Rush Hour 3

I was introduced to Jackie Chan by my roommate, Khoi, during college. I managed to watch a good deal of his earlier films after slowly hunting them down on VHS and Laser Disc. He was awesome. Doing his own stunts and taking the comedic approach to the martial arts made for some good entertainment. A couple of years later Rumble in the Bronx was released in the U.S. It was the first time a Jackie Chan film was getting a wide release in the U.S. It went over well enough. It didn't hold up to his earlier stuff, but it was the first time I got to see Jackie Chan on the big screen.

A couple of years later Rush Hour came out. It his first Hollywood film. I liked it well enough. I knew that since it was Hollywood, I'd be getting a watered down version of Jackie Chan. Regardless, it was entertaining and for some reason Chris Tucker made me laugh.

Fast forward to last night. L and I went to see Rush Hour 3. When it came out she was surprised that I wanted to see it. (I guess there's still things she's still discovering about me.) There were a couple of reasons I wanted to see it. I thought the first two films were ok. Not great by any means, but they managed to have a couple of moments that made me chuckle. Also, they filmed the movie across the street from when I worked at Sony. I'd seen the actors' trailers and general commotion on a daily basis for a few months. I even saw Sun Ming Ming one day in the commissary. He's the 7' 9" basketball player that has a scene in the film.

To get to the point, we saw the film last night. And to put it simply.....it was horrible. I left the theater feeling a bit embarrassed and dirty. It was the first film in a long while that I thought about walking out on. I only stayed because it was a Jackie Chan film and I have respect for the guy. The movie just felt forced from the beginning to the end. The action was lacking anything that warranted Jackie Chan to be in it. He's getting older and I don't expect him to do crazy stunts and action anymore, but he's still got it. It just got completely watered down by Brett Ratner and friends. Check out this clip from New Police Story that shows Jackie holding his own against some young kid.


This is from a Hong Kong film done just a few years ago. Point being, the fact that Rush Hour 3 sucks falls more in the lap of the director and studio behind it, because Jackie still,clearly, has it. I shouldn't be too surprised though, because even the trailer for the film left me feeling pretty ho-hum.

At the end of it all, L says I owe her one and threatened to make me watch The Holiday.