Review of Rush Hour (1998) by Kai82 — 12 Jun 2021

An action comedy / buddy movie with good entertainment value. Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker are a well working combination. Jackie Chan brings in his great fight scenes, stunts and Jackie Chan style while Chris Tucker adds even more humor.

It became one of the movies that is a fan favorite but not much liked by critics (and sadly also dislike by Jackie Chan himself). The story starts on the last day of British rule of Hongkong before it is handed over to China.

Inspector Lee played by Jackie Chan is on a raid to arrest the crime Lord Juntao who is a mystery figure as no one knows his identity (or could tell the story afterwards). He is however only partly successful but it is still a good final gift for his leaving former superiors Solon Han and Thomas Griffin.

However this puts him in a dire situation as Solon Han now in a new job in the USA is now a target for revenge. Lee must travel to the USA to help him. This “outside interference” is however not something the USA police authorities like so detective James Carter played by Chris Tucker is officially assigned to help him with the actual mission being to prevent any interference.

So the story starts and I was vague because of spoilers. The story is actually a bit better than it needed to be for an action comedy. It is a well working vehicle to carry the characters and movie. I must admit that today I would see a mayor twist today from miles away but failed back then.

The buddy movie aspect is what made this movie so enjoyable. Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker work well together and have very good chemistry. They carry the movie and without their performance I would have rated this far lower.

The rest of the cast is a cherry on the top and I will praise Tom Willson, Elisabeth Pena and Tzi Ma for their performance. As expected with Jackie Chan the action / fight scenes are a pleasure to watch and with Chris Tucker the humor works well.

To be fair I must admit that it would be lower on my best Jackie Chan movie list but not everything needs to be perfect or 10/10. Overall this a really good popcorn movie. It might not reach the highest level but it is definitely entertaining enough to rewatch it and spawning sequels.

I recommend to watch it at least once.