The genre "buddy cop" had already proved in theaters that it was a formula that worked, with its greatest exponent being the "Deadly Machine" franchise, which, incidentally, arrived in its fourth and final episode in the same year that "Rush Hour" was released. ". The formula is quite simple: bring together two officers of very different styles and personalities and place you in the middle of an action-packed investigation. Rush Hour began as a specific script written in 1995 by screenwriter Ross LaManna. The script was sold by William Morris of LaManna's agent, Alan Gasmer, to Hollywood Pictures, a division of the Walt Disney Company, with Arthur Sarkissian added as producer.
After hiring director Ratner and developing the project for more than a year with producers like Sarkissian, Jonathan Glickman and Roger Birnbaum, Disney Studios boss Joe Roth turned the project around, citing concerns about the $ 34 million budget and Chan's appeal to the American public. At the time, Martin Lawrence was connected to the project. Several studios were interested in acquiring the project. New Line Cinema was confident in Ratner, having done Money Talks with him, so they committed to a budget and a Rush Hour start date. After Rumble's success in the Bronx, Brett Ratner wanted to put Jackie Chan in a thriller, not as a co-star or helper, but on an equal footing with an American star. Ratner flew to South Africa, where Chan was filming and presented the film. A few days later, Chan agreed to star in the film and not long after flew to Los Angeles and met Chris Tucker. Ratner credited Tucker with obtaining his first feature film, Money Talks, and thought Tucker and Chan would make a great team.
In Hong Kong, on the last night of British control over the site, Inspector Lee (Jackie Chan), a close friend of Consul Han (Tzi Ma), manages to prevent precious pieces of China's history from being smuggled out of the country. Two years later, crime boss Juntao (Tom Wilkinson) decides to take revenge and kidnaps Han's daughter, who now lives in Los Angeles as a Chinese diplomat. Since he doesn't trust the FBI, Han calls Lee to help him rescue his daughter. But FBI officials do not want any outside help in the case and, to prevent Lee from getting in the way of investigations, they appoint a rebel and talkative detective, James Carter (Chris Tucker), to accompany him. The FBI's intention is for Carter to keep Lee as far away from the case as possible, but he doesn't know that. Until, when Carter finds out the real intention of his assignment in the case, he decides to help Lee to finally find the kidnapped girl.
Knowing how to explore the best qualities of comedians was a big hit in the inspired script by Ross LaManna and Jim Kouf. Jackie plays Lee, a trusted inspector for the newly appointed Chinese diplomat consul in the U.S. When the official representative's daughter is kidnapped in Los Angeles, Lee is called in to personally assist in investigations against the FBI's will. Jackie's arrival in America also marks his first role in the English language, a necessary factor to accompany the incessant chatter of Agent Carter, his partner in the feature. Tucker's character is a big-time member of the Los Angeles police department who is called to the case, but with the sole purpose of distracting and removing the unwanted Chinese inspector from the investigation. The ungrateful assignment touches Carter's pride, who then decides to solve the kidnapping alone, only with Lee in tow.
Carter's surprise at discovering Inspector Lee's skills is similar to that of the large world audience, who until then had been unaware of Jackie Chan's work, since the reach of Asian cinema was not as great as that of Hollywood. The Chinese choreograph and perform their own fight scenes without any stunt, even in the most dangerous parts. Above that, his differential is still in the charisma of the shy smile and the awkwardness that appears both in the performance and in the style of the fights, when using any improvised object against the enemies and preferring hand to hand combat to the use of weapons. Such characteristics make Jackie's persona look like that of an ordinary man, favoring the identification of the audience and justifying his position as one of the most successful artists in cinema. The director Brett Ratner does an excellent job, both in the comics and in the action. While the "Rush Hour" action revolves around Chan with scenes involving creative and extremely well-choreographed struggles, the comic center stays with Tucker, who fits joke after joke with his hysterical way of the well-meaning idiot who doesn't know how to stay quiet. As a spectator, it is difficult to differentiate when the expressive actor's memorable phrases appear from the script or are offhand, but the result is always hilarious. The chatterer lines up references to names, dances and pop culture songs and still has space to stage a reference to "The Seven Samurai", when he doesn't see where a coup like the drunken samurai from Kurosawa came from. Allusions to Asian cinema are also present in the setting up of the prologue in Hong Kong, in the instrumental composition of the score and, of course, in the plot and gags imported from previous films by Jackie Chan himself.
