As expected, buddy-cop odd couple Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker provide a string of comical misadventures in Rush Hour 3. The big surprise? It's actually somewhat entertaining
Super stuntman Jackie Chan and super mouthpiece Chris Tucker reprise their roles as Inspector Lee and Detective Carter, respectively. Six years have passed since their last adventure took place, and as the film begins, it seems that the odd couple are no longer the best of friends. The explanation provided for this makes little to no sense, unless you remember the plot details of Rush Hour 2. And if you do, then you need to get out more, or develop better taste in movies.
Though it starts off cleverly with Carter directing stalled traffic, the action quickly begins with an assassination attempt and subsequent street chase. Soon enough, Carter and Lee are back on each other’s good sides, and sent to gay Paris. Here, they encounter an American-hating taxi driver, an Asian escort with deadly skills, some Serge Gainsbourg-soundtracked cabaret dancers and all manner of baddies to beat up.
The storyline that connects this cast of characters is fairly stupid, but that’s easily forgivable when the fight scenes are this fun. Chan can still spin, scramble and contort and shows off his agility and abilities in a series of increasingly intense escapades. Tucker is here purely to provide the comic relief, and though 90 per cent of his humour falls back on sex or racial stereotypes, at least he takes aim at every colour in the spectrum.
More than a few scenes are clunkers, like the tired “who’s on first” shtick at the martial arts school, but Tucker’s one-liners come so rapidly that you hardly have time to groan. His strategy seems to come from the “cast a wide net” school of comedy, sending out an endless stream of jokes until one of them inevitably catches a laugh. Still, the guy hasn’t made anything but these three Rush Hour movies since 1998, so at least he knows how supply and demand works.
The film’s final showdown, which takes place both inside and outside the Eiffel Tower, stretches disbelief to the point of no return before getting even more ludicrous. Nonetheless, that’s what movies like this are for, and Carter and Lee are still capable of providing a rush.
