Jackie Chan, the master of martial arts and action comedy, has had time to reflect on his long and illustrious acting career, which is full of critically acclaimed hits,a few underrated gems, and only the occasional misfire — one such example of the latter could beRush Hour 3, which underperformed at the box office and was not well received by critics. The actor has now figured out why the third entry in the beloved buddy comedy franchise failed, with ticket sales drastically declining after the commercial success of its predecessor.
The threeRush Hourfilms released between 1998 and 2007 primarily revolve around the antics of Hong Kong Chief Inspector Lee (played by Chan) and LAPD detective James Carter (Chris Tucker) as they team up to solve cases and take down corrupt criminals. During a recent video interview with BuzzFeed Celeb, Chan was asked to rank the trilogy in order from his favorite to his least favorite entry, to which he initially hesitated before reeling them off and giving some insight into the production of each film. He explained, rather succinctly:
Rush Hour: Every Movie in the Action-Comedy Franchise, Ranked
The Rush Hour franchise was a huge success at the box office producing three hit films. Here is every movie, ranked.
“You know what? First one: little money, little time. We shot it like, ‘Go, go, go, go, go!’ The second one: a lot of money, a lot of time. The third one: too much money, too much time. Too much money is no good.”
Chan’s comments track with the critical reception and commercial results of each film. The originalRush Hour,released in 1998, earned $244 million at the worldwide box office against a budget of $35 million and carries a critics' score of 62% on Rotten Tomatoes. The 2001 sequel generated even more, with a global haul of $347 million to help offset its $90 million budget and other costs, but scored 51% on the Tomatometer. The third installment, which hit theaters in 2007, dropped to $258 million and suffered further because of its whopping $140 million budget. It also ranks as the lowest entry on Rotten Tomatoes with a 17% approval rating from critics, but proved polarizing as it landed a 63% score from audiences.
The critics' consensus forRush Hour 3labels it “a tired rehash of the earlier films” and notes that “a change of scenery can’t hide a lack of new ideas.” The reviews called out the film’s lack of originality and the repetitive nature of the story, with many feeling that it relied too heavily on the previously winning formula of the other installments, without offering anything new or notable. Some people also felt that the script didn’t allow the action sequences the same space to shine as in earlier entries, making them slightly less engaging in this one.
What Is Happening With ‘Rush Hour 4’?
Rumors aboutRush Hour 4have been circulating for a while, with both lead stars expressing their interest in returning to the series on multiple occasions, but the production has not officially been given the greenlight as yet. One of the most promising updates came out of the Red Sea Film Festival in December 2022 when Chan revealed that he was “talking about Part 4 right now.” He suggested thatthe fourth film was in the worksand that he was soon due to meet with the director (whose identity remained undisclosed) to discuss the script.
However, in a recent interview with ScreenRant, Chandidn’t have any significant updatesto offer aboutRush Hour 4,suggesting that not much progress has been made in the interim period between the last time he commented on the long-gestating project and now. The only confirmation that he could give was that “the script is still going on,” so hopefully it won’t be too long until Agents Lee and Carter are back on the big screen for another adventure.
Source:BuzzFeed Celeb
Rush Hour 3
