History Film / RushHour

[[AC:Film/RushHour1998]]

[[AC:Film/RushHour2]] (2001)

[[AC:Film/RushHour3]] (2007)

* AbsurdlySpaciousSewer: In the third film. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] as the film is set in Paris, where the sewers really are like that.

** At one point in the first film, a couple of tourists ask Lee for directions to [[http://roscoeschickenandwaffles.com/ Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles]], a famous restaurant in LA. The restaurant was previously a plot point in ''Film/JackieBrown'', in which Chris Tucker's character is promised a free meal there [[spoiler: and then promptly murdered by Creator/SamuelLJackson]].

* AllPartOfTheShow: In Rush Hour 3, the Triads attempt to assassinate Genevieve in her cover as a headliner/musician, during one of her shows. When they open fire on the stage, both the gunplay and Carter and Lee's daring escape with her go applauded by the crowd, as it turns out Genevieve was putting on a mafia inspired performance that night. Even the Triad assassins themselves are confused that nobody is panicking.

* CeilingCling: Parodied in Rush Hour 2. Lee successfully does this to avoid detection from a guard, but quickly realizes he’s [[OhCrap staring down a security camera.]]

--> '''Lee:''' And don't worry. America is a very friendly place.\\

--->'''Carter''': Whoooo, you ''know'' he dead!

--->'''Chris Tucker''': Damn! He ain't gonna be in ''Rush Hour 3''!

* DragonTheirFeet[=/=]PostClimaxConfrontation: At the end of ''Film/{{Rush Hour 2}},'' Lee and Carter are catching their breath after defeating the BigBad, only for [[spoiler:Hu Li to arrive with a bomb that's about to blow.]]

-->'''Carter''': My father ''was'' a legend. My father was killed during a routine traffic stop in broad daylight by some punk who didn't want no ticket! His partner was supposed to get out of the car to back him up but never did!

-->'''Isabella''': Carter, this is your city, right?\\
'''Carter''': Yeah, this is my titty. I mean, this is my city.

* MadeOutToBeAJerkass: Carter gives Lee a hard time in ''Rush Hour 2'' about working cases during his holiday and the audience is supposed to feel sympathy for Lee as Ricky Tan killed his father. However it is worth pointing out that Lee told Carter that his supervisor invited them both to a party and then took Carter to a Triad bar without telling him the situation putting his life in danger as Carter assumed that the place would be full of police or normal people and might have revealed he was a policeman with his friend another policeman to a girl.

-->'''Carter''': Your daddy was a cop?\\
'''Lee''': Not a cop. An officer. [[ShroudedInMyth A legend]]. All over Hong Kong.\\
'''Carter''': My daddy [is] a legend too. All over America. My daddy once arrested 15 people in one night. By himself.\\
'''Lee''': My daddy arrest[ed] 25 by himself.\\
'''Carter''': My daddy saved 5 crackheads from a burning building. ''[[RunningGag By himself]]''.\\
'''Lee''': My daddy once [[BulletCatch caught a bullet with his bare hands]].\\
'''Carter''': [''{{Beat}}''] My daddy'll kick your daddy's ass all the way from here to China or Japan - [[RacialFaceBlindness wherever the hell you're from]] - and all up that Great Wall too.\\
'''Lee''': Hey, [[CavemenVsAstronautsDebate don't talk about my father]].\\
'''Carter''': [[HypocriticalHumor Don't talk about my daddy]].

** The plot of every movie is that Lee and Carter must stop a massive Chinese criminal organization that has a rich and/or powerful white man as either the head of said organization or at least a major corroborator. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in the second movie, when Carter correctly fingers Steven Reign as the "rich white man" shortly after his introduction.

-->[[spoiler:'''Carter''': Thank you, Benjamin. Thank you.]]

--> '''Lee:''' [[PrecisionFStrike SHIT!]]

-->'''Carter''': Who are you?\\
'''Yu''': Yu.\\
'''Carter''': No, not me, you!\\
'''Yu''': Yes, I am Yu.\\
'''Carter''': Just answer the damn question! Who are you?\\
'''Yu''': I have told you!\\
'''Carter''': Are you deaf?\\
'''Yu''': No, Yu is blind.\\
'''Carter''': I'm not blind, ''you'' blind.\\
'''Yu''': That is what I just said.\\
'''Carter''': You just said what?
-->'''Yu''': I did not say "what", I said "Yu"!
-->'''Carter''': That's what I'm asking you!
-->'''Yu''': And Yu is answering!
-->'''Carter''': Shut up! (''to Mi'') You!
-->'''Yu''': Yes?
-->'''Carter''': Not you, ''him!'' What's your name, man?
-->'''Mi''': Mi.
-->'''Carter''': Yes, you!
-->'''Mi''': I am ''Mi.''
-->'''Yu''': He's Mi, and I'm Yu.
** ''Rush Hour 2'' did it in the opposite direction, when discussing Carter's apparent death.
-->'''Carter:''' Who died?
-->'''Lee:''' You!
-->'''Carter''': Detective Yu?
-->'''Lee:''' Not Yu, YOU!
-->'''Carter:''' Who?
-->'''Lee:''' YOU!
-->'''Carter:''' Who?

