DVD Reviews

Rush Hour - Blu-ray Review

By Jeff Swindoll Dec 31, 2010, 13:34 GMT

"Ain\'t never gonna have no partner," LAPD Det. James Carter insists. He gets a partner. And since that partner is played by dynamic martial arts legend Jackie Chan and motor-mouthed Carter is played by wisecracking Chris Tucker, "Rush Hour" zooms along with gleeful chemistry under the dynamic directorial hand of Brett Ratner. The case: rescue the kidnapped daughter of a visiting Hong Kong official. The result: amazing stunts (Chan does ...more

Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker teamed up for this “opposites attract” buddy comedy that spawned a franchise.

Hong Kong detective inspector Lee (Jackie Chan), on the last day of British rule, is set to track down mysterious crime boss Juntao. The raid only results in cornering Juntao’s right hand man Sang (Ken Leung) who escapes capture. The raid also nets the recovery of stolen treasures that Lee turns over to consul Han (Tzi Ma) and British commander Griffin (Tom Wilkinson).

When the handover from the Brits occurs, Han goes to Los Angeles to take a diplomatic position. However, on arrival Han’s daughter Soo Yung (Julia Hsu) is kidnapped by no other than Sang. The distraught Han calls in Inspector Lee to secure the release of Soo Yung.

Meanwhile, Captain Diel (Phillip Baker Hall) is upset with detective James Carter (Chris Tucker) who did major damage to a city block in pursuit of weapons dealer Clive Cod (Chris Penn) so he assigns Carter to look after Lee while he’s in L.A.

Carter’s assignment is actually to keep Lee away from the case, but the uneasy new partners find themselves even further immersed in the case.

The cop buddy comedy isn’t exactly a new genre, so much so that we’ve had several parodies of the same genre (the rotten Cop Out and the tepid Other Guys). Rush Hour doesn’t exactly plow any new ground – take a badass (Chan) and partner him with an annoying, comedy relief partner (Tucker) and hopefully the oil and water mix combines to make a hit.

That was certainly the case with Rush Hour as it was an international hit and led to two more sequels (the so-so third one showed the formula wearing thin). Tucker is certainly an acquired taste with his extremely over the top delivery, but Chan demonstrates his tried and true action hero status. However, the combination of the two makes a watchable popcorn summer blockbuster.

The two opposites of Tucker and Chan seem to work well together playing off of each other. It’s a fun ride that I liked taking. Happily the somewhat boring nature of the third film was dispelled going back to the one that started it all (with a forth film rumored to be coming).

Rush Hour is presented in a 1080p high definition transfer (2.40:1). Special features are presented in standard definition. You get two commentaries; one from director Brett Ratner and the second is an isolated score with commentary from composer Lalo Schifrin.

The 40 minute “A Piece of the Action” is a making of, the 13 minute “Whatever Happened to Mason Reese?” is a student film documentary by Ratner that also has an optional commentary from him, 3 minutes of deleted scenes, the 2 minute trailer, and two music videos directed by Ratner that also has an optional commentary from him as well.

Rush Hour is still a hit that is just fun to ride along with. Chan and Tucker have a odd chemistry that actually bolsters the film, no wonder a second film (well, that big box office didn’t hurt) was made.