.
Rush Hour 3" reminds us that Tucker is an utterly strange entertainment phenomenon: He exists only in the world
of these movies. He''s done virtually nothing else since the first one came out in 1998 and you miss the instrument that is his voice. It''s like the zither or the theremin; you want to get close enough to hear how he makes that sound. For this sequel, Tucker gets to sing a lot more. He does Prince''s "Do Me, Baby" and "The Star-Spangled Banner". This third pointless movie in an action/comedy franchise that defines mediocrity doesn''t even try to disguise the fact that its existence is a money-grab. Aside from some amusing scenes with Chris Tucker and a nice déjà vu dance routine to "War" performed by Tucker and Jackie Chan, The wafer-thin plot has Chief Inspector Lee (Jackie Chan) protecting a Chinese diplomat during his stay in Los Angeles. He has top-secret information about the Triad crime syndicate but, before he can divulge it, he is shot. Lee reunited with his former partner, Detective James Carter (Chris Tucker), vows to the consul''s daughter, Soo Yung (Zhang Jingchu), that he will find the man who attacked her father. To do this, Lee and Carter must pursue Triad assassin Kenji (Hiroyuki Sanada) to Paris, where they are aided by an anti-American cab driver named George (Yvan Attal), who discovers that he has a taste for car chases and gunplay. In the opening scene, Chris Tucker, dressed in a police uniform, stands in the middle of a Los Angeles intersection, twirling his limbs around like a windmill as he does a full, choreographed sing-along to Prince''s ''''Do Me, Baby,'''' which is playing on his iPod — a performance that slightly interferes with his job, since he''s directing traffic. It doesn''t take long for Tucker to send two cars hurtling into each other. "Rush Hour 3" puts Chris Tucker''s Carter and Jackie Chan''s Lee in another senseless plot Chinese triads, the streets and sewers of Paris, kick, bang, boom! When the ambassador who Lee has been protecting is shot at an international conference in Los Angeles, he and Carter go looking for the culprits and the mysterious gangland list behind it all. Good as it is, would be funnier if a part of your brain weren''t thinking back to the first time you ever saw this sort of routine: the introduction of Eddie Murphy in 48 HRS, happily oblivious as he sang ''''Roxanne'''' along with his Walkman. This movie makes a fine replacement for the previous two installments. They''ve all been directed with lots of affection by the incurably average Brett Ratner, who sets his climactic fight atop the Eiffel Tower and demonstrates how the French flag can double as a parachute. The action is non-stop and includes several urban chase scenes, martial arts slapstick. The best part about Rush Hour 3 is its honesty. The film does not try to be anything beyond a lighthearted action ride. It knows its limitations and sticks to what works: politically incorrect racial humor, Jackie Chan''s earnest and awesome kung fu moves and Chris Tucker''s motor-mouth spewing one-liners without pause. If you like your comedies consistent with politically correct speech codes then Rush Hour 3 will most likely make blood shoot directly out of your eyeballs with outrage. Write your abstract here.
Published: August 14, 2007
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