Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Movie Review: Rush Hour 3

By Todd Maternowski

Rush Hour 3

The unlikely cop duo, continue their unique brand of crime-fighting and high-kicking comedy. This time around, LAPD Detective James Carter and Chinese Chief Inspector Lee must travel to Paris to battle a wing of the Chinese organized crime family, the Triads.

Source: Cinema Source

• Showtimes and more on Rush Hour 3

In this, the Summer of Threes, most every big-budget Hollywood sequel has been roundly disappointing. Spiderman 3, Shrek 3, Harry Potter 5, Die Hard 4, Ocean's Eleven 3, Bratz 1, even the third Pirates of the Caribbean ranged from moderately disappointing to hideously awful. So when I started seeing mild and unfunny previews for Rush Hour 3, I was prepared to avoid it entirely, or see it at the Dollar Movies. This, despite enjoying the first two Jackie Chan/Chris Tucker buddy-cop movies enormously: while neither was exactly F is for Fake, both movies were enjoyably entertaining spectacles, the rare combination of original action sequences with well-timed humor. The previews for RH3 looked more like two aging stars cashing in on previous cinematic accomplishments to pay for another wing on their third or fourth mansions.

Fortunately, despite some obvious deficiencies, Rush Hour 3 turns out to be perhaps the most enjoyable movie of the three. With respect to Superbad, coming out next week, Rush Hour 3 was easily the funniest movie of the summer.

When asked about how many future sequels they would enjoy doing, Chan and Tucker said "This many."

Probably as a result of Jackie Chan's increasing age (he is now a spry 53 years of age), the franchise seems to have mostly abandoned the dynamic action pieces that defined the first two movies, replacing them with the sharp-edged comic stylings of Chris Tucker. Small wonder Tucker held out on the making of this film until he got his $20 million -- his character may not be a rocket scientist, but Tucker clearly knows his marketability and plays it up in every scene, to great effect.

Sure, there are a couple of action scenes, but nothing that would even approach more serious-minded fare such as the ridiculous stunts in the Bourne Ultimatum or even any one of Jackie's earlier films. Some standard-issue car-chased-by-motorcycle scenes, an uninspired kung fu-in-a-crowded-hotel-room sequences, and a mostly unbelievable Big Boss Battle on the steel beams of the Effiel Tower no longer serve as the driving force behind the film, but rather as excuses for more comic opportunities (in the above cases, the comedy comes from a French cab driver, amputated-groin humor, and Chris Tucker screaming like a little girl). Despite a few novel stunts by Chan, most of the stunt-work and action scenes seem like filler in-between jokes -- cinematic disaster for a Die Hard or Terminator 3, but for a comedy, that's not necessarily a bad thing.

Charlemagne gave this film four out of five baguettes

The comedy is the thing: from a terrific interrogation scene involving a French nun, to an anti-American French cab driver's sudden shift in thinking, this is a comedy that actually makes people laugh out loud.Of course, I realize that most reviewers did not find the movie funny in the least. Of course, film reviewers are notoriously bad at understanding comedy: astute readers should know that when the American Film Institute ranked it's Top 100 Funniest Movies of All Time, not a single movie from the 1990s made the Top 25, the top two comedies of all time centered around cross-dressing males and the #3 spot went to a movie in which the entire world dies in a flesh-melting armageddon of unholy hellfire. So take your favorite critic's take on comedies with a grain of salt -- you may be trusting the opinion of someone who, for dark and unfathomable reasons, seriously thinks that Annie Hall is funnier than a guy you know slipping on a banana peel.

The movie, of course, has many faults: for example, there is a mysterious, never-explained backstory involving Jackie Chan's fruitless attempt to get laid by the heroine of the second film --except that she gets shot in the neck by Tucker and has to work at the Pollo Loco? Hopefully this gets fleshed out a little more in the director's cut. Also, seemingly pointless cameos by cardboard cutout villains Max Von Sydow and Hiroyuki Sanada (for once, can we have a villain who had a terrific childhood full of love, attention and a two-parent home?) don't fare too well. And of course, there are massive holes in the plot that are best left ignored --if you're worried about plot inconsistencies in a summer action comedy, you probably need to stop watching movies and start hanging out with real humans, the kind that have mass and take up space.

Finally, remember to stay for the out-takes. So few movies do this anymore, and even when they're not all that amusing (as in this case), hilarious out-takes are still an essential part of an enjoyable cinematic experience --are you listening, future makers of Schindler's List 2??

Rush Hour 3 may not be for everyone, but as an hour and a half of Laff Riot entertainment, it does its job extremely well.

Related stories

• New on DVD: Rush Hour 3, Eastern Promises and The Heartbreak Kid (Dec. 26, 2007)

See more stories in:

• Arts > Movies / Film > Mainstream Movies

Comments

John Meyer Staff

Not to play into anyone's preconceived notions of film critic sensibilities, but I do, in fact, think Annie Hall is funnier than a guy slipping on a banana peel. (SIGH)

He may have finely-honed comic sensibilities now, but, man, I really miss the stunt-oriented Jackie Chan of yore (Drunken Master, Project A, etc.) - those were the days (and the films).

And talk about your out-takes! What used to be both essential and cringe-inducing were the bloopers (played after the end credits) documenting his failed stunts, such as the one in Armour of God II: Operation Condor where he miscalculates a landing and ends up breaking his back on a rock wall. Oh, man - it's like Ninja Warrior without the foam padding.

1 year, 3 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

April Powell Staff

I can honestly say that I never expected to see a Jackie Chan/Chris Tucker buddy cop film compared to an obscure, Orson Welles pseudo-docmentary. Interesting.

1 year, 3 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

Todd Maternowski Staff

I liked Annie Hall, but there is no way it's funnier than seeing a guy slip on a banana peel, when it comes to belly laughing. Especially if it's someone you know.

I remmeber that Project A II out-take very well, considering it almost killed him. Weird, too, considering it wasn't a flashy stunt.... you'd think jumping onto a hot-air balloon in mid-air, and climb down the sides into the basket would be much more dangerous.

1 year, 3 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

Pavel Lishin Verified

"Chris Tucker screaming like a little girl" <-- I'm pretty sure that him screaming like a little girl comprises at least 20% of his total on-screen time, ever, anywhere, in any movie.

1 year, 3 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )