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Rating: After more than four years since "Colpo Grosso Al Drago Rosso" (as usual, a ridiculous Italian title), the third installment of the movie "prototype of the total Americanization of Jackie Chan" has arrived in Italy — Rush Hour. Before reviewing this third episode, it's right to summarize the situation, since the Italian audience still has enormous gaps regarding the legendary cinema of the Hong Kong actor:
Jackie Chan, after an unparalleled film career as a "phenomenon" of action and comedy films, mainly relegated to the Eastern circuit, caught the attention of the larger audience with a Chinese production shot in America in 1994/95, namely "Rumble In The Bronx," known here as "Terremoto Nel Bronx." The film was a real slap in the face to all American action film heroes; Stallone, Willis, Segal, Van Damme, and all these big shots, had to remain silent in front of the incredible skills of this ingenious athlete with a funny face. Chan's recipe was completely new in the USA circuit: physical comedy inspired by silent film comedies cleverly mixed with spectacular action, performed without the use of special effects or sophisticated tricks, and with traditional Chinese kung fu, that is, Buster Keaton, Bud Spencer, and Terence Hill joining Bruce Lee in a single recipe! GENIUS! The action was entirely performed by Jackie himself and his trusty team of super professional stuntmen. Real building jumps! Fights with shopping carts and refrigerators! Wild stunts on Hovercrafts! All strictly REAL! Jackie's cinema was a genuine, artisanal, fun, GENIUS, pure product, and with an unprecedented spectacular in action cinema history! (but try explaining that to the Italians!!)
How could such a phenomenon escape from the clutches of the Americans? By now it’s known that everything America touches, which doesn’t belong to them, turns to CRAP! It happened with Bruce Lee too, before dying he was about to get screwed by the Americans, for MONEY he was about to ruin his style! And if he were alive today, he too would have made some huge blunders like this Rush Hour! (The motive is always the same, THE DOLLAR!)
Rush Hour was indeed, in 1998, the movie that brought Jackie to Hollywood success, but it did so in the worst possible ways! Jackie had aged, he broke his bones easily, and everyone knew him as the guy who got hurt during his films! In America, you can't do that, hence: insurance companies preventing dangerous stunts, fight scenes shortened to the bone because of American tastes that want 15 minutes of jokes and one of action! American tough-guy lines put into the mouth of a Chinese star who at the time didn’t even speak perfect English (and people laughed at this! And not at his fusions of silent films with martial arts! Total ignorance!! An offense to cinema! Obviously, the fault is also Chan’s!! And his bloody money!), American explosions, American shootings, American humor, in a film with a protagonist who has always fought against the banal spectacle of Americans to create a more original and pure product. In short... Jackie Chan the alternative Chinese has become a freaking American!
The first Rush is unwatchable in the acrobatic scenes! (apart from some gems and the usual grace in movements), the second showed a freer Jackie in the choreographies (since they shot in Hong Kong where Jackie can still afford some good solid show numbers even without a computer) and now this third which is.. (let's get to the review):
Mission Paris:
Same recipe as the previous episodes, same situations, more or less the same film but embellished by some well-executed comic gags and a good dose of adrenaline-pumping USA action, but I repeat.. what does Jackie Chan have to do with adrenaline in an awesome American film? Oh yeah... he sold his soul to Hollywood for the god of money!
The first half of the film is fun, full of jokes and situations to laugh about, even the action scenes are characterized by excellent editing and great showmanship from Jackie’s Stuntman Team, at least they still give their best! (always assuming it was them behind those biker helmets!), The second part, however, is extremely forced! By now director Brett Ratner is out of ideas! He found some good ones but they were enough for a short film at best! The ticket price is therefore worth it for the entertaining and well-made first part.
Jackie Chan is a ghost of himself: at 53 he can't afford to do dangerous stunts anymore but.. what Ratner pretends not to know is that Chan is still a MASTER of kung fu, a virtuoso of physicality, and an excellent juggler, as he proved in the deleted scenes of the recent "pallottole cinesi 2" (full scene in the library) or in the stunning hand-to-hand combats of "New Police Story", a man's skills will never die! It would have been enough to let him devise a quarter-hour of choreographed fights using unusual objects, with his men's stunts and clown acrobat numbers in the first person.. this is Jackie! He’s not just the one who throws himself off buildings! But Ratner didn’t get it! Here there is no substantial hand-to-hand! No truly ingenious choreography! They want to present Jackie as a super stuntman at 53! But it's no longer like that! And the result is pathetic! Fake jumps, computerized fights (in the final jump with the flag Jackie is entirely computer-generated!!!!) and many exaggerations that only make a RIDICULOUS a master who for years has been the flagbearer of action cinema without tricks! A disgrace! Nobody in America knew how to exploit Jackie’s skills! Except maybe, as I said above, the director of "Pallottole cinesi 2" (in which there was the ingenious fight with the umbrellas at the market, to the rhythm of Gene Kelly!!!!!) Chris Tucker is a sympathetic performer but not a skilled comedian! The lines sewn onto him are funnier than his physical performance, especially due to some facial expressions that are a bit forced and unappealing. In short.. a USA-branded entertainment product, it’s fun but.. Jackie Chan shouldn’t have done it! But by now.. it's too late! The great myths of Hong Kong have ended their artistic lives by setting foot in America! As confirmed by Jackie Chan in the interview, "I do it only for money! My real fans hate Rush Hour" at least he had the guts to admit it.
But apart from this sermon from a Jackie enthusiast, I recommend everyone to watch it to have a few healthy laughs in company and have fun with some good action scenes. Especially indicated for an audience of adolescent kids who pee themselves laughing watching a black guy and a Chinese guy exchanging snappy lines throughout the film.
As far as Jackie Chan is concerned, I only save the fight on the Eiffel Tower, which even though "fake," still manages to highlight the athletic skills of the fifty-year-old protagonist (who can still express some dynamism in the stunts even with safety wires).
For the enthusiasts: rewatch Drunken Master! Until you wear out your DVD player!!!
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