Rush Hour 3 - 1/5

This movie is a tired cash-grab, bringing nothing to the Rush Hour series and not even repeating the formula of the previous two films. Instead it plods along, delivering unfunny jokes, nothing interesting in the way of action, and forgetting to even have an interesting police investigation for the story to fall back on. Worst of all, its portrayal of the grown-up little girl from the first movie was uncomfortable and the ‘joke’ about transit authority cavity searches was distasteful. Don’t waste your time on this one, it’s nothing like its predecessors.

Closest comparison: It’s like The Other Guys by way of The Spy Next Door.

Setting: Detective
Plot: Buddy Cop
Tone: Raunchy Comedy

Rush Hour 2 - 2/5

This movie makes the classic sequel blunder: it has less of what made its predecessor great and more of what brought it down. There is only one good action scene here, instead of the three to four in Rush Hour 1, and they’ve ramped up the stupid humor to give Chris Tucker more of a driving force in the narrative than before. They’ve also introduced a whole theme of ogling women in their underwear, bringing down the quality of the film making even further. The martial arts scene is really well done, but the rest of this movie is pablum.

Closest comparison: It’s like the martial arts of The Medallion pasted over with the raunchiness (but not the humor) of History of the World part 1.

Setting: Buddy Cop
Plot: Buddy Cop
Tone: Brash Comedy

Rush Hour - 3/5

This movie is one of the better examples of Jackie Chan’s foray into western moviemaking. It directly addresses the east-meets-west nature of the film and makes it the central narrative conceit. As always the martial arts is great and Jackie gets several scenes in which to show off his moves and it’s filmed well enough to give the audience a good view of the action, unlike many of his other western films. Chris Tucker’s humor is annoying to me, but if you enjoy him you should definitely check out this movie.

Closest comparison: It’s like Shanghai Knights with cops instead of cowboys.

Setting: Buddy Cop
Plot: Police Procedural
Tone: Action Comedy