Rush Hour 3 is a 2007 martial arts/action-comedy film, and the third installment in the Rush Hour film series, starring Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan, 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 USA.[1]
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, to make way for a larger variety of foreign films for that year, according to a business representative. (The quota for imported films is 20 each year.)[2]
Plot
The film start with Carter directing traffic and at the same time during discussions in the World Criminal Court, as the Ambassador Han addresses the importance of fighting the Triads, he announces that he may know the whereabouts of Shy Shen. Suddenly, Han takes a bullet in the shoulder, disrupting the conference. Lee pursues the shooter and corners him, discovering that the assassin is his Japanese stepbrother Kenji (Hiroyuki Sanada). When Lee hesitates to shoot Kenji, Carter, having heard of Han's incident on the police radio, 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, but find out that a gang of armed men have already arrived and emptied it. Lee and Carter are told by the Master of the studio 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 assassins. Much to Lee and Carter's surprise, the Asian assassin only speaks French. With the help of a resident nun, Sister Agnes, who translates, 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 (Max von Sydow), the French ambassador and the chairman of the World Criminal Court. 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 Roman Polanski) Lee and Carter meet up with George, a taxi driver (Yvan Attal), who is prejudiced against Americans. 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 (and to sing the American Anthem). There, Lee fights off a Triad assassin named Jasmine (Youki Kudoh); Meanwhile, Carter meets a beautiful woman whose name is not disclosed (Noémie Lenoir). However, Lee and Carter are both forced out of the club and are captured by the Triads. They manage to escape, but then have a falling out concerning Lee's relationship with Kenji. Shortly after Carter leaves, Reynard appears. Lee asks who Shy Shen is, but Reynard tells him that Shy Shen is not a person, but a list of the Triad leaders. Reynard reveals that Han's informant knows where Shy Shen is. The informant turns out to be Geneviève, the woman Carter met at the gentlemen's club 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 who sneaks up behind Carter and Genevieve who are making love in bed. When Lee tries to fend her off with his pistol, Jasmine throws a knife in both directions of Carter/Genevieve and Lee. In an attempt to dodge the knife, Lee accidentally shoots Genevieve and becomes even with Carter. No longer safe at the hotel where the triads know their whereabouts, they 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, but that she is the list. The names of the thirteen Triad leaders have been tattooed on the back of her head, as per tradition, and Geneviève explains that she will be decapitated and buried if the Triads capture her. When Lee and Carter bring Geneviève to Reynard, he asks Geneviève to show him the list. Lee points out that they never told him that she had the list imprinted on her head. Reynard then 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 her for Geneviève, and that he would kill her if he brought Carter or anyone else along with him.
Lee arrives at the exchange point, the Jules Verne Restaurant in the Eiffel Tower, with Carter, disguised as Geneviève. Kenji challenges Lee to a sword fight, during which the two fall off the tower and get caught in a safety net. Lee'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, but placing his own at risk. Kenji 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, celebrating by dancing to the beat of Carl Douglas' "Kung Fu Fighting". He then goes to save Soo-Yung. Jasmine arrives and attempts to kill Soo-Yung and Carter by unlatching the rope Soo-Yung is tied to. Carter grabs the rope before she can fall and grabs Soo Yung, who kicks Jasmine into one of the rotating cranks, which crushes her in half and kills her (off-screen).
As Carter and Lee send Soo-Yung down the elevator, more Triads arrive. In order to escape, Lee and Carter grab and untie a large French flag hanging over the side of the tower and use it as a makeshift parachute and float to safety. Unfortunately, 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, shoots Reynard from behind and declares "Case Closed." The police 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 Edwin Starr's "War".
Cast
Reaction
Critical reception
Unlike its predecessors, the film received negative reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes the film had a score of 20% based on 147 reviews with a consensus of "Rush Hour 3 is a tired rehash of earlier films, and a change of scenery can't hide a lack of new ideas." Todd Gilchrist of IGN movies said, "A movie that not only depends on but demands you don't think in order to enjoy it." Christian Toto of The Washington Times said, "The Rush job should put the franchise down for good." 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."[3] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times was slightly more positive giving the film two stars and saying, "...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."[4] James Berardinelli of ReelViews gave the film one-and-a-half stars out of four, and said the movie was dull, uninspired and redundant.[5] Desson Thomson of The Washington Post, giving it three and a half stars out of five, said "at the risk of eternal damnation on the Internet, I admit to laughing at — even feeling momentarily touched by — Rush Hour 3."[6]
Box office and business
Rush Hour 3 was produced on a budget estimated at $140 million.[7]
It opened on August 10, 2007 and grossed $49,100,158 in its first three days.[8] 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.[8] The gross was still strong, particularly considering the six-year gap between the second and third franchise installments. Noted Brandon Gray of boxofficemojo.com:
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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.[9] |
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Rush Hour 3 grossed $255,045,928[8] Worldwide.
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 in the Rush Hour film series. 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.[10] Ratner stated in an interview in 2009, that he "has been in contact with a long list of stars including Danny DeVito and Jet Li" for possible roles in a potential "Rush Hour 4", but stressed "nothing's been okayed yet".
Blu-ray & DVD release
The film was released on December 26, 2007,[11] on DVD and Blu-ray Disc. As of March 30, 2008, the film has made $80.75 million in Home Video rentals, making it the top rental of 2007.[12]
See also
References
External links
