Review: In a shocking change in style from the first two entries in the film series, RUSH HOUR 3 finds director Brett Ratner and stars Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker engaged in a complex study of cross-cultural relationships, examining detective work in a post 9/11 globalised world, amid a labyrinthine plot that works on several thematic and symbolic levels.

Of course, I'm lying.

If you've seen either of the previous RUSH HOUR films, you should know the drill -

Cue: the fish-out-of-water scenario - this time Carter and Lee find themselves 'out of their depth' in France.

Cue: the racial stereotyping. At least in the RUSH HOUR films everyone is a target (equal opportunities racism?) but it's also surprisingly, and refreshingly, un-P.C.

Cue: the Asian bad guys (but include an upper class white man to distract from any sense of blanket stereotypes).

Cue: whiny wisecracks from Tucker and a slightly confused look from Jackie Chan.

Cue: the excellent score from Lalo Schifrin.

Then we're good to go.

It's been six years since Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker were last partnered up in RUSH HOUR 2. The latest film in the series kicks off with some singing and dancing from Tucker and it's clear from the outset that there's going to be a reliance on plenty of jokes from the first two films. The idea seems to be that if you found it funny the first time, you'll think it's funny again. This only works to a point – it's a bit hit and miss. The success of the film depends wholly on the familiarity of the two leads doing exactly the same things that they've done before.

This time around Carter and Lee manage to find themselves in France - although the plot and locations of the RUSH HOUR 3 are almost unimportant and are only really there to provide a link between comedy and / or action set-pieces. This works two ways – while it might seem like lazy filmmaking and writing, there's still something quite pleasing about being able to see the jokes before they arrive. RUSH HOUR 3 has its fair share of gags that fall flat (Carter posing as designer 'Bubbles' is a non-starter), but also a decent bunch that no matter how obvious they seem, how old they are or how heavy handedly they're delivered will still have you laughing along with them. While there's no truly 'inspired' moments in RUSH HOUR 3's script – the closest they come is a scene with a bilingual nun – there's also a few moments that are genuinely good quality. The best example of this is the appearance of George the taxi driver. Allaying fears that the Paris setting would just be an excuse for a lot of cheap 'French' gags (which there still are – part of Carter's chat up schtick involves the line 'I wanna shave your armpits'), it's good to see that George throws a lot of American stereotypes back at them. And it works very well.

The cast of RUSH HOUR 3 is certainly stronger than it needs to be and while maybe this adds to some of the appeal - seeing top actors engaging in such silliness - it also feels a bit of a waste. Hiroyuki Sanada proves he can act anyone here off of the screen adding more credibility to his straightforward villain character with a simple sneer than anything in the script. It's just a shame that credibility isn't important here. Elsewhere, Max von Sydow looks a little uncomfortable and is underused, and there's a bizarre appearance from Roman Polanski that's neither funny nor necessary. In the lead roles Chris Tucker seems as happy and whiny as ever and tries to steam-roll every scene, but this doesn't work quite as well this third time around partly because Jackie Chan seems a little too serious and the chemistry is lacking. While there's nothing exactly to criticise about his performance, Jackie will never compete with Tucker verbally and his subdued appearance here sometimes has the effect of relegating him to the background.

Action-wise RUSH HOUR 3 is okay but also pretty lightweight. Previously the series has never provided more than only very average Chan action and that still proves to be the case here too. While a few brief fights are fun you also may get the distinct feeling of deja vu (Jackie rolls around the floor, he flips items over his head, he lifts himself off of the floor in a door frame) and even the finale at the Eiffel Tower (we're in France!) feels a little bit flat. There's a brief moment of above average excitement during a face-off between Jackie Chan and Hiroyuki Sanada, but it's a highlight that's over all too quickly. The action highlight instead appears quite early in the film as a car chase through the streets of Paris. It's slapstick, but it's amongst the more tightly paced scenes in the film.

RUSH HOUR 3 does exactly what you would expect it to do: more of the same. Whether this is a good or bad thing depends largely on your opinion of the first two films. If you hated them then RUSH HOUR 3 won't convert you and suddenly make you a fan. If you liked them then you'll probably find enough here to enjoy – although the formula is wearing so thin you can almost see the numbers. There's nothing here that we haven't seen several times before, but as far as mindless action comedies go - and as long as you enjoyed the earlier films - RUSH HOUR 3 is a still a pretty fun way to spend an hour and a half.

Little effort has ever been made to give Chan a real Hollywood script to work with. His films in the U.S. have always just been vehicles to carry a fading measure of what was once one of the most entertaining and talented physical comedians and martial arts stars rolled into one. RUSH HOUR 3 takes this sorry trend to new lows.

With flimsy justification, Detective Carter (Tucker) and Inspector Lee (Chan) team up three years after their previous exploits to investigate the assassination of a Chinese official who was about to pull the veil off the secretive Triads.

In a potentially promising casting choice a few years too late, former Japanese idol and martial arts star Hiroyuki Sanada plays Kenji, Lee’s wayward adopted brother who is now a prominent Triad member. After Kenji acts as the trigger man in the assassination, he and Lee become destined to clash from opposite sides of the law.

