The first Rush Hour helped reinvigorate the buddy movie way back in 1998. It was a fun play on East meets West. Jackie Chan was on top of the world and Chris Tucker was a rising star. The second film, in 2001, continued the trend, making the story a bit more global and amping up the qualities that made the first one so enjoyable, and for the most part it worked.

Going by the developing Rush Hour formula it would seem to be a logical assumption that the third one would be just as much fun. After watching it, I have to wonder just where did they go wrong? By all accounts there is really no good reason why this shouldn't be good, or at the very least entertaining. No one will ever confuse the Rush Hour franchise with great art, but I have a feeling whatever legacy it wanted to leave is just a little bit tarnished with this third outing.

It is typical that any franchise that reaches a third film will begin to exhibit diminishing returns (there are exceptions to every rule, but by and large it seems to hold up). The diminishing returns reared its ugly head early and often in Rush Hour 3. More than anything else, I think that they waited way too long to make this movie. It has been six years since the second film was a huge hit (fifth biggest moneymaker of the year). The further away from the last outing, the less relevant any future films become and for a franchise like this, six years is a big ocean to cross.

Another impediment to success has to be Chris Tucker, himself. He is probably a nice guy, I have nothing against him, but most people seem to have a love/hate relationship with his screen presence. To some he is eminently annoying and others think he is hilarious. I used to like him, but since Rush Hour 2 he has done nothing on the big screen and the short and fickle memory of Hollywood seems to have moved on.

What else is wrong with the movie? It is just flat-out not good. I do not mean to sound blunt, but the story flounders and does not hold up to any type of close inspection. Plot threads are brought up and abandoned as our heroic duo careen wildly through the streets of Paris.

Initially, the plot has the dynamic duo (reunited by pure coincidence) tracking down the killer of Jackie's superior, Ambassador Han. Before long it translates into stopping the Triads in Paris. It just does not flow all that well. I probably could have overlooked this if the performances and action were fun, but even that failed to deliver.

Chris Tucker has not grown at all as a performer; in fact, he may have regressed. His onscreen persona consists primarily of yelling unfunny one-liners that land with a thud. He is loud, obnoxious, and just really annoying. Take, for example, the early scene in the dojo. It features Tucker at his worst, culminating with a riff on Abbott and Costello's classic "Who's on First" routine. As for Jackie Chan? I love Jackie Chan and he can still put it all out there. However, he just looks tired here, as if he really doesn't want to be there.