Is Rush Hour 4 Really Needed?

credit: Rush Hour

It might not matter if this new installment to the Rush Hour franchise is needed or not, as it sounds likely that fans will be able to see it coming eventually, given that the news remains positive about the movie. But one big question that needs to be asked, and likely has been, is why it’s necessary at all. The first Rush Hour movie was funny and engaging, and placed one of the funniest actors of the time, Chris Tucker, with arguably one of the greatest action stars around, Jackie Chan. The story was fun since it brought a Chinese agent to America with the intent of rescuing the daughter of an old friend and taking down a notorious smuggler of ancient artifacts while placing him under the responsibility of a detective that had a bad habit of getting into trouble by not following procedure at all times. Tucker and Chan became one of the most popular on-screen duos in cinematic history with the first movie, especially since Tucker’s funny one-liners and ability to adapt to action scenes blended well with Chan’s undeniably amazing skills when it comes to using his environment to the best effect. But the fact is that things did start to break down as the movies continued to roll out. People were excited for parts 2 and 3, but the quality of the story has taken a huge hit. 

credit: Rush Hour

The first meeting of this pair was great since no one knew what to expect. 

People had seen buddy-cop movies up to this point since this has been a genre that has worked quite well in a lot of movies but not so well in others. The feeling is that the story needs to occur naturally and flow in a manner that makes it clear that while the two individuals that are being brought together might not like each other, they learn how to respect each other eventually by going through the arduous task of understanding each other. This is what happened with Tucker and Chan since their characters didn’t know each other, didn’t like each other, and had little to no respect for each other initially. But as the movie went on they came to an understanding that they were both cops, and they were both out to do essentially the same thing, which was to protect the innocent and bag the bad guys. Once that was established, they were able to start respecting each other and even became friends before the movie was over. 

The second movie wasn’t too bad since it showed Tucker visiting Chan’s part of the world. 

Rush Hour 2 managed to bring Tucker’s character to China, which was enough to keep things interesting since it was another culture shock for Carter that was even more immersive since he was on vacation, even while Lee was still working. When the two finally managed to get on the same page, however, the hilarity died down just a bit since it was time to get serious and go after the bad guys again. The inclusion of what could have been a love interest didn’t do this movie any favors since it kind of confused things and tried to expand the movie in a way that didn’t make a lot of sense other than to bring in another individual that could be of help to the duo. 

credit: Rush Hour

The third movie felt a bit cheesy since the story was starting to unravel a bit. 

The thing about the third movie is that if you forgot about the young girl in the first movie that was kidnapped and turned out to be a little firecracker filled with attitude, then you might not have really enjoyed this entry into the franchise. Even trying to remember the main point of the movie is kind of tough since it did have something to do with Lee’s background, but at the same time, it didn’t merit enough importance to make this movie that exciting, which is regrettable since the feature did utilize several great actors that fell kind of flat given that this movie feels as though it was made simply because Chris Tucker made a joke in the bloopers about another Rush Hour movie. 

It needs to be recognized that not every franchise needs to continue in order to remain popular. 

To be fair, Rush Hour would still be considered a great movie if it had stopped at the first or second one since the duo of Tucker and Chan is still considered to be one of the best that’s come along in quite a while. But the goal of Hollywood often appears to be to squeeze every dime possible out of a movie if they can, and unfortunately, this means that quality often gets run down by quantity until people finally wake up and realize what they’ve done.