On this day in comedy on August 10, 2007 Rush Hour 3 was released by new Line Cinema.
This third installment of the pairing of Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan as Detective Carter and inspector Lee is set in Paris and Los Angeles. When Lee’s boss is shot during a press conference undermining the Triads it’s fast paced action from there. The two law enforcers find themselves dealing with further assassination attempts, martial arts run-ins, dilemmas with relatives, racist transporters, seductive spies, a cavity search (ouch), hot intimacy, Roman Polanski, talk of decapitation, kidnapping of adults, male sword fighting with steel swords, death by spinning wheel, back shooting, dual face punching and interracial dancing to Edwin Starr.
This film is surrounded by interesting facts. It was not screened in Chinese theaters because there’s a 20 film quota per year from imported foreign films. Herman Cain was scheduled to play Chris Tucker’s father, but it was dropped for unspoken reasons. The critics lambasted it for being uninspired and called for the franchise to be ended. Some however, like Roger Ebert looked at the bright side. He said it wasn’t good, but it wasn’t bad either and face it – if you’re watching Rush Hour 3 you probably didn’t have anything better to do anyway.
Directed by Brett Ratner from a Jeff Nathanson screenplay, Rush Hour 3 was produced on a budget of $140 million. It grossed $49,100,158 in its first three days for a North American gross of $140,125,968 and a worldwide gross of $258,022,233.
By Darryl “D’Militant” Littleton
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