Rush Hour (1998)

Director:

Brett Ratner

Writers (WGA):

Ross LaManna (story)
Jim Kouf (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

18 September 1998 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Comedy | Thriller | Crime

Tagline:

Two cops. One is all talk. The other is all action.

Plot:

Two cops team up to get back a kidnapped daughter.

Plot Keywords:

Detective | FBI | Friend | Trust | Illegal Gambling

Awards:

6 wins & 7 nominations

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Jackie Chan	...	Lee
Chris Tucker	...	Carter
Tom Wilkinson	...	Thomas Griffin / Juntao
Tzi Ma	...	Consul Han
Mark Rolston	...	Agent Warren Russ
Rex Linn	...	Agent Daniel Whitney
Elizabeth Peña	...	Johnson
Chris Penn	...	Clive Card
Philip Baker Hall	...	Captain Diel
Ken Leung	...	Sang
Robert Littman	...	First Caucasian
Michael Chow	...	Dinner Guest
Julia Hsu	...	Soo Yung
Kai Lennox	...	Cop at Diner
Larry Sullivan	...	Cop at Diner (as Larry Sullivan Jr.)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for sequences of action/violence and shootings, and for language.

Runtime:

98 min | Spain:93 min (DVD edition)

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Cantonese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Ireland:15 | Malaysia:U | Iceland:12 | South Korea:12 | Philippines:PG-13 | New Zealand:M | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Canada:14A | Chile:14 | Finland:K-16 | France:U | Germany:12 | Hong Kong:IIA | Mexico:B | Netherlands:12 | Norway:15 | Peru:14 | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:PG | Spain:13 | Sweden:11 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | UK:12 | USA:PG-13

Filming Locations:

380 South San Rafael Avenue, Pasadena, California, USA

Company:

New Line Cinema

Trivia:

When Lee (Jackie Chan) is getting food from a Chinese vendor Carter (Chris Tucker) says "Damn Chan this some greasy shit."

Goofs:

Factual errors: Toward the end of the movie we see a news van with "channel 8" and call letters on them that start with "W." Television stations in Los Angeles and any city west of the Mississippi River have call letters that start with "K" and not "W."

Quotes:

Carter: That's why I don't have no partner, that's one thing I learned from my daddy.
Lee: Your father was a policeman?
Carter: Fifteen years LAPD.
Lee: My daddy also a policeman.
Carter: Your daddy was a cop?
Lee: Not a cop, an officer, a legend all over Hong Kong.
Carter: My daddy a legend too all over America. My daddy once arrested fifteen people in one night by himself.
Lee: My daddy arrested 25 by himself.
Carter: ...My daddy once saved five crackheads from a burnin' building, by himself.
Lee: My daddy once caught a bullet with his bare hand.
[...]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "30 Rock: Larry King (#3.12)" (2009)

Soundtrack:

Fight the Power

A fun addition to the buddy cop genre

When a diplomat's daughter is kidnapped in the US, a Chinese policeman Lee is sent to help the FBI with the investigation. Not wishing his help the FBI arrange a LAPD officer Carter to keep him out of trouble. However with both Lee and Carter keen to be involved in the investigation, they set out on their own to find the girl overcoming both bad guys and cultural differences.

This is yet another buddy cop movie where different partners must overcome their differences to solve a crime. Here the difference is the black culture and the Chinese culture. The story is very unlikely but it makes enough sense to get by, all it needs is to hang in and create lots of set pieces. Which it does - there's not as much action for Jackie Chan as I would have liked and his fight scenes feel toned down in favour of Tucker's manic comedy (this was partially reversed in RH2). This is a shame because Tucker is funny but his manic antics can get a bit irritating in large doses - it needed more of Chan.

However it is funny and Chan does hold his own and get to show how fast he is. His fight scenes don't feel as inventive as in other films but he has a good chemistry with Tucker. The bad guys are quite characterless but it doesn't really matter as the lead duo manage to carry the film.

Overall a good buddy cop movie that is a good vehicle for both Chan and Tucker and plays on both their strengths to good effect. However as with RH2 most of the funniest moments come in the closing outtakes, which can't be a good thing.