Rush Hour
RUSH HOUR (15)
D: Brett Ratner
New Line (Roger Birnbaum, Jonathan Glickman & Arthur M. Sarkissian)
US 1998
98 mins
Action/Comedy
W: Jim Kouf & Ross LaManna
DP: Adam Greenberg
Ed: Mark Helfrich
Mus: Lalo Schifrin
Jackie Chan (Det. Insp. Lee), Chris Tucker (Det. James Carter), Tom Wilkinson (Thomas Griffin), Tzi Ma (Solon Han), Ken Leung (Sang)
Rush Hour is a buddy cop action comedy in the Lethal Weapon mould, pairing Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker as two mismatched detectives who go on the search to rescue the missing young daughter of a Chinese consul and uncover a crime ring.
After 4 Lethal Weapon movies, two 48 Hours movies and countless others which follow the same pattern, the sub genre had pretty much become colour-by-numbers, but Rush Hour stands out due to the on-screen relationship between its two leads, with Jackie Chan providing the action choreography and stunts, whilst Chris Tucker provides the wisecracks as a maverick cop playing by his own rules.
Despite a lack of originality, it does provide a great vehicle for its two stars to showcase their talents in their own element.
A huge box office success in 1998, resulting in a successful sequel a few years later.
7/10
RUSH HOUR 2 (15)
D: Brett Ratner
New Line (Roger Birnbaum, Jonathan Glickman, Arthur M. Sarkissian & Jay Stern)
US 🇺🇸 2001
90 mins
Action/Comedy
W: Jeff Nathanson [based on characters created by Ross LaManna]
DP: Matthew F. Leonetti
Ed: Mark Helfrich
Mus: Lalo Schifrin
Jackie Chan (Chief Insp. Lee), Chris Tucker (Det. James Carter), John Lone (Ricky Tan), Zhang Ziyi (Hu Li), Roselyn Sanchez (Agent Isabella Molina)
A rather rushed sequel to the 1998 buddy cop movie that was amongst the most successful films of the year.
It’s pretty much the same formula put to use once again, with Jackie Chan & Chris Tucker reprising their roles as two detectives who get embroiled in a murder case whilst the latter is on vacation in Hong Kong.
Jackie Chan delivers the stunts whilst Tucker gives the one-liners, and whilst the story line is quite flat & asks a little more than suspension of disbelief, Chan’s work rate makes up for this with some truly excellent action choreography. A disappointment compared to the first film and it’s rather obvious that this was a cash grab, but for a mere 90 minutes it provides some fun for a pretty standard action flick.
5/10
