Don't hurry out to see 'Rush Hour 3'
Watching "Rush Hour 3" is like staring at a blank screen. You get everything you expect from it — and less.
It could be worse. I'd rather gaze at a blank screen than watch, say, "Daddy Day Camp." "Rush Hour 3" isn't that bad.
Rather than offensively stupid, it's simply so bland and predictable that taking it in barely qualifies as an experience.
Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan are back as cops thrown together to solve a crime. This time, it involves a Chinese ambassador who has been shot and the crime organization behind the shooting.
The investigation by our heroes, Carter (Tucker) and Lee (Chan), takes them to Paris, where these fishes out of water get to experience culture clashes — like when a French cabbie, played by Yvan Attal ("My Wife Is an Actress"), reveals his disdain for Americans — as well as the usual martial-arts fights. They also encounter the usual shootouts, chases, damsel in distress and "surprise" villain (you can guess who it is as soon as you see him). Oh, and there's a climactic battle on the Eiffel Tower.
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Zzzzzzzzz.
There are a couple of mildly amusing comic bits, including a "Who's on first?" routine involving Carter and a martial-arts teacher and a romantic exchange in which a seductress says she's never been with an American man before, and Carter responds, "Neither have I."
Yep, that's about as good as it gets.
The only surprises the film has to offer involve casting. In addition to Attal, Max von Sydow — star of Ingmar Bergman's "The Seventh Seal" — and director Roman Polanski appear.
Weird.
Tim Miller is the Times' entertainment editor. He can be reached at tmiller@capecodonline.com.
What: "Rush Hour 3"
- Star rating: H½ (out of four)
- Starring: Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan
- Directed by: Brett Ratner
- Written by: Jeff Nathanson
- Running time: 91 minutes
- Rating: PG-13 (for sequences of action violence, sexual content, nudity and language)