The feature is different from others in the genre for being able to create its own style through a very interesting mix, which even gave rise to others similar, changing only the time and setting, such as "Hit or Run", also starring Jackie Chan shortly afterwards. In addition to the opposites that complement each other very well, the insertion of jokes and situations related to cultural differences gains space, as it could not be otherwise. While Detective Carter makes fun of the American way of living compared to Orientals, of blacks "Never touch a black man's radio", and of the periphery in general, Detective Lee shows a typical Chinese food for Carter to eat.
The great chemistry between the characters of Jackie and Chris, both in the dialogues and in the action scenes, brings to "Rush Hour" a sweet and fun essence that sets it apart from other titles that combine comedy and martial arts. Brand of Chan's films, the display of recording errors (bloopers) during the credits, to end the film experience with a positive beat, here it wouldn't even be necessary due to the more than pleasant final result. The interesting thing is that years later, Chan stated in an interview that, when he did this first part of the franchise, he just wanted to test the North American film market and that he did not have high expectations: "When we finished filming, I felt very disappointed, because it wasn't a movie I liked and I didn't want the action scenes involved. I felt that the action style was very Americanized, and I didn't understand American humor," said the actor in a blog on his website.
Rush Hour was Chan's first film to reach $ 100 million at the box office, reaching $ 141 million., Making the film a box office success and received positive reviews from critics. The film has great action scenes even though there are some unnecessary ones that only serve to fill space in the duration of the film, such as the scenes in which Lee tries to get rid of Carter soon after being received at the airport, proof that the script is too simplified and moreover, it fails to have a cartoon villain and a climax that does not excite. But despite these flawed points in the script, the film works because of the rapport between the Tucker/Chan duo, the humor and the excellent choreographed action sequences. It is an extremely fun and exciting film that is always worth revisiting.
After hiring director Ratner and developing the project for more than a year with producers like Sarkissian, Jonathan Glickman and Roger Birnbaum, Disney Studios boss Joe Roth turned the project around, citing concerns about the $ 34 million budget and Chan's appeal to the American public. At the time, Martin Lawrence was connected to the project. Several studios were interested in acquiring the project. New Line Cinema was confident in Ratner, having done Money Talks with him, so they committed to a budget and a Rush Hour start date. After Rumble's success in the Bronx, Brett Ratner wanted to put Jackie Chan in a thriller, not as a co-star or helper, but on an equal footing with an American star. Ratner flew to South Africa, where Chan was filming and presented the film. A few days later, Chan agreed to star in the film and not long after flew to Los Angeles and met Chris Tucker. Ratner credited Tucker with obtaining his first feature film, Money Talks, and thought Tucker and Chan would make a great team.
In Hong Kong, on the last night of British control over the site, Inspector Lee (Jackie Chan), a close friend of Consul Han (Tzi Ma), manages to prevent precious pieces of China's history from being smuggled out of the country. Two years later, crime boss Juntao (Tom Wilkinson) decides to take revenge and kidnaps Han's daughter, who now lives in Los Angeles as a Chinese diplomat. Since he doesn't trust the FBI, Han calls Lee to help him rescue his daughter. But FBI officials do not want any outside help in the case and, to prevent Lee from getting in the way of investigations, they appoint a rebel and talkative detective, James Carter (Chris Tucker), to accompany him. The FBI's intention is for Carter to keep Lee as far away from the case as possible, but he doesn't know that. Until, when Carter finds out the real intention of his assignment in the case, he decides to help Lee to finally find the kidnapped girl.
