Rush Hour 3

Rush Hour 3
File:RH3.jpg
Directed by	Brett Ratner
Written by	Jeff Nathanson (Screenplay) Ross LaManna (Characters)
Produced by	Robert Birnbaum Andrew Z. Davis Jonathan Glickman Athur M. Sarkissian Jay Stern
Starring	Jackie Chan Chris Tucker Yvan Attal Tzi Ma Noémie Lenoir Hiroyuki Sanada Max von Sydow Jingchu Zhang Youki Kudoh Roman Polanski
Cinematography	J. Michael Muro
Edited by	Mark Helfrich Billy Weber Don Zimmerman
Music by	Lalo Schifrin
Distributed by	New Line Cinema Entertainment Film Distributors
Release dates	August 9, 2007 August 10, 2007 August 27, 2007 October 19, 2007
Running time	91 min.
Country	United States
Languages	English French Mandarin Japanese
Budget	$140 million
Box office	$255,045,896

Rush Hour 3 is a 2007 film and the third installment in the martial arts/action-comedy Rush Hour franchise starring Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker that began with the 1998 film Rush Hour and continued with the first sequel Rush Hour 2 in 2001. The film was officially announced on May 7, 2006, and filming began on July 4, 2006. The film is set in Paris, Los Angeles, and Hong Kong. Rush Hour 3 was released on August 10, 2007, in Canada, the US, and UK.

Academy Award-winning film director Roman Polanski co-stars as a French police official involved in (Chan and Tucker's characters) Lee and Carter's case. Tzi Ma reprises his role as Ambassador Han, Lee's boss and friend who appeared in the first installment. This film has received a M rating by the Office of Film and Literature Classification (Australia) and a PG-13 rating by the MPAA for "sequences of action violence, sexual content, nudity and language".

The film was not screened in Chinese theaters in 2007 due to an "overabundance" of imported films released that year, an import official stated (China only allows 20 imported films to be released nationwide in theaters each year).

Plot

Three years after the end of Rush Hour 2, James Carter is no longer a detective, but a traffic cop on the streets of Los Angeles. Lee is now the bodyguard for his friend Ambassador Han, the former Consul from the first film. Lee is still upset with Carter about an incident in New York City when Carter accidentally and non-fatally shot Lee's then-girlfriend in the neck, Secret Service agent Isabella Molina.

During the World Criminal Court discussions, as the Ambassador addresses the importance to fight the Triad, he announces that he knows the identity of the Triad leadership known as the Shy Shen. Suddenly, Han takes a bullet in the shoulder, disrupting the conference. Lee pursues the assassin and corners him, discovering that the assassin is his "brother" Kenji. When Lee hesitates to shoot Kenji, Carter shows up driving towards the two and accidentally nearly runs Lee over, allowing Kenji to escape.

In the hospital, Lee learns that Han will make a full recovery. Han's daughter, Soo Yung (Zhang Jingchu), now grown up, arrives and makes Lee and Carter promise to capture the one behind the shooting. She then informs Lee and Carter that her father gave her an envelope which contains important information regarding the Triad, and that the envelope is in her locker at the martial arts studio where she works. Lee and Carter make their way to the martial arts studio where they battle a giant, (Sun Ming Ming), but find out that a gang of armed men had already arrived and taken the contents from the locker. Lee and Carter realize that Soo Yung and Han are in danger and rush back to the hospital.

Once the two reach the hospital, a gang of assassins arrive to kill Soo Yung and Han. Lee and Carter manage to defeat them, with the help of Soo Yung, and interrogate the leader of the assassin squad. Much to Lee and Carter's surprise, the Asian assassin only speaks French. With the help of a resident nun, Sister Agnes (Dana Ivey), in translation, they find out that they are marked for death by the Triad along with Soo Yung and Han. For her protection, they take her to the French Embassy and leave her under the care of Reynard, the French ambassador. When a car bomb detonates, nearly killing Reynard and Soo Yung, Lee and Carter decide to go to Paris to investigate.

In Paris, (after getting a painful cavity search from a Parisian commissioner, played by Polanski) Lee and Carter meet up with George, a taxi driver. George refuses to drive Carter, saying that Americans make him sick, as they are "the most violent people on Earth"—to which Carter replies by forcing George, at gunpoint, to drive to a Triad hideout disguised as a gentleman's club. There Lee fights off a Triad assassin named Jasmine (Youki Kudoh); meanwhile, Carter meets a beautiful woman named Geneviève (Noémie Lenoir). However, Lee and Carter are both forced out of the club and are captured by the Triads. Lee and Carter manage to escape, but then have a falling out concerning Lee's relationship with Kenji. Shortly after Carter storms out, Reynard appears and tells Lee that Han's informant knows where Shy Shen is. The informant turns out to be Geneviève, and both Lee and Carter end up looking for her.

After the two have encountered Geneviève they save her from an assassination attempt by the Triads and flee to their hotel room. However, they are attacked again by Jasmine and decide to hide out with George, who now has fostered a great appreciation for the United States. Lee and Carter learn that Geneviève not only knows where the list is, she is the list. The names of the thirteen Triad leaders have been tattooed on the back of her head, as per tradition, and Genevieve explains that she will be decapitated and buried if the Triads capture her. When Lee and Carter bring Geneviève to Reynard, he reveals that he has been working with the Triads all along. Kenji calls and informs Lee that he has captured Soo Yung and that he would like to exchange Soo Yung for Geneviève.

