forward. He was on the rise with The Fifth Element, Money Talks, Jackie Brown, and finally the Rush Hour franchise. What happened after 2001? At some point Tucker declared himself an actor who should not make less than $20 million per film. He had not proved himself enough. He could have, but promptly stopped signing onto films for 6 years. Apparently he thought that the same buzz and popularity would be present after that much time had passed. He got greedy, and now that has cost him respect, if nothing else. As James Carter, Tucker delivers the same schtick as he did all those years ago. He dances, sings, and pisses off authorities with his off the wall manner. Unless you are a loyal fanatic, it is impossible to look at Tucker, and not see dollar signs in his eyes. His performance is as obligatory as the film itself.
I really feel sorry for Jackie Chan after this mess. His character of Lee has been reduced to a whining, argumentative, and worn out looking inspector. Even the martial arts sequences are tired and derivative. The storyline revolves around Lee's past yet again, and includes Ambassador Han and his daughter Soo Yung winding up in the wrong place at the wrong time yet again. We have seen it all before. By the way, Soo Yung was recast as Jingchu Zhang, a poor replacement. What a shame it will be if Chan is remembered in America for this, rather than all of those spectacular martial arts efforts. Chan doesn't sound as funny talking the same smack anymore. The fact is, the chemistry established by he and Tucker, the energy, the charisma….has all evaporated into thin air.
In this installment, the pair even has another squabble. It seems that Lee started dating Isabelle in New York. This was somewhat startling seeing as how it conflicts with how Rush Hour 2 ended. She kissed him, but what indication was there to believe they would start dating? Whatever. Accepting that, the reasoning for why Lee and Carter do not get along is incredibly stupid, and never explained so that it makes a lick of sense.
For a couple minutes I was walking around two star territory, looking ahead to a possible three stars, but once Lee and Carter flew to Paris, and hopped inside the taxi, I was disgusted and immediately turned off. This Rush Hour adventure features a political agenda. Yes, that's right, we are forced to listen to the French cab driver insult Americans for being too violent, and praise the French for being neutral. As if that was not enough, earlier Carter's superior mentions his offenses and one of them was arresting a group of Iranians because Carter thought "they had to be terrorists." The writers had to be kidding right? No. The cab driver does a 360 and discovers he loves car chases and guns. Please, spare me.
I could also touch on the opening assassination attempt where the sniper slides down the side of a building in broad daylight after just firing shots at a Chinese official. Of course Lee is the only person who sees this, and one of the routine foot pursuits commences. How about the convenient coincidence of the exotic dancer who becomes involved? Carter flirts with her in the casino, and to everyone's amazement, she ends up being a crucial aspect to the case later on. Every single minute is more predictable than one can imagine. The villain twist is clear from the first second the character steps foot on the screen. It insults viewers' intelligence actually.
The first clip I saw of Rush Hour 3 was the instance where Lee and Carter have a battle with a giant Asian man. This was one of two scenes that were fabulous. The crew exposed that a nugget of inventiveness lurked somewhere. The other was the interrogation of a foreigner where a nun translated the obscene words that he and Carter were exchanging. Unfortunately, these dissolve from memory once the audience assumes Roman Polanski and his French officials anally rape Lee and Carter and beat them with telephone books. And don't get me started with the wrestling on the French flag.
Brett Ratner has outdone himself by generating a threequel worse than X-Men III: The Last Stand. Ratner has the ability to craft heartfelt, exciting, hilarious, and compelling entertainment. 2000's The Family Man is a vastly under appreciated gem, and 1997's Money Talks, his first collaboration with Chris Tucker, was packed with hilarity, shoot outs, and explosions that top any of the Rush Hour's. Here Ratner seems to sit back and watch recycled gags, bland action, and a transparent plot eat away at the charm and escapist fun Rush Hour 1 & 2 possessed. If 2002's magnificent remake of Red Dragon was his peak, this is indisputably his all-time low.
When that same Beach Boys tune can be heard as Lee's ring tone for Carter, and later from a French guitarist, it is evident that Jeff Nathanson and Brett Ratner made no exertion to produce fresh material. This is the type of sequel that can tarnish a franchise forever. It is so discomforting and disconcerting to write this ruthlessly about a series I've enjoyed, but I am left with no choice. This is comparable to buying a brand new car only to find that it has no engine. This traffic jam has now come to a dead stop. The vehicle has overheated, and died.
The 411: I don't what to say about Rush Hour 3. It is an atrocity for the series, an embarrassment for the actors, and a career death wish for Brett Ratner. Most of you are probably thinking the same thing I was. It's Rush Hour, so it should be a great time at the movies right? Wrong. Don't spend money on this garbage at all. If you must, wait for DVD, and add it to your Netflix list. If Chris Tucker waits another 6 years to accept a role, I hope he seriously considers reading the script first.
