RUSH HOUR 3 Disappoints - Movie Review
Reviewed for INK by efrain gomez
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but “Rush Hour 3” wasn’t good. Sure it’s been six years since “Rush Hour 2″, but fans aren’t so fickle that we’d forget why we liked these movies. Yes, there is the familiar East-West buddy cop element, and yes, Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker reprise their roles as a mismatched pair of law enforcement officials tangled up in a huge criminal investigation – except the movie lacks the comedy, chemistry and fun action scenes that made the first two “Rush Hour” movies entertaining.
This time around, Chinese Inspector Lee (Chan) and LAPD Detective Carter (Tucker) are at odds with each other because of a silly personal qualm (Carter shot Lee’s girlfriend in the neck). While Carter has been demoted to an L.A. traffic cop, Lee is in town as a bodyguard for a Chinese Ambassador. The two are coincidentally reunited when the world’s biggest crime organization–the Triads–attempts to assassinate the Ambassador for trying to reveal the identity of the Shy Shen, the leader(s) of the organization, to the World Criminal Court.
At only an hour and twenty-six minutes (even Disney cartoons are longer than this), it plods along with awkward, laugh-less moments and dead air. Apparently, director Bret Ratner, who helmed the first two films, (also “X-Men 3”, another movie I thought was pretty dumb), was perfectly content with sticking to a formulaic script that takes the Black-Asian duo from Los Angeles to Paris, France, and tries really hard to make us laugh at fewer and weaker jokes than the previous installments.
Chan and Tucker don’t seem to have the same dynamic between them either. It’s just a lot of one-word sentences from a stereotypical chop-socky, asexual Chan, and a whole lot of high-pitched, over-libido’d joke-commenting from Tucker, making it harder to believe he’s a detective and easier to believe he’s doing an impression of a Wanda Sykes character (see “Evan Almighty” or any other movie she’s in). Oh, and not a lot of funny.
To sum it up: it’s an easy-to-follow but disappointing action-comedy that doesn’t live up to the franchise; even non-fans will leave the theatre unimpressed.
I’m sure all the hardcore “Rush Hour” fans will see it regardless of my opinion, making it #1 at the box office this weekend, but I wouldn’t “rush” (wink, wink) to see this movie. I recommend waiting for the DVD, and seeing “Stardust” instead.
Rating: 2 out of 4 stars
Reviewed for INK
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