Clues in the case lead Carter and Lee to Paris where they get mixed up with a local cab driver who has a love-hate relationship with America and a burlesque starlet marked for death by the Triads. Along the way, film legends Max von Sydow and Roman Polanski fill out throwaway supporting roles that will likely go unappreciated by fans of either the actors or this franchise. Routine car chases, comedy exchanges and ultra-light screen fighting mixed throughout provide a weak buildup to a final confrontation high up on the Eiffel Tower. Didn’t we see something similar with Chan on Big Ben in SHANGHAI KNIGHTS?

After pitiful Hong Kong entries like THE MYTH and ROB-B-HOOD it was hard to imagine Chan falling any more flat, until now. It’s depressing to see him this way. Imagine watching a champion racehorse limping down the greenway long after his prime while his talentless rider vainly eggs him on to the finish, knowing that audiences will stay on their seats just to see the sorry spectacle.

Chan manages a few token fighting moves reminiscent of the good old days but really, those days are gone. The only fight worth mentioning takes place between Chan and Sanada and only because of the people involved. In this and all other action scenes green screens, poorly disguised wirework and stunt doubles do most of the actual work. Chan has become an artist without an inspiration, a singer without a voice. Actually, the latter is untrue. Chan makes up for Tucker’s annoying attempts at comic karaoke by revealing his Chinese opera-trained singing voice which has been put to use on past Hong Kong soundtracks and Canto-pop albums. Chan might want to keep that throat in shape because it’s increasingly looking like his action-comedy acting days are numbered.

The only part of RUSH HOUR 3 that possesses any spark of creativity is the original score where Lalo Schifrin freshens up his pervious RUSH HOUR theme music with a funky new twist. The rest of this film is a dismal affair that I can’t recommend to anyone in good conscience. A pair of ten-to-twelve year olds that I was sharing the theater with seemed to be having a good time. I guess jokes about rectal exams, conning dancehall girls out of their clothes and casually generalizing all Americans as gun-crazed murderers are popular on schoolyards today, although the uninspired physical humor got the biggest laughs. Oh but the movie is once again another commercial success, if less so than its predecessor, and marketed perfectly for a mainstream audience fed on a daily diet of media reports covering the latest pop star meltdown.

Congratulations to Brett Ratner. If his goal was to direct lazy commercial fluff, the equivalent of cheap filmic fast food, then he has definitely earned his pay. It looks like Hollywood officially has its own latter-day Wong Jing. After X-MEN: THE LAST STAND and RUSH HOUR 3, I am afraid to see what franchise Ratner demolishes next, whether his own or someone else’s.

If like me, you’re suffering ill effects from watching this waste of 90 minutes then I would prescribe a sizable dose of DRUNKEN MASTER 2, followed by either POLICE STORY 3 or PROJECT A.

When a sniper attempts to kill Ambassador Han during Inspector Lee's (Chan) watch, Lee promises his daughter that he will track down the people responsible. Luckily, the assassins return in an attempt to finish the job and with the help of Detective James Carter (Tucker), Lee manages to prevent any further harm as well as capture and interrogate a suspect. Strangely enough, the man turns out to be French which leads our heroes to relocate their search to the streets of Paris. With Carter always keen to take in the night life and the trail leading our heroes to popular clubs, it isn't long before they are causing quite a stir with the local gangs as well as the police. However, there is a secret that Lee is withholding and as the case is coming to a close he is going to have make some difficult decisions.

Even if you're a fan of the 'Rush Hour' series, I very much doubt that this third film will be do enough to satisfy your desire for more humourous police escapades. From the very beginning, it's clear that the overly familiar buddy cop setup has finally had it's day and the cast and crew are just going through the motions, hoping to earn themselves a few more easy millions in the process. The script for this part is particularly paper thin, doing nothing more than relocating our heroes into fresh surroundings that are unfamiliar to the two of them with a poor excuse for a story that is littered with numerous unresolved plot points and vague tie-ins with the original movies. However. the film's real downfall is the chemistry between the two leads (one of the lynchpins of the series) that lacks any kind of spark and is hampered by weak comedy that just seems so predictable that it fails to raise even a wry smile at the best of times. The actors themselves are also beginning to lag with Chan looking noticeably bored for the most part whilst Tucker does his normal routine of playing up to the camera but even he seems to be doing nothing more than repeating himself.

One of the other most disappointing elements of this film is the action, which is so lacking that it usually slips by practically unnoticed. Although it's fair to say that the 'Rush Hour' films have never exactly whipped up a storm in this department, Chan has occasionally managed to pull out a few of the stops and create a couple of scenes that his hardcore fans can appreciate. Sadly though, the set pieces here are so bland that for the majority of the running time I barely batted an eyelid and one wonders how much input Chan himself had or whether the producers just decided to avoid pushing him too far considering his age. Saying that though, judging by his recent Hong Kong outings Chan does still have a few tricks up his sleeve which only serve as further evidence that this film was cobbled together with very little effort.

I think it's fair to say that the 'Rush Hour' franchise has finally run it's course and although this third film may do just about enough to warrant a rental for hardcore fans, I'm sure that even they would have to agree that the series should end here. The film is mediocre at best and it's about time Tucker tried something new (god knows how the man has risen to such popularity considering he's only done about six films, none of which were particularly impressive) and Chan only has a few more years left in him which would be far better spent elsewhere. Sufficed to say, this one gets the thumbs down from me.