OK, so, I tend to write these reviews as I see things, so I am sure it may come as a surprise to some that, no, I had not seen Rush Hour before in its entirety. Heck, I am not even sure I saw it at all. And for this, I have a good explanation. While I do like Jackie Chan and his work quite a bit, I am not even slightly a fan of Chris Tucker’s. My brother insisted once upon a time that I watch the movie Friday as it was in his view very funny. I watched it and was largely unamused, mostly because of Tucker. And the less said about my thoughts on the overall oddity that is The Fifth Element, then the happier I will be.
So, the question really was whether or not my liking of Chan would override my distaste for Tucker’s comedic stylings.
Hong Kong detective Inspector Lee (Chan) has been doing his best to bring in a treacherous crime lord known only as Juntao, and he may have finally taken down the mystery man’s organization just as Lee’s old superior Solon Han (Tzi Ma) is leaving to take a new position in the Los Angeles consulate the last night before the English leave Hong Kong. Lee had bonded quite a bit over martial arts lessons with Han’s daughter Soo-Yung Han (Julia Hsu), giving her a necklace as a going away present. Not long after Han’s relocation, criminals from Juntao’s gang kidnap the girl. He wants Lee to investigate. The FBI would rather not have Lee involved, but they find the best way to keep Lee busy is to pair him with an LAPD officer.
It just so happens that maverick detective James Carter (Tucker) has a habit of annoying everyone and does not have a partner. His own superiors don’t really want to help the FBI as it is, but they have no objection with getting rid of Carter for a little while. Carter is a fast-talking wiseass who thinks he knows best. Lee is a dedicated, often quiet man who is quick on his feet. Can these two work together to solve the kidnapping and find the real Juntao?
Side note: there’s a certain actor in the movie that doesn’t seem to do much in the opening scenes, but I felt for sure he was up to no good just because of who was playing the guy. That is all I am going to say about that.
As for the rest of the movie, it’s rather average. Tucker’s antics didn’t do much for me, and a lot of the humor felt really dated in certain ways. Having Chan try to speak in Tucker’s street slang (involving a racial slur in one scene) or sing Motown isn’t my general idea of funny. That said, Chan’s usual acrobatics is quite entertaining, but there’s something not quite right about it here. Possibly due to Chan’s own aging (he can’t quite be as spry as he was when he got started) to say nothing of the fact that director Brett Ratner isn’t on the same level as Chan himself was for filming such scenes, it just isn’t as fun as I have seen in other places. Factor in as well a rather rote plot and the need to give Tucker at least equal screen time, and this was just never going to work all that well for me.
Grade: C
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