It seems a shame that a genuine performer such as Jackie Chan now has to play second fiddle to Chris Tucker, who is back in movies after a merciful six-year absence and contributes a screeching, over-the-top comedy performance in the third instalment of the Rush Hour franchise.
Admittedly, Chan is now at the stage in his career when he prefers to cool it down a bit and show that he has a sense of humour as well as fast reflexes. But Brett Ratner's film gives him few of the better jokes and Tucker the chance to make us wish he'd just stop talking for a moment.
The absurd plot has plenty of bang-bang but very little blood as the pair take on the Triads in Paris with the aid of an anti-American taxi-driver (Yvan Attal), Max von Sydow slumming it as head of the World Criminal Court and Roman Polanski as a devious French detective. If I were you, I would watch von Sydow as the Knight in Bergman's revived The Seventh Seal instead.
Rush Hour 3
Cert: 12A
