I wasn’t a big fan of Rush Hour when it first came out. I didn’t see it in theatres or take it home on video (despite the countless free rentals we got working in a video store) and I was a little bothered to hear that Chris Tucker got paid more than Jackie Chan did for his work. Come on, it should at least have been equal pay, Chan is a legend!

The film is a variation of the buddy cop movie with no big surprises about who the baddie is and an unhealthy side of racism permeates the film.

Chan plays Lee a Chinese police detective who has been hunting for a crime lord, Juntao, who has stolen countless Chinese antiquities over the years. Lee is able to put a stop to his work in Hong Kong just as the city is handed back to the Chinese by the British.

When Han (Tzi Ma) is given a new position as Counsel in Los Angeles, he has to leave China behind, taking his young daughter, Soo Yung (Julia Hsu) who has a strong connection to Lee with him.

A couple of months later, Soo Yung is kidnapped by the Juntao organization and the FBI is called in. When Han demands that Lee be involved the detective hops on a plane, but the FBI is less than thrilled to learn this and looks to pawn Lee off on the LAPD, who assigns a loudmouth cop (honestly, his police work leaves a lot to be desired) named Carter (Tucker).

Throwing the pair together delivers a culture clash and they are less than thrilled to discover that they are both being shut out of the investigation, especially after Lee recognizes the parties involved.

The pair bring their own style to the investigation and are soon tearing up the streets of Los Angeles as they go toe-to-toe with everyone who is in the way of rescuing Soo Yung. There are gunfights and fisticuffs throughout as well as a laugh or two mixed in with all the racism.

But watching this film, you wonder if the production asked Jackie Chan to slow down his movements because he doesn’t seem to be as fast as he’s been before or since, and it’s almost slowed down enough that it feels like a lot of it is posing, even though Chan does some nice stuntwork.

I didn’t hate this film, but it’s not as great as some people thought it was back in the day when it first came out. You want to see Chan go full out and kick everyone’s ass, but that doesn’t happen, and Tucker and his rapid-fire delivery isn’t acting, it’s just talking really fast.

The film is packed with a lot of recognizable faces among the supporting cast and the production really tries to get the most out of its budget, but you can tell it’s not that big of a film, and there are times when it shows.

That and the racism don’t do this film a lot of good. Jackie deserves better!