Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker head for the City of Lights in the somewhat threadbare but sporadically exciting Rush Hour 3, the second sequel to director Brett Ratner's 1998 cop-buddy hit. Chan's Inspector Lee and Tucker's Detective Carter hop from Los Angeles to Paris in pursuit of a Chinese triad only to find a mixed reception, including a brutal warning from a French cop (Roman Polanski) and anti-American sentiments from a cab driver (Yvan Attal) who eventually becomes an important and funny ally. Lee and Carter, when not fighting their way out of rooms full of martial arts gangsters and crazed assassins (Sun Ming Ming), follow a trail to a beautiful woman (Noemie Lenoird) who literally carries a vital clue on her person. Lee also holds secret meetings with a United Nations authority (Max Von Sydow), but his personal struggles with a criminal mastermind (Hiroyuki Sanada)--who happens to be an important figure in his life—are at the heart of this movie.

Love it.

I love the "Rush Hour" movies... I can watch all three over and over again.

All the funny scenes are already in the trailer!

After watching this movie, I realized all the funny scenes are already in the trailer! The rest of the movie is boring. This is one of the worst film staring Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan.

It's still worth renting so that you can compare it with the other two installments.

No need to rush to see this one

Unfortunately, it seems that age is finally catching up with the leading man of the Rush Hour series. Martial arts action hero Jackie Chan takes a back seat to funny man Chris Tucker for most of the movie, but when he does get himself pumped up, his scenes are the ones that make this movie watchable.

Set in Los Angeles and Paris, Lee (Chan) and Carter (Tucker) find themselves in the middle of Triad business while trying to protect the Chinese Ambassador and his daughter. Soon all four are "marked for death" (nothing to do with the Steven Seagal movie, thank goodness) and are hot on the trail of the Shai Shen - someone who can reveal the names of the secretive Triad leadership.

The movie wends its weary way through encounters with assassins, goons and a Parisian Taxi cab driver, wiggles around burlesque dancers and car chases, and then winds up with a Grande Finale at the Eiffel Tower.

Watchable, but not wonderful, after this one the producers certainly won't be in a rush to give us Rush Hour 4.




Amanda Richards, December 1, 2007