Rush Hour

RUSH HOUR (15)

D: Brett Ratner

New Line (Roger Birnbaum, Jonathan Glickman & Arthur M. Sarkissian)

US 1998

98 mins

Action/Comedy

W: Jim Kouf & Ross LaManna

DP: Adam Greenberg

Ed: Mark Helfrich

Mus: Lalo Schifrin

Jackie Chan (Det. Insp. Lee), Chris Tucker (Det. James Carter), Tom Wilkinson (Thomas Griffin), Tzi Ma (Solon Han), Ken Leung (Sang)

Rush Hour is a buddy cop action comedy in the Lethal Weapon mould, pairing Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker as two mismatched detectives who go on the search to rescue the missing young daughter of a Chinese consul and uncover a crime ring.

After 4 Lethal Weapon movies, two 48 Hours movies and countless others which follow the same pattern, the sub genre had pretty much become colour-by-numbers, but Rush Hour stands out due to the on-screen relationship between its two leads, with Jackie Chan providing the action choreography and stunts, whilst Chris Tucker provides the wisecracks as a maverick cop playing by his own rules.

Despite a lack of originality, it does provide a great vehicle for its two stars to showcase their talents in their own element.

A huge box office success in 1998, resulting in a successful sequel a few years later.

7/10