Knowing how to explore the best qualities of comedians was a big hit in the inspired script by Ross LaManna and Jim Kouf. Jackie plays Lee, a trusted inspector for the newly appointed Chinese diplomat consul in the U.S. When the official representative's daughter is kidnapped in Los Angeles, Lee is called in to personally assist in investigations against the FBI's will. Jackie's arrival in America also marks his first role in the English language, a necessary factor to accompany the incessant chatter of Agent Carter, his partner in the feature. Tucker's character is a big-time member of the Los Angeles police department who is called to the case, but with the sole purpose of distracting and removing the unwanted Chinese inspector from the investigation. The ungrateful assignment touches Carter's pride, who then decides to solve the kidnapping alone, only with Lee in tow.
Carter's surprise at discovering Inspector Lee's skills is similar to that of the large world audience, who until then had been unaware of Jackie Chan's work, since the reach of Asian cinema was not as great as that of Hollywood. The Chinese choreograph and perform their own fight scenes without any stunt, even in the most dangerous parts. Above that, his differential is still in the charisma of the shy smile and the awkwardness that appears both in the performance and in the style of the fights, when using any improvised object against the enemies and preferring hand to hand combat to the use of weapons. Such characteristics make Jackie's persona look like that of an ordinary man, favoring the identification of the audience and justifying his position as one of the most successful artists in cinema. The director Brett Ratner does an excellent job, both in the comics and in the action. While the "Rush Hour" action revolves around Chan with scenes involving creative and extremely well-choreographed struggles, the comic center stays with Tucker, who fits joke after joke with his hysterical way of the well-meaning idiot who doesn't know how to stay quiet. As a spectator, it is difficult to differentiate when the expressive actor's memorable phrases appear from the script or are offhand, but the result is always hilarious. The chatterer lines up references to names, dances and pop culture songs and still has space to stage a reference to "The Seven Samurai", when he doesn't see where a coup like the drunken samurai from Kurosawa came from. Allusions to Asian cinema are also present in the setting up of the prologue in Hong Kong, in the instrumental composition of the score and, of course, in the plot and gags imported from previous films by Jackie Chan himself.
The feature is different from others in the genre for being able to create its own style through a very interesting mix, which even gave rise to others similar, changing only the time and setting, such as "Hit or Run", also starring Jackie Chan shortly afterwards. In addition to the opposites that complement each other very well, the insertion of jokes and situations related to cultural differences gains space, as it could not be otherwise. While Detective Carter makes fun of the American way of living compared to Orientals, of blacks "Never touch a black man's radio", and of the periphery in general, Detective Lee shows a typical Chinese food for Carter to eat.
The great chemistry between the characters of Jackie and Chris, both in the dialogues and in the action scenes, brings to "Rush Hour" a sweet and fun essence that sets it apart from other titles that combine comedy and martial arts. Brand of Chan's films, the display of recording errors (bloopers) during the credits, to end the film experience with a positive beat, here it wouldn't even be necessary due to the more than pleasant final result. The interesting thing is that years later, Chan stated in an interview that, when he did this first part of the franchise, he just wanted to test the North American film market and that he did not have high expectations: "When we finished filming, I felt very disappointed, because it wasn't a movie I liked and I didn't want the action scenes involved. I felt that the action style was very Americanized, and I didn't understand American humor," said the actor in a blog on his website.
Rush Hour was Chan's first film to reach $ 100 million at the box office, reaching $ 141 million., Making the film a box office success and received positive reviews from critics. The film has great action scenes even though there are some unnecessary ones that only serve to fill space in the duration of the film, such as the scenes in which Lee tries to get rid of Carter soon after being received at the airport, proof that the script is too simplified and moreover, it fails to have a cartoon villain and a climax that does not excite. But despite these flawed points in the script, the film works because of the rapport between the Tucker/Chan duo, the humor and the excellent choreographed action sequences. It is an extremely fun and exciting film that is always worth revisiting.