Lee arrives at the exchange point, the Jules Verne Restaurant in the Eiffel Tower, with Carter, disguised as Geneviève. During a sword fight, Lee and Kenji fall off the tower and get caught in a safety net. Kenji's sword cuts the safety net open and it collapses, leaving both men hanging on for dear life. Lee then grabs Kenji's arm, intending to save his life. Kenji then willingly lets go of Lee and falls to his death, saving Lee's life. Meanwhile, Carter single-handedly defeats the rest of the Triad henchmen, unwittingly kills Jasmine, and saves Soo Yung. As they send Soo Yung down the elevator, more Triads arrive. In order to escape, Lee and Carter use a French flag as a makeshift parachute and float to safety. However, they are confronted by Reynard, who is holding Geneviève hostage and threatening to kill her and frame Lee and Carter for her murder. However, George, having followed Lee and Carter, manages to shoot Reynard and declares "Case Closed". The police suddenly arrive, with the commissioner from earlier gloating and trying to get undeserved credit. After giving the commissioner a team punch to the face, Lee and Carter leave the scene dancing to War.

Cast

• Jackie Chan as Chief Inspector Lee
• Chris Tucker as Detective James Carter
• Noémie Lenoir as Genviève
• Yvan Attal as George
• Tzi Ma as Ambassador Han
• Zhang Jingchu as Soo Yung
• Hiroyuki Sanada as Kenji
• Max von Sydow as Reynard
• Youki Kudoh as Dragon Lady
• Roman Polanski as Detective Revi
• Mia Tyler as The "Fat" handcuffed girl
• Philip Baker Hall as Captain William Diel (Uncredited)
• Sarah Shahi as The handcuffed girl whose family 'owns half of Rodeo Drive' (uncredited)

Reaction

Critical reception

As of February 20, 2008, the film had earned a "44" at Metacritic, indicating "mixed or average reviews".. On Rotten Tomatoes the film had a score of 20% based on 147 reviews (29 fresh, 118 rotten). Christopher Tookey of The Daily Mail said "Infecting this third movie is an extra, deeply unpleasant level of racism that we haven't seen before in the series." Carrie Rickey of the Philadelphia Inquirer gave the film two-and-a-half stars out of four and said "by no means is it a great movie, but it is great slapstick fun, one of summer's guilty pleasures." Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film two stars and said "once you realize it's only going to be so good, you settle back and enjoy that modest degree of goodness, which is at least not badness, and besides, if you're watching Rush Hour 3, you obviously didn't have anything better to do, anyway." James Berardinelli of ReelViews gave the film one-and-a-half stars out of four, and said the movie was dull, uninspired and redundant. Desson Thomson of The Washington Post said "at the risk of eternal damnation on the Internet, I admit to laughing at — even feeling momentarily touched by — Rush Hour 3." Many critics enjoyed the addition of the new character George, as well as the chemistry between Chan and Tucker.

Box office and business

Rush Hour 3 was produced on a budget estimated at $140 million. Reportedly, Chris Tucker was paid $25 million plus 20% of the back-end gross, Jackie Chan was paid $15 million plus 15% of the back-end gross, and Brett Ratner was paid at least $7,500,000.

Savaged by North American critics, it opened on August 10, 2007 and grossed $49,100,158 in its first three days. Rush Hour 3's total North American gross was $140,125,968, far below the box office take of Rush Hour 2 and slightly behind even the box office of the original. The gross was still strong, particularly considering the six-year gap between the second and third franchise installments. Noted Bradon Gray of boxofficemojo.com:

Rush Hour 3 was marketed as just another Rush Hour picture, in part because the movie itself is a slight romp, and lacked the event-style build-up that Rush Hour 2 had. What's more, Chan hasn't been on American screens for three years, while Tucker's last movie was Rush Hour 2. A repetitious entry in a series without a major new hook doesn't quite cut it after a six-year wait if the intent is to build or retain an audience. That Rush Hour 3 had a sizable debut is a credit to the good will generated by the first two pictures.

Worldwide, Rush Hour 3 grossed $255,045,928.

The film has been phenomenally popular as a DVD rental in North America, grossing an exceptional $73.83 million as of March 2, 2008.

Sequel

Because of the film's box-office success, director Brett Ratner and writer Jeff Nathanson are currently considering the production of a fourth installment, Rush Hour 4. In the DVD audio commentary for Rush Hour 3, Brett Ratner jokes that the fourth Rush Hour film could be released in either 2010 or 2012. Ratner and Nathanson are exploring many concepts, including the use of the motion capture technique for the possible sequel and various different film projects with Chan and Tucker. It has been reported that the fourth film may be set in Moscow.

Blu-ray Disc & DVD Release

The film was released on December 23, 2007, on standard DVD. As of March 30th, 2008, the film has made $80.75 million in DVD/Home Video rentals, making it the top rental of 2007.

See also

• Jackie Chan filmography

External links

• Jackie Chan Fansite
• Jackie Chan Biography
• jackie Chan film
• Official Website
• Official Trailer
• Rush Hour 3 at IMDb
• Rush Hour 3 at Rotten Tomatoes
• Rush Hour 3 at Metacritic
• Rush Hour 3 at Box Office Mojo
• Review At Famoso Magazine
• Official MySpace page