One of the outtakes during the end credits of Rush Hour 2 was Chris Tucker remarking how the death of the villain meant that “he won’t be in Rush Hour 3.” At the time, the production of a third Rush Hour was incomprehensible, though not entirely unexpected. The thing was a cash cow, considering the relative indifference by the producers’ to show desire in commissioning a script that didn’t merely regurgitate the first film.



But perhaps a Rush Hour 3 needed to be made so that Chris Tucker would have something to do, because Rush Hour movies seem to be the only thing he gets out of bed to do now in days. In 1997, Tucker co-starred in three movies, which is the same number of movies he’s done in the last ten years: Rush Hours 1, 2 and 3.



Unimpressed is a word I frequently thought about while watching this latest outing for everybody’s favourite, pan-Pacific, mismatched, buddy cops. Jackie Chan’s Lee is forced to team-up again with Tucker’s Carter when an assassination attempt is made on Ambassador Han (Tzi Ma, from part one) while he’s giving evidence on the identity of the lethal Chinese triads to the World Court. So at about five minutes in, the movie is already hung on an exceptionally flimsy premise. Things go from staggeringly coincidental to completely inane when Lee and Carter’s search for the triads’ leader takes them to Paris, France of all places.



As to what Chinese mobsters are doing based in Paris, France is never explained, nor should the rational mind have expected one to begin with. The whole point, like the first two Rushes, is to take advantage of a fish out of water situation where ignorant stereotypes and lame cross-culture humour can be taken full advantage of. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, I happened to enjoy both the first and second Rush Hours quite a bit. So why am I being so hard on this one?



Frankly, because it’s lazy. Lazy like Chris Tucker lazy. All the jokes have been done and done better: from the borderline good taste racism to Carter’s hot shot machismo fronting to the “Do you understand the words that are coming out of mouth,” misunderstandings. And considering that Chan isn’t as young as he used to be (although he’s really, really fit for a man of the age of 52), the action set pieces don’t seen to have their usual pop and zip. Opening this a week after Bourne makes Rush look like Grumpy Old Men.



Director Brett Ratner keeps the show moving, which is great, because the last thing you want is an exaggeratedly long Rush Hour movie. I’m sure most fans will walk away entertained, but gone is any pretext that this movie is about anything more than seeing Chan do awesome stunts while Tucker gets to shoot his mouth off with one questionably improved line after the other.



Anyway, it’s a sure fire sign that the summer’s winding down when the movies fail to impress on any level. Rush Hour 3 is pure popcorn entertainment with little to no nutritional value. Get it while it’s hot.