Movie Review: Rush Hour 3 – Starring Jackie Chan & Chris Tucker

Movie: Rush Hour 3 (PG-13)
Released: August 10th, 2007
Runtime: 1 hr. 30 min.
Ticket Price: $5.00 Early Matinee
Refreshments: Swedish Fish
Starring: Jackie Chan & Chris Tucker
Director: Brett Ratner

Rating: Wait for the Rental, if Not Longer –

Synopsis: The guys are in Paris this time and have a run in with the Chinese Triad crew. Comedy and martial arts action is supposed to ensue.

Review: It’s official. The Rush Hour franchise has completely run out of gas. If you’ve seen either Rush Hour or Rush Hour 2, or the commercials for this one, you’ve pretty much already seen Rush Hour 3. They could’ve just re-edited footage from the first two and saved a whole lot of money on filming and production costs and come up with a comparable product.

It is too bad really, as I liked both previous incarnations, but they bring nothing new to the table here. And, when the outtakes played during the credits are the funniest part of the movie, well, it’s just sad.

Chris Tucker is mildly amusing, like in the “Yu” and “Mi” takeoff on the classic Abbott & Costello routine, “Who’s On First?” But, somebody needs to pull Mr. Tucker aside and tell him that loud doesn’t equal funny.

Jackie Chan gives just what you’d expect, some great fight and stunt sequences. But, he was also pretty funny and not just in the outtakes. More of his jokes landed than Tucker’s and given the comparative number of funny lines attempted by each of the two, well, it’s also, just plain sad.

As for the story, the duo is on the search for the person responsible for attempting to kill the Chinese ambassador at a meeting of the World Court in Los Angeles, which Chan’s character was the head of security for. And, if you don’t know who the “unknown” bad guy is by the time the two of them head off for Paris, then you most definitely checked your brain at the door. Maybe that would have made the movie better, had I done so, as Ratner and the writer don’t even attempt to mask it, by giving you any real options.

There is a big difference between predictability, where you think something is going to happen and then it does, as opposed to knowing something is going to happen and then it does. There is a whole lot of the latter in Rush Hour 3.

So far, in this summer of the threequel, only The Bourne Ultimatum has really lived up to its predecessors. Overall, Rush Hour 3 ranks at the bottom of that list, but might be worth seeing at some point. I would wait for the rental, if not longer. Ultimately, you’ll be better off just renting the first one, if you need to fill the action comedy void this weekend.