After a wait of 6 years Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan return for the Final Chapter in the Rush Hour series. Rush Hour 3 marks Chris Tucker first movie in 6 years and he is still in prime form which is great news for those of us that were hoping that Chris had NOT lost his comedic touch but on a negative note Tucker is not capable of much else. Rush Hour 3 is nearly a copy cat of the first 2 films from the standpoint of humor and plot. I was really hoping Rush Hour 3 would take some aspects seriously. It would have been nice if the “Danger” was real in the movie with Carter and Lee seriously fearing for there lives instead of running around like chickens without a head.

Rush Hour 3 begins with Carter (Tucker) directing traffic (via dancing and singing) in downtown LA as he has been demoted for his usual outrageous behavior. Lee is escorting his longtime friend Ambassador Han (from Rush Hour 1) to a conference with world leaders to discuss the continuing threat the Triads pose worldwide. During his speech at the conference the Ambassador is shot and Lee pursues the sniper to discover the shooter is his brother (Kenji played by Hiroyuki Sanada). From this point forward Lee’s character is weak and pathetic. He allows Kenji to get away instead of shooting him in the leg or arm. We understand why he cannot kill his brother, but to let him get away without any kind of physical confrontation makes no sense at all and proves to be very irritating. During Lee’s verbal exchange with Kenji, Carter shows up after hearing about Han being shot on the police radio, complicating matters and also providing much needed “humor”.

Chris Tucker is the saving grace of the movie and he is the ONLY (and the French cabbie – get to that in a sec) reason to see Rush Hour 3. From the opening scene Tucker is in full form with his constant wise cracks, jokes and adolescent behavior. The humor in Rush Hour 3 is the same as it’s predecessors with racial and sexual innuendo running afoul at every turn. Jackie Chan’s age is really starting to show as we hardly see any of the acrobatic improv martial arts that have made Chan famous the world over. During some scenes it is very obvious that blue screens are utilized as Chan is probably no longer in condition to perform all of his own stunts which makes me wish Rush Hour 3 had completed production 4 or 5 years ago instead of earlier this year.

Unfortunately the plot in Rush Hour 3 is “barely” passable as a plot. Han and Varden Reynard (played by Max Von Sydow) believe that the names of the 13 elected Triad leaders is on a secret list and if the list is found, could bring down the Triad organization. The premise of the plot is decent but the plot and screenplay are executed with pure incompetence. One example is when Han is under armed police guard in the hospital after the attempt on his life. Carter and Lee return to the Hospital to find the police guards gone because they were “called away” and “no one” left to protect him and his daughter Soo Yung (who returns from Rush Hour 1). Then shortly after (of course) Triads show up to kill Han and his daughter (you see this coming a mile and a half away). Talk about predictability and stupidity. Were we born yesterday? Apparently so!

Following the plot is simple and completely insulting at the same time as the plot moves along like a Saturday morning cartoon. It is pretty sad when we the audience knows Carter and Lee are headed to Paris “way” before Carter and Lee realize they are headed to Paris. Once in Paris, things continue to get worse from a storytelling aspect. Yet another example is when an assassin is dispatched to kill Lee. We have no idea who she is (or where she came from) and what her connection to the Triads is. All we know is that she is called “Dragon Lady”, nothing more, nothing less and tries to kill Lee. Then to make matters worse, Lee is determined to find some good in his rotten Triad brother giving him chance after chance including saving Kenji’s life in one scene after Kenji repeatedly tried to kill him and Carter. Brother or No Brother, you try to kill me and “it is on like Donkey Kong”. Outside of Chris Tuckers hilarious performance, Yvan Attal who plays the Paris cabbie that Carter and Chan use during a getaway is funny. During the chase Carter tells him to act like an American spy and he takes it literally suddenly driving like a “pro”. In essence Rush Hour 3 rushes through 90 minutes as if the movie were the 100 yard dash with Chris Tucker in the lead cracking jokes all the way leaving Chan and the rest of the cast to stumble across the finish-line. Brett Ratner should be ashamed of himself for not raising in this farewell to the series.

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