Product Details

• Actors: Jackie Chan, Chris Tucker, Ken Leung, Tom Wilkinson, Tzi Ma
• Directors: Brett Ratner
• Writers: Jim Kouf, Ross LaManna
• Producers: Art Schaeffer, Arthur M. Sarkissian, James M. Freitag, Jay Stern, Jonathan Glickman
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Letterboxed, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: New Line Home Video
• VHS Release Date: June 22, 1999
• Run Time: 98 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (316 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 0780626621
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #435,534 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The plotline may sound familiar: Two mismatched cops are assigned as reluctant partners to solve a crime. Culturally they are complete opposites, and they quickly realize they can't stand each other. One (Jackie Chan) believes in doing things by the book. He is a man with integrity and nerves of steel. The other (Chris Tucker) is an amiable rebel who can't stand authority figures. He's a man who has to do everything on his own, much to the displeasure of his superior officer, who in turn thinks this cop is a loose cannon but tolerates him because he gets the job done. Directed by Brett Ratner, Rush Hour doesn't break any new ground in terms of story, stunts, or direction. It rehashes just about every "buddy" movie ever made--in fact, it makes films such as Tango and Cash seem utterly original and clever by comparison. So, why did this uninspired movie make over $120 million at the box office? Was the whole world suffering from temporary insanity? Hardly. The explanation for the success of Rush Hour is quite simple: chemistry. The casting of veteran action maestro Jackie Chan with the charming and often hilarious Chris Tucker was a serendipitous stroke of genius. Fans of Jackie Chan may be slightly disappointed by the lack of action set pieces that emphasize his kung-fu craft. On the other hand, those who know the history of this seasoned Hong Kong actor will be able to appreciate that Rush Hour was the mainstream breakthrough that Chan had deserved for years. Coupled with the charismatic scene-stealer Tucker, Chan gets to flex his comic muscles to great effect. From their first scenes together to the trademark Chan outtakes during the end credits, their ability to play off of one another is a joy to behold, and this mischievous interaction is what saves the film from slipping into the depths of pitiful mediocrity. --Jeremy Storey

From The New Yorker

Jackie Chan returns to American films in this mediocre action comedy, which co-stars helium-voiced comedian Chris Tucker. They play detectives on the trail of Asian kidnappers, and Chan, thankfully, has been given some room to orchestrate a few fine physical gags; otherwise the direction, by Brett Ratner, is clueless. Tucker vogues his performance-he's all large gestures and posturing-and his fast-talking character delivers tired dialogue full of bad jokes on Asian stereotypes. It's not much fun to watch. -Bruce Diones
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent DVD., March 7, 1999

By A Customer

The Movie:

Chris Tucker is the funniest man in the world, in my opinion. It's too bad that the movies he acts in are always running to try and hopelessly catch up with him. One of the funniest things in cinema and some of the most enjoyable comic moments in the past few years have come from watching Tucker's performances. You can almost see his mind working in overtime trying to think up what to say next; and you never know what he'll say next. He takes the best of what Eddie Murphy used to be and just speeds it up a few hundred....thousand notches. It's just his looks of mock anger that always make me laugh. Never has anger been so funny.

He's joined by action star Jackie Chan in this film, which, although it's very funny at times, never really moves above the level of average, forgetable entertainment. Chan has done better "stunt-orientated" films like "Supercop" and "Rumble In The Bronx". In those films, he really shined with his mix of good humor and quick action. Here he's made to be more in the shape of the plot's need for humor and dialogue over stunts...not to say that there aren't any stunts; there are. It's just that they are a little few and far between.

The story revolves around a Chinese Console member who's daughter is kidnapped. Chan is brought in by the console member. The only problem is that the FBI wants to solve this case itself, and Chan's detective is not welcome. Some of the funniest scenes in the movie are watching Tucker's detective come to the realization that all he's called on to do is babysit Chan's detective. So, we start into the age old buddy cop flick.

Thankfully, this one isn't too bad. A nice script, some very good moments also from Chris Tucker when he's allowed to just improv his performance. Thank god Tucker and Chan liven up the proceedings; Chan has his usual array of incredible stunts, running up and down the sides of everything, kicking, doing it all; Tucker's mouth and Chan's quick feet make a nice balance of opposites. It's unfortunate that the direction is average, the plot is something you've seen all before, but it's through the performances of Tucker and Chan who make "Rush Hour" worth watching. It's nothing new, but when it works, "Rush Hour" is a whole lot of fun.

