Review: Rush Hour (1998) A Review By: Ryan Davis
Jackie Chan has been in well over 60 movies, so what makes this buddy cop movie special? Not much. Sure it has some funny scenes, but they are much to spaced out to really hold your interest in what's going on during Rush Hour.
Jackie Chan plays Detective Inspector Lee, who is flown from Hong Kong to America, to assist in a kidnapping investigation. The missing kid is the daughter of Consul Han (Tzi Ma), a wealthy Chinese diplomat. The problem is the FBI doesn't want Lee messing up their investigation, so they get a cop from the Los Angeles Police Department to baby-sit Lee while he's in town.
That babysitter is the flamboyant, egotistical, and mildly amusing Detective James Carter (Chris Tucker). Carter is a loner and he doesn't like having people interfere with his investigations. He definitely doesn't like a baby- sitting assignment and decides to do some investigating without the FBI's permission, with the help of Lee.
Rush Hour's gimmick is far from original. It's just a buddy movie, with the usual "two unlikely friends" theme. Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan have pretty good screen chemistry, unfortunately the script fails to supply them with enough funny scenes to use it. When you add the predictable plot and mediocre directing, Tucker & Chan become the best thing about Rush Hour.
By now Chan is a master at comedy martial arts films, so he is just along for the ride. Chris Tucker gives the best performance here. Tucker, who was unbelievably irritating in "The Fifth Element" and "Friday", tones down his style and actually makes his character work.
Unless you're a huge martial arts fan, I don't see why you would want to see Rush Hour. As a comedy it fails to deliver enough laughs and as an action film it is nothing but karate rehash.
Grade: C
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