New job, new hair (shorter anyway, maybe I'm balding) new dogs, I'm back. Hopefully...
New job, new hair (shorter anyway, maybe I'm balding) new dogs, I'm back. Hopefully...
Member since:30.01.2001
Reviews:69
Members who trust:35
Rush Hour is a film that has finally seen the extraordinary Jackie Chan really crack Hollywood. After the direly acted, but awesomely choreographed efforts like Rumble In The Bronx, Mr. Nice Guy and First Strike, producers realised that what Chan needed was a quality talker alongside him to take away from Chan’s own language problems. Enter Chris Tucker, a motor mouth by any rights, and therefore the perfect foil for Chan.
The plot centres on the kidnapping in America of the daughter of the new Chinese diplomat by a mysterious crime syndicate. The FBI immediately takes charge but the Diplomat requests that one of his former detectives help. Not favourable to this, the FBI get LAPD cop James Carter (Tucker) to escort Detective Lee (Chan) around and generally keep him out of their way. Carter isn’t the biggest fan of this plan and decides to solve the case alone, with Lee tagging along.
So ensues a Lethal Weapon style film with the mismatched pair chasing around the city
trying to save the girl. Carter’s ability to out talk anyone, joined together with Chan’s awesome fighting style make for a plot with drama and comedy, with a good dollop of action thrown in for good measure.
Plot.
Standard. Not dissimilar to any of the other cop partnership movies like Lethal Weapon, Rush Hour’s plot was never designed to be its strongest point. The storyline is pretty standards stuff, kid is kidnapped, ransom demands are made and cops try to foil the plot with little help from the FBI. Seen it all before? Not like this, the action scenes here are unsurpassed for this kind of film. Jackie Chan has a mesmeric ability to design, choreograph and perform a fight scene. Each fight scene has been interspersed with some very funny moments and decent lines, mainly from Tucker, but it’s the stunts that will blow you away, Chan’s ability with his hands, feet and various other parts are amazing. He can make a simple fight look like a work of art, his stunts and abilities are both gravity defying and amazingly skilful, in a word, he is awesome.
The plot moves along quickly, starting briefly in Hong Kong and moving on to LA as Carter and Lee attempt to recover the kidnapped girl. The action scenes are amazingly high paced and the scenes in between them are fast due to Carter’s quick fire mouth. The dialogues helps the plot immensely, lots of good lines and fast-talk, something sorely missing from Chan’s other movies. He definitely needs a partner like this in films.
Acting
Jackie Chan is not really an actor in films like this, he is a visual effect. He may not have a great ability with English (Although it’s better than my Japanese) but his mastery of all things martial arty is nothing less than perfect. All his stunts, as ever, are his own and this adds to his performance. Jackie may never star in a serious Hollywood flick, but these are such fun he doesn’t need to. He demonstrates his comfort at having Tucker alongside him, Tucker takes away from Chan’s shortcomings, as they are totally opposite to each other. Tucker copes brilliantly with all the dialogue while Chan takes the plaudits for all the action scenes.
Tucker is like a machine, amazingly quick spoken with a real ability to deliver his lines. He seems like an unstoppable chatterbox, but with an immense ego and attitude to match. His delivery and screen presence are both great and he compliments Chan perfectly.
The other members of the cast do their job but this is clearly a film for Chan and Tucker. The support cast do the job perfectly and there are some surprisingly good performances but as I said, the film is clearly for the lead 2.
Effects.
A few explosions, a few chases, but the main effects come in the fight scenes. There are no flashy tricks like in the Matrix and Crouching Tiger... but what we do have is terrifically choreographed fight scenes with extremely good fighters as well as the irreplaceable Chan at the helm. His tricks (especially with the pool cue and the gun flip) are quite amazing and qualify as visual effects on their own.
Overall.
This is a real adrenaline rush of a film. It has a great set of action scenes and terrific script, as well as an excellent lead cast in Chan and Tucker. It may not be a really complex plot, but it’s a film that has an air of greatness, simply because it is so easy to watch.
It is both funny and full of action, the performances are great and the action scenes amazing, if you liked Lethal Weapon, Bad Boys or Matrix (for the fight scenes) you’ll love this, it isn’t the best film ever, but it is loads of fun.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Production Year: 1977 - Action/Adventure - Director: Clint Eastwood - Original Language: English - Classification: 18 years and over - Starring:Clint Eastwood, Sondra Locke, Pat Hingle, William Prince, Bill McKinney
Production Year: 1964 - Action/Adventure - Director: Cyril Endfield - Original Language: English - Classification: Parental Guidance - Starring:Stanley Baker, Jack Hawkins, Ulla Jacobsson, James Booth, Michael Caine, Nigel Green
Production Year: 2002 - Action/Adventure - Director: Vincenzo Natali - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring:Lucy Liu, David Hewlett, Anne Marie Scheffler, Joseph Scoren, Matthew Sharp, Jeremy Northam
The plot line may sound familiar: two mismatched cops are assigned as reluctant partners ... more
to solve a crime. Culturally they are complete opposites, and they quickly realise they can't stand each other. One (Jackie Chan) believes in doing things by the b...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
The plot line may sound familiar: two mismatched cops are assigned as reluctant partners ... more
to solve a crime. Culturally they are complete opposites, and they quickly realise they can't stand each other. One (Jackie Chan) believes in doing things by the b...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
International superstar Jackie Chan is teamed up with funny man Chris Tucker in this ... more
explosive thrill-a-minute adventure jam-packed with Chan's trademark daring martial arts stunts. Two cops from very different worlds must learn to trust each othe...
Postage & Packaging: £0.00 Availability: 3-5 working days
International superstar Jackie Chan is teamed up with funny man Chris Tucker in this ... more
explosive, thrill-a-minute adventure, jam-packed with Chan's trademark daring martial arts stunts.Two cops, from very different worlds, must learn to trust each other ...
Advantages: Great acting from Chris Tucker and excellent stunts from Jackie Chan Disadvantages: Not enough stunts, not the greatest plot, vague conclusion
Loughran 10.11.2008 ·
Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of RushHour 3 (DVD)
Are you the manufacturer / provider of Rush Hour (DVD)? Click here
![Rush Hour [DVD] [1998]](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/76772569.jpg "Rush Hour [DVD] [1998]")
Feb 28th, 2001
very helpful by (100%):
