Rush Hour 3 (North America 2007)

Welcome to Los Angeles a mere three years after the outing that was Rush Hour 2. Detective James Carter (Chris Tucker), is now a traffic cop and Detective Lee (Jackie Chan), is the personal bodyguard for Ambassador Han (Tzi Ma). The Ambassador is scheduled to speak at the World Criminal Court, and during the middle of his speech about the over-whelming presence of triads, he's shot by an assassin. Lee gives chase only to come face-to-face with Kenji (Hiroyuki Sanada), a man that Lee remembers from his past. Han survives the attack, but is in critical condition. His daughter Soo Young (Zhang Jingchu), wants Lee and Carter to seek vengeance and find out who's responsible for the attempt on her fathers life and why. Soo gives Lee an envelope that her father had requested her to deliver if anything were to happen to him, and it contains important information on the triads. While looking for clues, the duo run into French speaking Chinese assassins and find out they're marked for death. Leaving Soo in the care of the French Ambassador, Lee and Carter are off to Paris to get to the bottom of this triad mayhem.

I'm very depressed that Rush Hour 3 has to be my first Jackie Chan movie review for UTAI. I'm a huge fan of this man and have been in awe of his work for a very long time. When watching Rush Hour 3, the only thing I can think of is that Jackie Chan is like the friend you've known for years and you see him start a relationship with a woman named Hollywood. You see that your friend is happy, but you don't like, or approve of his choice what-so-ever yet you smile and wish him all the best. Why? Because he's simply your friend. I understand completely why Jackie has this partnership, but it's still a waste of his charm, charisma, and even his talent. Brett "Hackner" Ratner is still a clueless director after doing three of these movies. He has no idea how to handle film, let alone action. The story is ridiculous in every sense of the word. Yes...even for a summer popcorn movie. Even the Roman Polanski cameo was completely unmoving (I guess Jean Reno was busy). Chris Tucker is still there whining away with his borderline racist comments towards Jackie's character, but I guess it's OK when you're loud and hard to understand most of the time. Jackie's performance, again, seems very turned down, which I guess isn't hard when you're working opposite Chris Tucker. It's a chore to find anything to like about Rush Hour 3. There might be a chuckle here and there, but even if you're a fan of this series, you'll have a difficult time with this so-called "Rush". (Converter)