Rush Hour (1998)
★★★½ — Rush Hour (1998)
There are introductions, and then there are introductions. For a huge swathe of Western audiences in 1998, Rush Hour was the moment Jackie Chan stopped being a name they'd half-heard and became someone they absolutely had to pay attention to. And honestly, what a way to make an entrance.
I'd seen Chan before, of course. Rumble in the Bronx (1995) had already given me a taste of what the man could do. But there's something about seeing him dropped into a slick Hollywood production, bouncing off a high-energy American co-star, that made it all click for mainstream audiences in a way that nothing before quite had. The film knew it had something special and leaned into it hard.
Because those stunts. Good grief, those stunts. Chan's physicality is something that no amount of CGI trickery has ever matched, before or since. There's a fluidity to the way he moves through a fight scene that makes it look almost playful, like he's improvising jazz while everyone else is reading sheet music. And the humour is baked right into it. He doesn't just dodge and strike, he reacts, he mugs, he turns near-disaster into something that makes you laugh and wince at the same time. It's a genuinely rare gift, and Rush Hour gives him plenty of room to show it off.
Then there's Chris Tucker. Look, Tucker is a divisive figure, I get that. He is loud. He is relentless. He does not have an indoor voice or, seemingly, an indoor anything. But paired with Chan, something genuinely clicks. The dynamic works precisely because they're so mismatched. Chan's careful, precise, quietly funny. Tucker is pure chaos energy. Put them together and you've got a buddy cop pairing that feels like a proper heir to Lethal Weapon, two people who have absolutely no business working together and are therefore perfect together.
The plot, in fairness, is not the point. There's a kidnapping, there are villains, there are various Los Angeles locations getting messed up in entertaining ways. It moves fast enough that you're never sitting around waiting for something to happen, and it never takes itself seriously enough to make you feel like it should be more than it is. It knows its job. Its job is to be fast, funny, and just the right kind of chaotic. It does that job very well.
Is it dated? Yeah, a bit. Some of the comedy has aged less gracefully than the action, and there are moments where you can feel the late nineties in ways that aren't entirely flattering. But I'd argue the core of it, the chemistry between the two leads, the inventiveness of the action, the sheer good-natured energy of the whole thing, holds up better than a lot of its contemporaries.
What Rush Hour did was prove that Jackie Chan could anchor a major Hollywood release without sanding down what made him special in the first place. That's not a small thing. Plenty of international stars have made that crossover and lost something essential in the translation. Chan didn't. If anything, this film gave him a bigger stage for it.
Three and a half stars. A genuinely fun action-comedy that earned its place as a late nineties crowd-pleaser, and one that's still worth your time today. I've followed Chan through a lot of films, and if you want to see where this particular chapter of his career went next, I've covered Rush Hour 2 (2001) and Rush Hour 3 (2007) as well. Though I'd suggest you enjoy this one first and manage your expectations accordingly from there.
Rating: ★★★½ | Year: 1998 | Watched: 2025-04-15
Where to watch
Watch in the UK
Stream: Amazon Prime Video · HBO Max Amazon Channel · Amazon Prime Video with Ads · ITVX Premium
Rent: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Google Play Movies
Buy: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Google Play Movies
Physical: Amazon UK · Zavvi
Watch in the US
Rent: Amazon Video · Apple TV Store · Google Play Movies · YouTube
Buy: Amazon Video · Apple TV Store · Google Play Movies · YouTube
Physical: Amazon US
Affiliate disclosure: Movies With Macca may earn a small commission on purchases or subscriptions started via these links. It costs you nothing extra.
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)
