Rushing into disaster (Rush Hour 3 (2 DVDs))

Name: Ailran

Hello doyoo user, You have to be logged in to use these functions... Login or register Close window

Send message to member

Product:	Rush Hour 3 (2 DVDs)
Date:	14.01.08 (93 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Yvan Attal as the cab driver

Disadvantages: Everything else especially the script and story

After a gap of 6 years the tag team buddy duo of Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker are back as the cop partners determined to fight each other as much as they fight criminals.
Chief Inspector Lee (Chan) is on security detail, protecting the Chinese Ambassador (originally seen in the first film). Ambassador Han is in New York to speak at an urgent security meeting at the UN. He is going to reveal details about the leader of the Triads, a name sort after by law agencies all across the world. An assassination attempt prevents this and leads to Lee being teamed up with Detective James Carter once more, much to his annoyance.
The trail leads our two heroes to France as they try to uncover not only who tried to kill Han but also who the leader of the Triads is.

I am of the opinion that Jackie Chan can do little wrong. He is a genuine superstar performer whose films are always a joy to watch, especially his early Hong Kong adventures which were a clever blend of comedy and action. His forays into Hollywood though have been, while enjoyable, very hit and miss. Generally most of them have been fun to watch but not worth more than one viewing compared with his real classics.
Rush Hour 3 sadly falls into the same category. It is mildly enjoyable, in places, but the overall experience falls very very flat.
The biggest problem with Rush Hour 3 is that it is not funny enough for a comedy and not action packed enough for an action film, and there isn't a good enough mix of the two to even be an action comedy.
Even worse than that though is that the plot makes absolutely no sense at all. There is so little of it that follows any logical direction that you just get completely fed up with it. None of the characters justifications for their actions really ring true, or even make a smidgeon of rational sense!
For example why is Carter allowed to go to France? Why does the duos main plan of action seem to be to rely on pure luck to achieve anything at all? I could go on it is that bad. Of course if the comedy or the action was top quality then you wouldn't really worry, or even notice, these faults. A good action film, or a good comedy, keep your attention away from most deficiencies in a plot by doing what they do best so that you don't even really care when you do spot them. Rush Hour 3 manages to fail so completely to do this that the entertainment factor of the film ends up being thinking about how to get around the plot holes instead of not noticing them.

What Rush Hour 3 tries to do is play the percentages... it has Jackie Chan kung fu set pieces and Chris Tucker fast talking and being a loud mouth, it also fashions the barest of a plot around them doing their 'thing' together and apart.
This time around though their buddy buddy stick comes across as old and tired. To bring out a new instalment of their adventures after so long a break they really needed a superlative script, like Die Hard 4.0. Rush Hour 3 fails at this miserably and never has a plot made so little sense, unintentionally, as this one.

It is a shame that a series of movies can be so totally ruined by bringing out one too many. Rush Hour 3 is a step to far and even though the stars are capable of more, well Chan is at least, see New Police Story to see how good he can still be, the plot and story fall to pieces.
Still Roman Polanski as a Police Official in France is amusing, even if it is only a brief appearance and Yvan Attal as George, the American hating taxi driver is worth fast forwarding/skipping to. His appearances being the only high point of the whole debacle apart from a hilarious interrogation scene involving a nun and a French speaking Asian thug.

Rush Hour 3 gets one star for Attal and the aforementioned scene, other than that it would get a miserly, but well deserved, 0.. if I could give it that!

Summary: A disasterous 3rd outing for Chan and Tucker