Rush Hour 3

Chris Tucker has made a career out of playing Detective James Carter.  Literally.  In fact, that’s the only character he has played this decade.  For the money that he’s getting, you can’t really blame him.  At 35 years old, though, this doesn’t seem like the wisest career move.  Rush Hour 3 was definitely the low point of the franchise.  A seemingly recycled plot line (those of you who have seen the first Rush Hour movie, the similarities in plot line are staggering) with a twist:  now they are in France.  Tucker still delivers his patented one-liners, only they don’t seem to hit home as much as they have in the past.  That’s the problem with doing only one character:  the fans know what you’re going to do before you do it.  Director Brett Ratner, in his fourth film with Chris Tucker (the other being 1997’s Money Talks), seems to rely far too heavily on the comedy of Tucker and the exaggerated fight scenes with co-star Jackie Chan to carry the film.  When this fails to deliver, as it did, we are left with a updated version of the original without the heart.