FFWD Weekly
Copyright © 1998 All Rights Reserved.
| FILM Rush Hour You have to hand it to Jackie Chan. He keeps coming back for more, despite what the critics are saying about him. Knowing he'll never be taken seriously as an actor, he does films that simply don't stop in terms of action. And Chan works hard because he does all of his own stunts. Talking about a plot in a Chan film is pretty useless. In Rush Hour, a Chinese diplomat's 11-year-old daughter is kidnapped and held for ransom. Despite the efforts of the FBI to solve the case on their own, Chan, who plays an old friend of the diplomat and almost a godfather to the girl, comes in from Hong Kong and is determined to get her back. Cut to fist fights, martial arts, jumping, kicking, shooting and falling all over the place. End of film. What works incredibly well in Rush Hour is the inspired teaming of Chan with Chris Tucker (Fifth Element). With his falsetto voice and endearing rap-notronics, Tucker plays hilariously off the thoroughly unhip Chan. Their exchanges and banter keep this film moving when the fists are no longer flying and the action takes a breather. Chris Penn has a brief but welcome appearance, Tom Wilkinson is getting to be a grade-A bad man, and Elizabeth Pena is also very good as Tucker's "anti" love interest; in short, there are good performances built around the absolutely abysmal Chan. Normally this would be bad news, but somehow in this film it works. Kudos to director Brett Ratner for breathing life into a tiresome plot and even screenwriter Jim Kouf - certainly not attempting to win a Pulitzer - manages to wedge in a number of memorable moments of dialogue, especially between Chan and Tucker, to satisfy even the staunchest critic (i.e. myself). This film is forgettable after its thankfully brief 80-something minutes. Had it gone any longer, it may have begun to disintegrate. However, for a quick and dirty fix, Rush Hour does the job. |