After not appearing in a single film since 2001's Rush Hour 2, Chris Tucker makes his return in, yes you guessed it, Rush Hour 3. Jackie Chan returns too, along with director Brett Ratner in what the promotional posters are calling "There finest hour yet." They must have not seen the movie for themselves.
Chief Inspector Lee (Chan) and Detective James Carter (Tucker) are tasked to help take down the Chinese triads after an attempted assassination on Chinese Ambassador Han. Lee and Carter soon discover that a woman in Paris holds the key to finding the leaders of the triad's network.
Rush Hour 3's main problem is its very lousy script that never lets the leads do what they did so well in Rush Hour 1 and 2: make us laugh. Also the plot has no real substance whatsoever and is lazily pieced together during the 90 minute runtime.
For the most part Rush Hour 3 just isn't that funny with most of the jokes feeling forced and in places quite desperate; a scene involving a huge Chinese man giving a beating to our heroes is completely unnecessary and unfunny.
So can the action set pieces make up for the lack of laughs? Disappointingly they can't, with most of them not particularly exciting; the movie's finale in the Eiffel Tower does however provide some excitement; that is up until the CGI intervenes. Interestingly enough it is a non-action sequence that provides the best scene in the picture with our leads getting mixed-up in a song-and-dance number. Thus, providing a genuinely funny and stylish moment we can savor.
Despite the poor script, Tucker does the best with what he is given. Some people may just find him plain annoying, but I think he is very funny when he is on form. Here he does manage to pull off a few one-liners. Chan is as charming and likable as ever, still pulling off stunts with aplomb, as well as mixing his fighting skills with slapstick comedy.
Thankfully, the outtakes that we are treated too as the end credits roll are as much of a joy as they were in the previous installments. This time around though providing some much-needed belly laughs. One in particular finds Chan hilariously discussing his favorite scenes from dirty movies. Also the outtakes clearly show just how funny the duo can be with there improvising, mostly missing in the film itself.
Overall this is a disappointing threequel that should signal the end of this franchise. With X-Men: The Last Stand and now Rush Hour 3 to his name, Brett Ratner shouldn't be the go-to-guy for concluding sequels anymore.
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