Rush Hour 3 - review

Rush Hour 3 (12a)

Dir. Brett Ratner

Reviewed by Matt Adcock

It’s certainly been quite the year of the ‘threequel’ and up until now they’ve been a mixed bag but generally at least averagely amusing, entertaining and / or even impressive in places but I guess it couldn’t last… See, however much you might not have loved this Summer’s 3rd entry block busters – get ready to experience a new vapid low in entertainment values… Welcome to Rush Hour 3.
Yes, watching the third Rush Hour film is like being punched repeatedly in the face by a gibbering idiot (otherwise known as the director Brett Ratner to be precise). There is nothing new here, and what there is was done better in the previous two outings. Chris Tucker does his offensive motor-mouth jive again, Jackie Chan mugs up as the oriental, butt kicking, culturally inept detective again and erm, that’s it really.
You know that there’s little hope of decent entertainment when in just about every scene you think to yourself ‘ah – this is like *name other movie here* only not quite as good’… In fact the only memorable fresh bit I can recall was when the two heroes use a nun to translate their attempted interrogation of a French speaking suspect, but the interview degenerates into them having her straight faced relay various threats and swear words… It’s the audience that they end up torturing…
The Oscar for ‘Best supporting actor in a completely rubbish movie’ would go to Yvan Attal, who is a French cab driver who hates Americans because of their international warmongering but who undergoes a Damascus Road conversion thanks to our two bumbling heroes so he ends up buying into the shoot first rhetoric of most U.S. action films.
Speaking of the so called ‘action’ on offer here – it is weak and utterly unexciting, if you look in the dictionary under ‘lack lustre’ you might well find a reference to the many dull fight scenes in Rush Hour 3. So if the action sucks, surely the comedy will save this purported ‘action comedy’ then?
Alas not – this writers of this tripe should hang their heads in shame at the lazy jokes and contrived supposedly funny situations that they have regurgitated. I think perhaps there is a metaphor for the whole movie in the scene where Tucker and Chan slide into a foul reeking open sewer which taints them both – that certainly could be where their careers are heading if they appear in any more rubbish like this!

Out of 5 you have to go with a piss poor 1 (you'll feel 'mugged' if you pay to see this)...

Darkmatters ratings:
Action öö – what passes for action here...
Laughs öö – very poor effort
Horror öö – I did get a bit worried that Chan might hurt himself at his age...
Babes ööö – some but not enough to improve the film overall

Overall ö (won't ever want to see this again!)

Darkmatters: H O M E