(3 out of 5 Stars)

Remember, Oceans 13, Spiderman 3, Shrek 3 and Pirates 3?  Me neither.  The summer of 2007 brought four bad sequels, one brilliant one (The Bourne Ultimatum) and one that is exactly what we ask for from a sequel – Rush Hour 3.  No fancy title, no complex plot, just a bunch of fun action sequences, slight comical references to the previous 3 films, and no need to be trilogy, just Carter and Lee fighting the Triads who of course have some relation to Lee’s family in China and the need to protect someone from being murdered.

Rush Hour 3 is directed by Brett Ratner who did all other Rush Hour films.  Jackie Chan returns playing Inspector Lee jumping around doing some fun martial arts and action sequences that no one in their right mind would do when they are fighting bad guys.  Chris Tucker returns as Detective Carter in trouble with his own police department, fighting with Lee over some superficial situation, running his mouth, and of course wooing every woman he comes in contact with.

The great thing about this movie is that no one has to see the first two to make sense of it.  We also are given a halfway reasonable plot, but really do we care?  We’re here to see Jackie Chan and hear Chris Tucker.  This movie does what Live Free or Die Hard does – gives us the characters we love with the no thinking action we seek and just enough plot to keep us waiting for the next action sequence.  I’d say Rush Hour 2 probably brings the best combination of action and hilarity but this third one does just fine.

The movie ends with Rush Hour’s famous quote, “You go this way, I go that way.”  Of course, they both go the same way right at the person they are ready to punch and that is exactly what Rush Hour 3 does, comes straight at you, and asks you to join Carter and Lee having some fun kicking some bad guys ass.

Similar recommended titles: Rush Hour and Rush Hour 2