The Rush Hour Of Jackie Chan
A hero is being hung down from a helicopter some 200 feet above. As the sun bets down, he swings about. Suddenly, a top needle of a skyscraper is pressing toward him. He fails to dodge and bumps heavily on the concrete needle.
This stimulating shot impressed in numerous Jackie Chan fans. Now it’s the “ rush hour” to be repaid for that devotion for him. As an Asia’s favorite action hero, he has finally conquered Hollywood. Rush Hour, Chan’s new made-in-America blockbuster, rocketed to the top of the charts on its opening weekend in the United States, winning an unexpected cross-over audience. In three days, the box-office tally was $33 million—the highest weekend gross ever for New Line Cinema. Now in its sixth week in American theatres, the film, directed by Brett Ratner, has so far taken in more than $117 million.
Chan had already scored when such films as Rumble in the Bronx and First Strike were released in mainstream theatres in the U. S., and not just in Chinatown and specialty video stores. Now Rush Hour has turned Jackie Chan into a household name the way Enter the Dragon made a legend of Bruce Lee.
The bi-racial pairing and good cop/bad cop storyline are predictably formulaic — Chan is Chinese and co-star Chris Tucker is black — similar to such films as the Lethal Weapon series starring Mel Gibson and Danny Glover. Yet the producers have wisely focused on the strengths of the two stars: Tucker’s hilarious, rapid-fire jive-talk, and Chan’s nimble derring-do in tight spaces and high places.
The film begins in Hong Kong on the eve of the hand-over as Han, a mainland Chinese diplomat, is dispatched to Los Angeles as consul general. A gangster promptly kidnaps Han’s darling daughter — and demands $50 million as ransom.
Though the vaunted Federal Bureau of Investigation gets called in. Han sends for his own man from Hong Kong, Lee(Chan), a Hong Kong detective with specialties to Han’s family. The FBI doesn’t like this one bit, and the stereotypical operation chief barks: “This is an FBI assignment, and I don’t need and help from the LAPD” —Los Angeles Police Department — “or some Chungking cop!”
When Lee arrives, LAPD Detective James Carter(Tucker) is assigned to keep him out of the real investigation. The dynamic duo inevitably team up, getting into one scrape after another. For example, they pursue one suspect through a building, nearly catching up with him until their collective weight sends them crashing through a rotting bridge.joozone.com