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Just posted a review of Rush Hour 3, reproduced below.
Rush Hour 3
Many are tempted to think of the Rush Hour franchise as "buddy" movies. You know the type: two wildly different personalities come together and, despite fighting all the time, realize they compliment one another and become friends...usually solving a crime in the process. It's a tried-and-true sub genre, and it's always a good time if done even semi-competently.
As the series progresses, however, we can see that these movies aren't straight-up buddy pictures. Yes, Detective James Carter (Chris Tucker) and Chief Inspector Lee (Jackie Chan) are friends. And yes, they do solve crimes together. But in every film, Tucker's Carter calls Chan's Lee for help, and then complains about how long it takes for Lee to save his life.
Chan, you see, is the straight man, and Tucker is his comedic foil. Much of the series' comedy relies on Carter's casual attitude towards serious situations. Witness a scene near the end of the film where Carter, having successfully disabled several opponents, starts dancing and singing, before realizing that someone else is still in danger.
But of course, none of this matters, because the franchise is all about Chan doing outrageous stunts, Tucker acting outrageous, and the two of them briefly switching roles now and then just to mix things up. And this time, it's happening in Paris. Why? Why not?
They've got their own formula down to a tee, of course, though Rush Hour 3 never feels completely fluid. It stops and starts whenever they switch locations, and it's pretty easy to figure out when a fight is coming (or ending). There's an instance in which a flag falls on top of Chan and an opponent, and everyone in the theater can probably guess that the flag will become a fighting prop for the next couple minutes.
Tucker's Carter -- already a parody of himself in the first Rush Hour -- has become an outright caricature by the third. In the first film, he was a goofy, but solid cop, and his unorthodox style got results at times when Lee's more cautious approach failed. There was always a method to Carter's madness; but now, madness is the entire point.
Still, as episodic as the film's setups and gags can feel, there's a manic energy and outrageousness to them that's almost impossible not to like. Scenes with Sun Ming Ming (one of the world's tallest men), a bilingual nun, and an Oriental take on Abbott & Costello stand out as particularly fun and inventive. None of this makes Rush Hour 3 an especially good movie; just a reasonably enjoyable one.
The movie's sporadic attempts at genuine drama are not completely inept, but are so half-hearted that they don't do the movie any good.
I was originally planning on writing about how startlingly abrupt and tacked-on the ending felt, but I realized that, for all the Rush Hour films, the outtakes are the real ending. This is a series that was pretty absurd to begin with, and got even more absurd as it went on. It's a movie that makes no attempt to hide the fact that it's a movie, and doesn't mind the audience knowing it, too.
Many are tempted to think of the Rush Hour franchise as "buddy" movies. You know the type: two wildly different personalities come together and, despite fighting all the time, realize they compliment one another and become friends...usually solving a crime in the process. It's a tried-and-true sub genre, and it's always a good time if done even semi-competently.
As the series progresses, however, we can see that these movies aren't straight-up buddy pictures. Yes, Detective James Carter (Chris Tucker) and Chief Inspector Lee (Jackie Chan) are friends. And yes, they do solve crimes together. But in every film, Tucker's Carter calls Chan's Lee for help, and then complains about how long it takes for Lee to save his life.
Chan, you see, is the straight man, and Tucker is his comedic foil. Much of the series' comedy relies on Carter's casual attitude towards serious situations. Witness a scene near the end of the film where Carter, having successfully disabled several opponents, starts dancing and singing, before realizing that someone else is still in danger.
But of course, none of this matters, because the franchise is all about Chan doing outrageous stunts, Tucker acting outrageous, and the two of them briefly switching roles now and then just to mix things up. And this time, it's happening in Paris. Why? Why not?
They've got their own formula down to a tee, of course, though Rush Hour 3 never feels completely fluid. It stops and starts whenever they switch locations, and it's pretty easy to figure out when a fight is coming (or ending). There's an instance in which a flag falls on top of Chan and an opponent, and everyone in the theater can probably guess that the flag will become a fighting prop for the next couple minutes.
Tucker's Carter -- already a parody of himself in the first Rush Hour -- has become an outright caricature by the third. In the first film, he was a goofy, but solid cop, and his unorthodox style got results at times when Lee's more cautious approach failed. There was always a method to Carter's madness; but now, madness is the entire point.
Still, as episodic as the film's setups and gags can feel, there's a manic energy and outrageousness to them that's almost impossible not to like. Scenes with Sun Ming Ming (one of the world's tallest men), a bilingual nun, and an Oriental take on Abbott & Costello stand out as particularly fun and inventive. None of this makes Rush Hour 3 an especially good movie; just a reasonably enjoyable one.
The movie's sporadic attempts at genuine drama are not completely inept, but are so half-hearted that they don't do the movie any good.
I was originally planning on writing about how startlingly abrupt and tacked-on the ending felt, but I realized that, for all the Rush Hour films, the outtakes are the real ending. This is a series that was pretty absurd to begin with, and got even more absurd as it went on. It's a movie that makes no attempt to hide the fact that it's a movie, and doesn't mind the audience knowing it, too.
Last edited by Yoda; 08-14-07 at 01:28 AM.
Reason: Fixed a typo, and a minor edit.
Oh well, Superbad comes out Friday.
