Rush Hour (1998)
★★★½ — Rush Hour (1998)
Brett Ratner had directed little of note before Rush Hour, with a handful of music videos and the modest thriller Money Talks (1997) to his name, making this a significant leap in scale and profile. New Line Cinema greenlit the project on the strength of Jackie Chan's international reputation and the rising profile of Chris Tucker following Friday (1995) and The Fifth Element (1997), pairing them in a buddy-cop formula that owed an obvious debt to the Lethal Weapon series. Chan, already a superstar across Asia and cult favourite in the West, was at a crossroads in his Hollywood attempts, having found Rumble in the Bronx (1995) a modest crossover hit. Rush Hour, arriving on a $33 million budget, would go on to gross well over $240 million worldwide, effectively completing his mainstream American breakthrough and launching a franchise.
This is the film that introduced Jackie Chan to Western audiences in a big way, and what an introduction. His stunts are, as always, absolutely unreal, fluid, inventive, and often hilarious. Pairing him with Chris Tucker gave us a buddy cop dynamic that felt like a true successor to Lethal Weapon. It’s fast, funny, and just the right kind of chaotic. A little dated now, sure, but it still holds up as a solid action-comedy that knew exactly what it wanted to be.
Rating: ★★★½ | Year: 1998 | Watched: 2025-04-15
Where to watch (UK)
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Related on Movies With Macca
More from Brett Ratner: X-Men: The Last Stand (2006) · Rush Hour 2 (2001) · Rush Hour 3 (2007)
More with Jackie Chan: Hand of Death (1976) · Rumble in the Bronx (1995) · Skiptrace (2016) · Gorgeous (1999)
More from the 1990s: Lessons of Darkness (1992) · Shinjuku Boys (1995) · Blue (1993) · Cemetery Man (1994)
More action: A Better Tomorrow (1986) · The General (1926) · Hand of Death (1976) · Daredevil (2003)
More comedy: The Eagle (1925) · The General (1926) · Americana (2023) · The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988)
