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Delivering all anyone could expect and/or fear from a title like that, Lee (Jackie Chan) and Carter (Tucker) find themselves paired up once more to take on those pesky Triads – not to mention the gloved fist of Roman Polanski – while following leads in Paris: for the former, it’s a personal matter with would-be assassin Kenji (Sunshine’s Hiroyuki Sanada), and for the latter, it’s the lure of burlesque starlet Genevieve (Noémie Lenoir, from director Ratner’s After the Sunset).

Ratner and writer Jeff Nathanson, both series vets, make an inordinate effort to not only bring back the ambassador’s daughter from the first one in order to make Lee swear to fulfill her trite promises, but also create a flimsy excuse for Tucker to explain away the absence of RH2’s Rosalyn Sanchez and the estrangement of the duo in the interim between that film and this one. Those moments only tangle the already frayed clothesline upon which the filmmakers hang moments such as the aforementioned violation of our cops by the director of Chinatown himself upon their arrival in the City of Lights, the appearance of a jive-talkin’ nun for an impromptu interrogation after a hospital shoot-out, and an extended Yu/Mi/you/me routine which confirms that the deaths of Abbott and Costello must have indeed been in vain.

Max von Sydow (Minority Report) shows up as a French diplomat in an effort to ground the material with a semblance of authority, if not talent, while actor/director Yvan Attal (Munich) shows up as a Parisian cab driver who finds his anti-American sentiments goofily reversed following a fare-turned-car-chase. With or without them, there are all other manner of hijinks, innuendos, racial quips, and wholly unsurprising plot developments, all en route to an underwhelming Eiffel Tower climax.

Tucker admittedly lands a laugh or two between shrill riffs – when the sultry Genevieve slinks away to the bathroom, the ever-considerate Carter offers matches – and Chan still manages to impress with the fewer fights he has, in spite of his age and the lurking threat of digital assistance. Still, it’s difficult to deny that the jokes are weaker, the action is lesser, and whatever chemistry Chan and Tucker has diluted since the first sequel; hell, even the outtakes aren’t as good this time around. Even with a running time of eighty-something minutes including credits, the proceedings feel longer than they ever had prior.

Although the trailers may idiotically proclaim that Brett Ratner directed 'Rush Hour 3,' most of the credit has to go to whichever New Line bean-counter saw a can’t-miss opportunity for the studio to make another buck. After all, without them, it’s terribly likely that audiences would never have been provided all of the closure that this trilogy threatened to lack.

link directly to this review at https://www.efilmcritic.com/review.php?movie=15741&reviewer=409
originally posted: 08/13/07 13:49:24
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