“Rush Hour 3, AKA: Chris Tucker: The Movie”
“Rush Hour 3” is by-the-numbers summer action movie, but by the the time you’ve left and revisited the other prequels, you’ll soon realise just how shallow, empty and pointless this movie really is.
Caught up in development hell, script rewrites and complex salary negotiations, “Rush Hour 3” was always going to be a complex affair. The word was that Chris Tucker wanted $20 million and top-billing for his part.
It seems that his bargaining worked, because instead of a fun summer action movie, we got Chris Tucker yelling, screaming and zinging everyone in sight with his huge voice and overpowering everyone with his ego.
Yes, Chris Tucker in this movie was funny. But he was in almost 90% of the movie… and it seemed it was I was watching “Chris Tucker: The Movie”.
The plot of this movie is that the Ambassador of the first Rush Hour is shot by a sniper; leaving clues that ultimately lead to Paris – where Lee and Carter get mixed up with the Triads and Lee’s brother.
The plot of this movie is very similar to that of the first “Rush Hour” movie, indeed the Ambassador, his daughter and the whole secretive Triad Mafia all make an appearance in both Rush Hour and Rush Hour 3, indeed – the plot twist at the end (a plot twist that you can see coming a mile off) is even ripped off from the first movie.
Asides from the ripped-off plot and Tucker’s loud voice, Chan is left to do very little; there is none of the trademark Chan stunts, none of the flashy martial arts — Chan is Tucker’s “Kato”, a sidekick to Tucker’s movie; Asides from a few “freerunning” parts and a few fight sequences, Chan doesn’t do very much at all!
There is also a heck of a lot of CGI in this movie, the para-sailing stunt is so obviously CGI enhanced, and the fight on the structures of the Effiel Tower..
Maybe it was the budget, maybe the film was very rushed (it certainly felt that way), maybe the studio didn’t want high octane stunts and wanted it more “family friendly”… maybe Chan is getting very old and can’t do the same stunts that his fans expect from every movie he does — whatever the reason, the fact that Chan’s role is diminished and reduced is really depressing, annoying and frustrating – given that you’ve paid good movie to see a good action movie.
Sometimes I wonder if audiences will get bored of the family-safe action movies such as Die Hard 4.0 and Rush Hour 3… I hope that audiences will demand real action, and not this kind of template mess, which I feel does not add value to either action, or comedy movies.
Yes, “Rush Hour 3” is funny, there are some really good sequences, but asides from Tucker’s loud, egomaniac character; there is nothing to see in this movie, and I would advise you to watch it when it comes available to rent.
Overall: 3/10