RUSH HOUR Review by R.L. Strong
NEW LINE CINEMA PRESENTS AN ARTHUR SARKISSIAN AND ROGER BIRNBAUM PRESENTS A BRETT RATNER FILM JACKIE CHAN CHRIS TUCKER "RUSH HOUR" TOM WILKINSON WITH CHRIS PENN AND ELIZABETH PEQA CASTING BY MATHEW BARRY, C.S.A. AND NANCY GREEN-KEYS COSTUME DESIGNER SHAREN DAVIS MUSIC SUPERVISOR GARY JONES MUSIC BY LALO SCHIFRIN EDITED BY MARK HELFRICH, A.C.E. PRODUCTION DESIGNER ROBB WILSON KING DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY ADAM GREENBERG, A.S.C. CO-EXECUTIVE PRODUCER LEON DUDEVOIR EXECUTIVE PRODUCER JAY STERN CO-PRODUCER ART SCHAEFER PRODUCED BY ROGER BIRNBAUM ARTHUR SARKISSIAN AND JONATHAN CLICKMAN STORY BY ROSS LAMANNA SCREENPLAY BY JIM KOUF AND ROSS LAMANNA DIRECTED BY BRETT RATNER
He does his own stunts. He has broken almost every bone in his body. He has survived hardships that no one can imagine. But for the past 18 years, Jackie Chan has not survived the importation to America. While his previous films have been enjoyable (some are classics of the genre), their inherent foreignness has left Middle America with a lukewarm appreciation of the man and his abilities. Compiled with the fact that all of his previous films have been severely edited for western consumption, have left most viewers with only a glimpse of what Jackie Chan is.
Jackie has tried to enter the U.S. market before. Back in 1979 with the release of "The Big Brawl" which while amusing was a half baked concoction of ideas, that never really let Jackie's abilities shine through. Add to this, the embarrassing "Cannonball Run" films and you can pretty much appreciate why no one out side of the coasts knew who this funny looking Asian was. A pitiful attempt to mold Jackie into a 'Dirty Harry' character in the James Glickenhaus directed embarrassment "The Protector" did nothing here stateside, in fact almost becoming a direct to video release.
In 1996, New Line Cinema released "Rumble in the Bronx" nationwide. The film opened at # 1 in the box-office becoming the first dubbed in English foreign film in history to do so. It stayed on top long enough to make over $30 million. Jackie was now a star in the U.S. But there was still a problem. American studios still felt that his films were too foreign for the multiplexes in North Dakota and Wisconsin. So all of Jackie's subsequent releases have been truncated, reprocessed and re-imagined for the American Market. Now after all of this tampering and off-handed redesigning of who is called the modern day successor to Buster Keaton, we have New Line's latest release 'RUSH HOUR'.
"Rush Hour" starts off in Hong Kong on the eve of the British handover of the Island colony to mainland China. Detective Inspector Lee (Jackie Chan) busts a smuggling operation in the harbor, recovering millions of dollars worth of Chinese art and historical artifacts from the criminal mastermind Juntao. Detective Lee reports to his superior Consul Han (Tzi Ma) during a celebratory dinner in honor of his new position as American Consul to the U.S. for the new government. Upon arriving in America, Consul Han's daughter, Soo Yung (Julia Hsu), is kidnapped and held for ransom.
We cut to downtown Los Angeles where Detective James Carter (Chris Tucker) is undercover making a buy of illegal explosives. Unfortunately, everything goes wrong and Carter is on reprimand until the FBI request his aid in retaining Detective Inspector Lee who is on his way to Los Angeles to help his friend Consul Han and his unofficial goddaughter Soo Yung.
As the plot develops, it seems that the villain, Juntao is responsible for the kidnapping. The constant bickering and animosity between Carter and Lee creates more confusion than help, until the two men grudgingly decide to work together, outside of the official investigation.
The plot of "Rush Hour" is workable if not too demanding. There are a couple of surprises, but nothing that we haven't seen before. As written by Jim Kouf and Ross LaManna the plot moves along at a fast clip making for an enjoyable diversion. What makes the film work is the casting of Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker as polar opposites. Tucker's character is a voracious self promoter, always ready to spin his destructive procedures into positive ones by coning his way through reprimands. Jackie's, on the other hand is an honorable policeman, upholding his duty and his responsibility to both his title and his friends. The humor that develops through these situations is what makes 'Rush Hour' so enjoyable. Chris Tucker is from the same mold as Eddie Murphy in the '48 hours' films, fast talking and always ready to prove himself in a foolish attempt of machismo. It's the inclusion of Jackie Chan (who is reigned in here, not so much by the script but by insurance concerns), that brings this film up to a higher level. As the two characters conspire against each other, it's Jackie that takes center stage with his trade make fight choreography (absolutely some of the most startling and inventive fight scenes in an American film). A fight in a seedy pool hall is a tour de force of jay dropping amusement.
Unfortunately, Brett Ratner's direction is rather flatly handled. Everything is standard framing with nothing to enliven the action or emphasize the drama. In most cases the camera is locked down with little or no movement. The cinematography by Adam Greenberg (Terminator, Terminator 2) is acceptable in as much as this film is produced with the video release kept close at hand. Everything is framed within the center of the frame with very little moving off to the outer edges. This is the most maddening essence of the film and one of the damming situations that the video entertainment industry has left us with. Very few filmmakers now, film for the theatrical screen.
But all that aside, how does "Rush Hour" fit into the overi of Jackie Chan? Well to be honest, this is less a Jackie Chan film as it is a Chris Tucker film. But that being said, Jackie is anything but window dressing in the film. This is no where as unimpressive as 'The Big Brawl' or as insulting as "The Protector". Jackie's character while being a harder edge man than is usual in his films, still manages to apply his light hearted approach to action. Also, the handling of Jackie's accent and difficulty with the English language is used to remarkably humorous result (wait till you hear his rendition of the rock classic "WAR.. what's it good for"). There are some scenes of racial insensitivity, but those are in keeping with the stranger in a strange land essence of Jackie's character and Chris Tucker's loudmouth fast-talker. There is nothing here that is meanspirited or offensive in and of itself.
And Jackie does get two or three great scenes to show of his daring do, and since most Western audiences have yet to witness Jackie at his most intense (check out "POLICE STORY" or "DRAGON'S FOREVER") for some hair-raising action), "Rush Hour is a fine introduction to the man and his mania.
Despite it's short comings "Rush Hour" delivers a solid two hours of entertainment. While some of the language is harsh, this is much more friendly than any other buddy cop movie that's come down the pike in the last ten years.
On a scale of 5 stars. 'Rush Hour' rates 3 and one half. A fun and enjoyable piece of escapism that serves both stars well. Now.. when does Jackie get to direct?!
Copyright 1998 R.L. Strong. Nothing in this article may be reprinted, copied or altered without the expressed written permission of the author.
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews