Customer Reviews

Rush Hour (Widescreen Edition) [VHS]

5 star:		(227)
4 star:		(54)
3 star:		(24)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

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".

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

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.

I get a kick out of this movie. The way Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker interact and play off each other is so hilarious. Jackie Chan's Hollywood career got a second break with Rush Hour and the plot has more substance than most Jackie Chan movies.

We got James Carter, played by Chris Tucker, who is an LAPD detective with a penchant for dancing Michael Jackson-style while blowing up blocks of buildings. This gets him into trouble with his sergeant who, at the request of the FBI, assigns him to a case where he ends up being a nurse maid to Lee (Chan), a Chinese detective who has just broken up a huge smuggling ring in Hong Kong. The FBI want Carter and Lee to not interfere with the investigation of the kidnapping of the Chinese Consul's daughter, but Lee and Carter do anyway, in their own charismatic manner and triumph where the FBI fail.

The martial arts expertise of Jackie Chan is fantastic and shows that his truly a master in what he does. Chris Tucker does a terrific job of playing the off the wall LAPD officer who trys to keep Chan's character out of the way of an investigation. Chris Tucker is an extremely well disciplined actor, and seems to go very smoothly with the styles of Jackie Chan. Not only is the action part of the movie good, the now common jokes in martial arts movies are all there, including many racial/cultural difference jokes not necessarily making fun of races, but the cultural differences. Rush Hour is nothing to take seriously, but it is fun to watch.

Rush Hour starring Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan is the new breed of all action packed and humorous police films. This film will keep you laughing from start to finish. Chris Tucker is too funny for words and Jackie Chan still has the quickest hands of any martial artist I have ever seen-other than the great Bruce Lee. It is a great story of how two cops from two different worlds and with two completely different personalities join up under the premise of steering clear of an FBI investigation involving the kidnapping of a Chinese dignitary's daughter. Of course, Detective Carter (Tucker) eventually fails in his attempt to keep Inspector Lee (Chan) out of the investigation. The two, however, ultimately bond and join forces to crack the kidnapping case without the help of the FBI. Rush Hour is full of explosive action and comic wit. I especially enjoy the feature on this DVD that allows the viewer to see those scenes that were deleted from the film and the feature that allows you to jump to a particular scene. Rush Hour is a must have for all movie lovers. Kudos!!

Detective Carter (Chris Tucker) who has the fastest mouth in the L.A. police force has an assignment to track down a Chinese Consular's daughter with the help of Hong Kong detective Lee (Jackie Chan). The Two aren't getting along quite well for Carter thinks everything is his way, for Lee the mission is important but eventually along the way they become friends and must stop the international criminal mastermind behind this.

Phenomenal and entertaining action-comedy that has the right ingredients to make one of 1998's most popular movies! Chan and Tucker make a great team together. The movie has a perfect mix of action, laughs, and stunts from Chan, it's the best work Brett Ratner has done and the sequel is even better.

The DVD has crisp picture and sound with cool extras like audio commentary, isolated score, Deleted scenes, featurette, a short film, the theatrical trailer, DVD-Rom extras and music video by Dru Hill.

Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan have onscreen chemistry that shines in this film. Tucker is the fool, with Chan alternating between being the straight man to his antics...like a Laurel and Hardy for the new generation.

Granted, this film wont win any points for originality as neither the plot, nor any of the gags are original, but Chan and Tucker infuse the movie with pure fun.

Chris Tucker is typecast for life, due to his high pitched voice and need to nearly scream every line in every movie he makes, but his character in this film is custom made to fit that personality.

Jackie Chan delivers with his usual combination of Brce Lee meets Buster Keaton formula that always makes his movies good clean fun.

So if youre looking for a great Hollywood style actioner with Honk Kong style thrills, then this is the movie for you!

I thought that the movie was good. Jackie Chan was Inspector Lee who gets called in to help find Soo Young a little Chinese Girl. Chris Tucker is Det. Carter who is forced to keep Lee out of the way so that the LAPD can try to take all credit for solving the case. But soon the 2 manage to work their way in to save the little girl.

I thought that this one was much better then the sequel that came after. Chris Tucker had lots of Great one liners! "This is the United States of James Carter now. I'm the president.. I'm the emperior, I'm the king... I'm Michael Jackson you're Tito!"

The way Chan and Tucker play off each other is wonderful. So what if Tucker had problems with speaking Chinese... Jackie Chan still struggles with his english so I don't fault either one...

There is a big docufilm about the movie along with a special game that you can play to help save the little girl... Please watch with an open mind... It is a lot of fun...

Rush Hour is an action comedy featuring Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker. Chan and Tucker serve as police officers who end up working on an FBI case. In order to solve the case, they have to overcome their own personal problems with each other. The two end up meshing well and get the job done. This film is full of great stunts and explosions. One would never imagine that putting Chan and Tucker together would make a great film, but it did. The chemistry between Chan and Tucker is odd but exciting. They create a lot of laughs; this movie is absolutely hilarious. This is definitely a must see.

When I saw this movie in the theatre - I laughed for days! The chemistry between Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan is amazing.

They are naturally funny and seem to belong together. Brett Ratner did a fine job directing and the story although simple - does motivate the characters to a really fantastic finally.

Lots of fighting (Jackie Chan style) and lots of stunts. The DVD extras are great. Behind the scenes and the scenes as they appeared before and after editing.

This is a must for your comedy DVD colelction. I loved it. They are funny! (Remember its meant to entertain not to be used in a college thesis!)