Last Rush in Paris
So they fought crime in Los Angeles, they fought crime in Hong Kong so where else is there for Carter & Lee to fight crime, Paris. Yes here we have "Rush Hour 3" which once again sees Chris Tucker & Jackie Chan as the unlikely crime fighting buddies united as they try to discover who tried to assassinate an ambassador. The trouble is by this third movie it is all too familiar, we may have a storyline which sees the unlikely crime fighters heading to Paris but what we get is what we saw in the previous two movies. That means we get more of Jackie Chan being nimble whilst Chris Tucker is loud and funny and if that is all you want then you will enjoy "Rush Hour 3".
When Ambassador Han (Tzi Ma) gets shot whilst Lee (Jackie Chan - Shanghai Noon) is protecting him Lee gives chase only to come face to face with Kenji (Hiroyuki Sanada), a face from his past. He also comes face to face with Carter (Chris Tucker) again who having been busted down to a traffic cop hears the report on his radio and also gives chase. But whilst things are not great between Carter & Lee following an incident with Lee's girlfriend they find themselves working together when Han's daughter Soo Yung (Jingchu Zhang) asks them to track down the assassin before he strikes again which leads them to Paris and in deep trouble with the Triads.
Now "Rush Hour 3" basically follows a formula which was set out in the previous movie which means Carter & Lee work together, they go to a foreign country, do battle with some martial arts dudes and a deadly dragon lady as well as having to deal with someone who looks respectable but is in fact corrupt. As such whilst we get the story that sees Carter & Lee go after Kenji for trying to assassinate the ambassador which means they have a bunch of Triads to deal with it is purely a vehicle for the action and comedy. Even elements such as Lee's relationship with Kenji when they were children doesn't really add anything major to the story.
So what that means is that like in the previous movies we get a mix of action and comedy and whilst at times the action looks impressive thanks to some clever editing there is something simply enjoyable about watching Jackie Chan fight. In fact it does feel like Chan has slowed down a bit in this movie, which is understandable but still watching him slide under doors and across counters is all very entertaining. Unfortunately when it comes to the humour it is not so good and a lot of the jokes are really not that funny only made laughable thanks to Tucker's loudness.
And to be honest when it comes to the performances well we get from Tucker and Chan what we have seen before which isn't a bad thing. They actually work well as a double act and what is interesting is that Tucker looks more at home doing the action than he did nearly a decade earlier in the first movie and Chan's delivery of the humour has definitely got sharper. But as with all these movies it is all about Chan & Tucker so whilst the cast includes Max von Sydow, Hiroyuki Sanada, Noémie Lenoir and Yvan Attal they barely get a moment to shine.
What this all boils down to is that if you have watched the other "Rush Hour" movies for the action & comedy from Tucker & Chan then you will enjoy "Rush Hour 3". But if you want more, a different story and more variety then you are probably going to be disappointed because the storyline is purely a slim vehicle for action and laughs.