The DVD: Picture Quality: New Line has done a phenomenal job with the transfer of "Rush Hour". The colors of Los Angeles are incredibly vivid and just pop on this disc. Look at the reds in the Chinatown scenes or the colors of the neon at night. The color saturation is wonderful and there is no bleeding in the colors; the light from a neon sign looks perfectly sharp and clear. Speaking of sharpness, the images themselves are perfectly clear and sharp throughout the disc. There are a few instances where there is a small shimmering problem, but compared to a lot of the other discs I've seen lately, the shimmering in this disc isn't worth mentioning. Again, images are razor sharp throughout, there aren't any other problems at all with this disc. There are a lot more pros to talk about, though. Skin tones are 100% perfect. There is definitely no pixelization in the disc whatsoever, even in the low-light scenes or in the backgrounds. Black level in the picture is fantastic and contrast is wonderful. Shadow level is excellent and overall, this is a nice continuation of the New Line tradition of replicating the theatrical experience at home. There's occasionally a problem with otherwise great discs such as shimmering or what not and it takes you out of the experience. There's nothing on this disc that's problematic enough to take the viewer out of the experience of the movie and that's a sign of the very best DVDs. The 2.35:1 image is excellent. Excellent job, New Line.

Audio Quality: Impressive sound quality on this disc, emphasizing the sounds that added to the tone of fun on this disc and that's Lalo Schifrin's fun, urban and light score melding old R&B hits and current rap along with other wonderful bits and pieces of fun music to make an enjoyable score. The score fills the room and sounds full and clear. Dialogue also has that "same room" impression, recorded with clarity. There's a lot of impressive sound on this disc like the gunfire(director Ratner talks on the commentary about how he wanted to make the gunfire loud and emphasize it to make it "exciting"), which sounds great. The explosions also fill the room with great impact and force.

Extras:Now here's where this disc really shines: Commentary: There's an outstanding commentary with director Brett Ratner(who sounds at times sort of like Quentin Tarantino), who talks in depth wonderfully about the details of the production and working with Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan. It goes into the detail of working with the screenplay and building the stunt scenes. This is a commentary that really is exactly what I want to hear in a commentary: it tells the story of exactly what it took to get the story to screen, not just what's happening on the screen. This is a fascinating commentary and I recommend it as one of the best commentaries out there. There is also an isolated score(and it's a fantastic score) with commentary by the great composer Lalo Schifrin.

Documentary: Again, it's what I want to see in a documentary. The box calls it a "featurette", but "A Piece Of The Action: Behind The Scenes Of Rush Hour" is something I would consider a full documentary. There's a lot of fun going on in the interviews with the cast and crew, and it doesn't seem like a usual studio promotional documentary. A lot of the camera work is hand-held and it just seems like it was all done in fun and the fun that the cast and crew has carries over to the viewer. The documentary runs about 40 minutes and the last chapter is more in the way of the hilarious outtakes that ended the film.

Deleted Scenes: A short reel of deleted scenes that at the most, are about 1 minute. Nothing earth-shaking, but interesting to see. The reel is a few minutes in length.

Short film: Director Brett Ratner's very strange short film from when he was a student at NYU, "What Ever Happened To Mason Reese?". The film starts off with an intro from the director and commentary from the director is also available. The film itself....well, it's just strange, but it's nice to have on the disc.

Trailer: Of course, the trailer.(letterboxed at 2.35:1)

Cast/Crew: Very nice biographies of the cast/crew.

Music Videos: 2 music videos.

DVD-ROM: The screenplay, an interactive game and web links(available only to Windows DVD-ROM computer users)

MENUS: Sharp animated menus that start with a very funny piece of dialogue from Chris Tucker.

Grades: The Movie:A- Picture Quality:A- Sound Quality:A- Extras:A Menus:A Overall:A
This review was originally posted at the website "A Guide To Current Film/DVD".

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Watch This sucka, December 23, 2007

By 

Gunner (Smyrna, Georgia) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Rush Hour (Special Edition) (DVD)

Rush Hour DVD

Rush Hour starring Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan is sort of a mixed bag. Partially a martial arts movie, but also, a comedy. I know it sounds weird ,but it works. A laugh a minute, as they say. Packed with action.

Recommended for fans of Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan.

Gunner December 2007

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A good, funny, action packed movie., July 12, 2006

By 

Joshua Glowzinski "Gman" (Earth) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Rush Hour (New Line Platinum Series) (DVD)

I love this movie. I didn't know how it would be at first. Mainly because of the huge difference in the two actors. Well after watching I realized that the two are perfect together. One plays a serious cop whos only goal is to solve the crime that has been committed. While the other is a cool, slick cop who likes women and having a good time. At first neither really gets along and they don't know how to act around each other. After a while of being together though this changes and they are both trying to solve the crime while having a bit of fun at the same time. This is one of the best movies I have seen in a long time so I would say try it out.