Over the years, several movies have been made combining action and comedy. I have seen several of those movies, some which have been better than others. One of the better movies to do this was Rush Hour.

Chief Inspector Lee, a friend of Consul Han, stopped men working for crime lord Juntao from smuggling valuable pieces of Chinese art out of the country. Consul Han was living in Los Angeles with his daughter Soo Yung when Juntao put his plan for revenge in motion by kidnaping Soo Yung. Han decided to bring in Lee to help find her even though the FBI was handling things. The FBI didn’t want Lee interfering, so the decision was made to bring in a cop from the Los Angeles force to keep Lee out of the way.

Detective James Carter was a bit cocky and refused to work with a partner. He had a reputation for being hard to work with, so he was the one sent to keep Lee busy. Carter and Lee didn’t get along and neither were happy with the situation, especially once they realized what was going on. They decided to work together to find Soon Yung and find Juntao.

The plot for Rush Hour wasn’t very original and was rather predictable. That didn’t stop the movie from being entertaining. The movie used things, like cops having to work together who don’t like each other, that have been used in several other movies. What made that aspect slightly different was the fact that there was a culture clash going on since Lee was from China. That put him out of his element, something else that has been done in other movies. I did think those two things were blended together well in a way that worked.

Rush Hour made me laugh several times. I have seen funnier movies, but I did still enjoy this one. The humor was blended with the action very well. Much of the comedy came from Carter and Lee interacting with each other trying to overcome their differences to work together. There were several jokes done related to the trouble that the men had understanding each other. Lee was having a bit of trouble since he was so far out of his element which also added humor to the movie. Bloopers were shown during the closing credits that were also very funny. Some of the bloopers were from when things didn’t go exactly right in the fight scenes.

There was a lot of action in the movie, including some chases, shootings, and explosions. The action was well done without getting too violent. There were many fights throughout the movie, usually featuring Lee beating someone up. The fights that Lee were involved in were very impressive and well done. Carter was also involved in some of them to a lesser degree. His fighting abilities weren’t as strong as Lee’s. The movie was rated PG-13 for the violence and some language. I don’t remember hearing the word that rhymes with luck. I think some of the language is edited out when the movie is shown on television.

Carter and Lee were the main characters in Rush Hour. Carter was very proud of being a cop and that his father had been a cop. He closed cases, but he was cocky and had trouble getting along with the other cops. He had some unorthodox methods for closing cases. Chris Tucker fit the part fine though he did get a little annoying at times. It did seem like Tucker was going overboard with his performance at times. His character was very outrageous and memorable in The Fifth Element even though it was a smaller part.

Lee was a very dedicated cop who was a good friend with Consul Han. Lee had a friendship with Soon Yung and was determined to do whatever he could to get her home safely. Jackie Chan did a good job with the part. He has been a popular movie star in Hong Kong for years. Some of the movies he made there have been dubbed into English and released in this country. I think that Rush Hour was the first big U.S. movie that he was in. Chan did all of his own stunts and I think he was even involved in choreographing the many fight scenes. I have enjoyed several of his other movies including Around the World in 80 Days and even The Medallion.

Consul Han and his daughter Soon Yung were important to the plot even though they didn’t have huge parts in the movie. Tania Johnson was a police officer that dealt with bombs and explosives. She and Carter knew each other and she ended up getting pulled into what was going on even though she was frequently annoyed with Carter. Elizabeth Pena was fine in the part. Thomas Griffin knew both Consul Han and Lee and had worked with them in China. Thomas was around to offer support to Han while the search was going on for his daughter. Tom Wilkinson was fine in the part. He had a much larger part in The Exorcism of Emily Rose. A few different FBI agents were around without any of them being that developed. None of them really stood out to me.

Main Cast

Jackie Chan - Chief Inspector Lee
Julia Hsu - Soon Yung
Tzi Ma - Consul Han
Elizabeth Pena - Demolition Specialist Tania Johnson
Chris Tucker - Detective James Carter
Tom Wilkinson - Thomas Griffin

Brett Ratner - Director

DVD Information

Rush Hour is available on DVD. I can’t remember exactly what I paid for my copy, but I know it wasn’t a lot. My copy has the widescreen version of the movie. I don’t know if there is a full screen version available. The DVD included a commentary by Brett Ratner, deleted scenes, isolated score with commentary by the composer, a Dru Hill music video, a short film that I think had been directed by Ratner, a featurette on the making of the movie, and the original theatrical trailer. The featurette was interesting. The disc also contained some special features that could be accessed from computers.

Rush Hour was a very entertaining action comedy movie that is worth watching. Fans of Jackie Chan or Chris Tucker should give it a chance. People that like this type of action movie may also enjoy it even though Tucker can get annoying.

Rush Hour Movies
Rush Hour ~ Rush Hour 2 ~ Rush Hour 3 ~

Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD