Much like Jackie Chan himself, I've never been a particularly big fan of the 'Rush Hour' films and personally feel they have gained far more recognition than they deserve. Admittedly they did give Chan his shot at the Hollywood market and can occasionally pass themselves off as mindless entertainment, but it's the overly familiar formula, woeful racial stereotyping, and tedious rantings of Chris Tucker that have always put a dampener on them for me.  With that in mind, I begrudgingly decided to give this third outing a shot even though it clearly promised more of the same and relied heavily on the plus points of the previous two outings for its appeal.

When a sniper attempts to kill Ambassador Han during Inspector Lee's (Chan) watch, Lee promises his daughter that he will track down the people responsible.  Luckily, the assassins return in an attempt to finish the job and with the help of Detective James Carter (Tucker), Lee manages to prevent any further harm as well as capture and interrogate a suspect. Strangely enough, the man turns out to be French which leads our heroes to relocate their search to the streets of Paris.  With Carter always keen to take in the night life and the trail leading our heroes to popular clubs, it isn't long before they are causing quite a stir with the local gangs as well as the police.  However, there is a secret that Lee is withholding and as the case is coming to a close he is going to have make some difficult decisions.

Even if you're a fan of the 'Rush Hour' series, I very much doubt that this third film will be do enough to satisfy your desire for more humourous police escapades.  From the very beginning, it's clear that the overly familiar buddy cop setup has finally had its day and the cast and crew are just going through the motions, hoping to earn themselves a few more easy millions in the process.  The script for this part is particularly paper thin, doing nothing more than relocating our heroes into fresh surroundings that are unfamiliar to the two of them with a poor excuse for a story that is littered with numerous unresolved plot points and vague tie-ins with the original movies. However, the film's real downfall is the chemistry between the two leads (one of the lynchpins of the series) that lacks any kind of spark and is hampered by weak comedy that just seems so predictable that it fails to raise even a wry smile at the best of times.  The actors themselves are also beginning to lag with Chan looking noticeably bored for the most part whilst Tucker's routine of playing up to the camera appears to be a case of constant repetition.

One of the other most disappointing elements of this film is the action, which is so lacking that it usually slips by practically unnoticed. Although it's fair to say that the 'Rush Hour' films have never exactly whipped up a storm in this department, Chan has occasionally managed to pull out a few of the stops and create a couple of scenes that his hardcore fans can appreciate. Sadly though, the set pieces here are so bland that for the majority of the running time I barely batted an eyelid and one wonders how much input Chan himself had or whether the producers just decided to avoid pushing him too far considering his age.  Saying that though, judging by his recent Hong Kong outings Chan does still have a few tricks up his sleeve which only serves as further evidence that this film was cobbled together with very little effort.

I think it's fair to say that the 'Rush Hour' franchise has finally run its course and although this third film may do just about enough to warrant a rental for hardcore fans, I'm sure that even they would have to agree that the series should end here.  The film is mediocre at best and it's about time Tucker tried something new (god knows how the man has risen to such popularity considering he's only done about six films, none of which were particularly impressive) and Chan only has a few more years left in him which would be far better spent elsewhere. Sufficed to say, this one gets the thumbs down from me.