Rush Hour might be just another entry into the buddy cop subgenre, but thanks in large part to the interesting and unique pairing of loudmouth Chris Tucker and fantastic martial artist Jackie Chan, the movie succeeds quite well and has stood the test of time, albeit just over a decade now. The Blu-ray doesn’t look the greatest and is only a moderate upgrade over its DVD counterpart, but the audio does offer a good boost and most of the features have been ported over.
Rush Hour (1998)
Genre(s): Action, Comedy
New Line | PG13 – 98 min. – $24.98 | December 7, 2010
MOVIE INFO:
Directed by: Brett Ratner
Writer(s): Ross LaManna (story), Jim Kouf and Ross LaManna (screenplay)
Cast: Jackie Chan, Chris Tucker, Tom Wilkinson
Theatrical Release Date: September 18, 1998
DISC INFO:
Features: Commentary, Featurette, Deleted Scenes, Short Film, Music Videos, Isolated Score, Theatrical Trailer
Number of Discs: 1
Audio: English (DTS-HD MA 7.1), Spanish (Dolby Digital 5.1)
Video: 1080p/Widescreen 2.40
Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish
Codec: VC-1
Region(s): A
THE MOVIE – 3.75/5
Brett Ratner’s Rush Hour seems to be a combination of Beverly Hills Cop and Lethal Weapon as all three films share a law enforcement main character that’s “out there” and always in trouble with their police captain and, in regards to BHC, you also have the buddy cop element this time instead of black and white, it’s black and Asian with the latter offering up a side of martial arts to keep things fresh.
What Rush Hour also did was propel Chris Tucker, for better and worse, into stardom and subsequent $15-20 million paychecks for the sequels but it did much more for Jackie Chan who wasn’t well known in the States but boosted him into Hollywood with a few mundane movies like Shanghai Noon (and the ho-hum sequel, Shanghai Knights), The Tuxedo which was only good for Jennifer Love Hewitt’s eye candy, The Medallion and later finding moderate hits with The Forbidden Kingdom, Kung Fu Panda and The Spy Next Door.
As for the film itself, it’s not the perfect action movie by any stretch but the chemistry between the two stars, just like it did for Lethal Weapon, was the glue that kept the movie from falling apart. That and of course Jackie Chan’s incredible martial arts and stunts skills, something which not many Americans had seen in mainstream movies (and whose only reference was some bad Jean-Claude Van Dam movie).
In regards to Chris Tucker, I’ve never really been a fan of his and in all of the Rush Hour movies I kind of tolerated him focusing more on Chan and what he was doing. To me, Tucker has a fast mouth and, maybe at the time, thought he was the second coming of Eddie Murphy but the problem is Tucker isn’t very funny, just annoying. That being said, he does seem to be more subdued in comparison with the sequels and the freshness of this type of buddy cop genre helped move the story and characters along with little damage to the film as a whole.
Overall, I don’t know how well Rush Hour will hold up against films like Beverly Hills Cop and Lethal Weapon (forget the sequels), but going on 12 years now, I still found the movie to be entertaining through and through.
SPECIAL FEATURES – 2.5/5
All the features from the original DVD release have been ported over sans the DVD-ROM content and cast/crew biographies.
Feature Commentary – Whatever you might think about Brett Ratner you have to admit the man has charm and in this solo track, Ratner provides plenty of background information on how the project came to be, filming at certain locations and other production tidbits.
A Piece of the Action: Behind the Scenes of Rush Hour (40:53; SD) – The featurette chronicles how the movie was made from Brett Ratner courting Jackie Chan, working with Chris Tucker to the other casting choices and actual filming. This is actually a bare bones making-of meaning just some basic topic titles and safe comments by the cast (Tucker, Chan) and crew (including Ratner).
Deleted Scenes (3:03; SD) – We get a few ho-hum deleted scenes that don’t amount to much and were probably cut out for pacing issues.
Other features on the disc include Brett Ratner’s Short Film (13:12; SD), Whatever Happened to Mason Reese with an optional commentary with Ratner; an Isolated Score w/ Commentary by Composer Lalo Schifrin, two music videos for “Nuttin’ but Love” and “How Deep Is Your Love” both of which also have an optional commentary with Ratner; and the theatrical trailer (2:29; SD).
VIDEO – 3.25/5
Rush Hour makes its debut on Blu-ray nearly three years after the Rush Hour 3 BD. The movie is presented with a 2.40 aspect ratio and 1080p high-definition and for the most part it looks fine but I have this funny feeling some kind of DNR was used because I hardly noticed any film grain at all and the faces have an almost waxy look to them. I don’t know, maybe that’s how the original transfer was but this looks awfully clean.
AUDIO – 4.5/5
The disc features a vigorous 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track. Ever want to hear Chris Tucker’s loud moth in crystal clear lossless quality? Well, you’ve got your wish! The track also is strong during the numerous action sequences from the over-the-top explosion early on to several fight scenes between Chan and the baddies. The low frequency channel also gets some use during such scenes, though it’s not overly powerful.
OVERALL – 3.25/5
Rush Hour might be just another entry into the buddy cop subgenre, but thanks in large part to the interesting and unique pairing of loudmouth Chris Tucker and fantastic martial artist Jackie Chan, the movie succeeds quite well and has stood the test of time, albeit just over a decade now. The Blu-ray doesn’t look the best with what looks like waxy skin tones at times but the audio provides some depth and all of the important features from the original DVD release have been ported over. If you can nab this for under $10, then it might be worth the upgrade.
Brian Oliver, The Movieman
Published: 12/16/2010