This Movie Is About: the third installment of Detective Chris Carter (Chris Tucker) and his Asian brother from another mother, Inspector Lee (Jackie Chan). This time they're going to Paris to stop the Triads before they become bigger than ever. They get a tip of the Triad's secret leader Shia Shen. Once they get to Paris, that's when the fun starts as Carter and Lee get into their rhythm and start messing up everything they meet. One of those people is George (Yvan Attal) who becomes their taxi driver and a quick learner of the American ways. The two are constantly lost and things seem bleak especially with Lee's step-brother, Kenji (Hiroyuki Sanada) always trying to kill them. It's not until they meet Genevieve (Noemie Lenoir) do they get a sense of what's really going on and who or what Shia Shen really is.
You Should Watch This Movie Because: I remember Rush Hour to be hugely entertaining when it first came out. That was when Jackie Chan was doing all those crazy stunts and the world has never seen anything like it. That time, the black humor was just starting up as well so Tucker's rendition were like a breath of fresh air. Now that's it's been almost 10 years since the original came out, some might feel that the freshness has been lost and it just isn't funny anymore. Well, they're wrong. This film is still hugely entertaining if only just a little predictable. But seriously, no one really goes to see these movies for the story but just the fact that there is a story in there with a small theme of brotherhood and what it means to be brothers just gives it that little extra push for people to go watch it.
What's Hot: I have to admit that this series doesn't have a great track record it comes to picking hot female co-stars but this time they got it right in picking Noemie Lenoir for the role of Genevieve, a french exotic dancer that holds the key to Shia Shen. She's hot but at the same time vulnerable which is the dream isn't it? But seriously. These films have always been interesting because of the relationship between Lee and Carter and this time that relationship gets put to the test as Lee must choose between his evil brother and his not-so-evil brother. It's an interesting dynamic that gets played up through the film and comes to a nice end. The comedy is there and the stunts are there. Carter is more involved in the craziness and his high-pitched screaming is as hilarious as ever. All in all, everything you expect from this movie is in there and wrapped together nicely.
What's Not Hot: Again these films give us what we always wanted from the Rush Hour series which is fine but it doesn't go beyond that. In fact, this film is probably the least innovative of the three and it really sucks because I'm sure they had a lot of room to explore Paris and the relationship between Carter and Lee and also with Lee's past and maybe Carter's past. I thought they were going to do more with Carter's family and/or Lee's family but they didn't. Instead, they just stuck with what made the series popular back in the days and although it was still fun to watch, it would have been nice to have seen a bit more depth with these characters that haven't been thoroughly explored. You would think after three movies we would know something about these characters but we don't. A bit of insight is afforded to Lee with his brother Kenji but that's pretty much. The romantic subplot in this movie is probably the weakest out of the three as well as whatever build up to the romance was taken out and everything was secondary to the action and humor. It wasn't a good choice because it meant Genevieve's character was static when she was the most troubled character of all. I don't mean to change this film into a drama and a mystery but a little bit of how characters feel about what they're doing would have been nice.
Last Comments: Rush Hour 3 is everything you would expect from the series and they give you a lot more of it this time around. Carter and Lee are the characters you have grown to love and even though they don't give you any more insight into their every day lives or who they really are, it's forgivable in this kind of film. Even though the action and comedy are abundant in this film, I can't help but think how good have this film would have been if it was just given some time to breath in order to get some characterization in there. Just something for us to see where the characters are coming from and why they're doing what they're doing. It would have been nice to see an internal motivation accompanying that external motivation. If you just forget that there is no clear reason why these people are doing what they're doing, then you will enjoy this movie. If you need to get to know the characters and need to understand why they're doing what they're doing, then you might not like this movie that much.
Breaking It Down:
Story: 6.5 (Jeff Nathanson & Ross LaManna)
Direction: 7.8 (Brett Ratner)
Acting: 8.0
Cinematography: 7.5
Music/Sound: 6.2
Entertainment Value: 6.9 (not an average)
No comments:
Post a Comment