--->'''Carter/Tucker:''' Damn! He ain't gonna be in Rush Hour 3!\\
'''Carter/Tucker:''' I'm not your brother? All the stuff we've been through? Rush Hour 1, Rush Hour 2?

* SequelHook: In an ''outtake'' of all places. After the villain of Rush Hour 2 is thrown out of a window onto a car, Carter quips "Damn... he ain't gonna be in Rush Hour 3"!

* SpringtimeForHitler: Jackie Chan has gone on record that he didn't think Rush Hour would be as successful as it became. He did the film to test the American market. He also admitted to not understanding a good portion of the jokes in the films.

--> '''Lee''': Don't worry, Chinese bamboo... is very strong!\\
[''the bamboo begins to tear apart'')
--> '''Carter''': W-Whoaa! L-Lee, are you sure!?
--> '''Lee''': [''hopelessly''] [[BlatantLies Y-Yes, I'm sure]]!
--> [''the bamboo tears apart in two and the duo falls'']

[''Sang shoots both guards and abducts Soo Yung'']

--> '''Carter''': Voulez-vous coucher avec moi...

* ArtisticLicenseChemistry: C-4 is a plastic explosive known for being extremely stable, and cannot be detonated by burning or shooting it. A trunkload of the stuff would also make a much, '''much''' bigger boom than what we see in the movie.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The first film may have its fair share of comedy, but it takes itself quite seriously in terms of the plot, and is a fair bit more traditional an action drama besides Carter's ego and Lee's martial arts. Compare and contrast to the sequels, which doubled down heavily on the comedic side of things to the point that were it not for the central protagonists, you'd think they weren't even in the same franchise.

* SoftWater: ''Completely'' averted in the climax of the first film. Juntao[[spoiler: a.k.a. Thomas Griffin falls from a height of at least ten stories into a small pool of water. Carter’s immediate response? “Woo, you know he dead.”]]

* NakedPeopleAreFunny: Demonstrated in ''2'' when Carter and Lee are stripped of their clothes and forced to run back to the police station with only a trash can lid and newspaper as their coverings.

** The plot of every movie is that Lee and Carter must stop a massive Chinese criminal organization that has a rich and/or powerful white man as either the head of said organization or at least a major corroborator. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in the second movie, when Carter correctly fingers Steven Reign as the “rich white man” shortly after his introduction.

* OnceAnEpisode: The climax of each movie will have the BigBad fight with Lee from a high spot and fall to their deaths, with Lee (and Carter in the sequels) nearly suffering the same fate afterwards.

* ItsAllJunk: Throughout the second movie, Lee has kept his father's cop badge as a TragicKeepsake, but in the end, after defeating Ricky Tan, he offers it to Carter. At first, Carter refuses because of how important it's been to Lee, but when Lee says he doesn't need it anymore, Carter accepts it.

** In ''Rush Hour 2'', Officer Carter starts to appreciate Music/TheBeachBoys, Lee's favorite band.

** When the first film was shown on TV years ago, "shit" was dubbed over every line with "stuff" or "it". As of today, the explicit word is muted out except the Comcast (USA Network, Syfy, E!, Bravo) broadcasts of the film is left uncut.

** Also in ''2'', he bursts in to Kenny's restaurant and humiliate him in front of his Chinese wife, children, and customers... then proceed to talk casually as if nothing happened. The thing is, unlike his FriendInTheBlackMarket contact in ''1'', Kenny is not just a restaurant owner but also a ''[[BunnyEarsLawyer martial arts expert]]''. Granted, Carter expected a violent response, and already drew his gun and pointed it at Kenny's head in the time it took Kenny to take a fighting stance. He wasn't likely to shoot, but he sees bullying and goading as a valid interrogation tactic. [[TruthInTelevision ...Which isn't unheard of among police departments.]]

* ArtisticLicenseReligion: The second movie features a scene where Carter for some reason orders a kosher meal on an airplane, which includes gefilte fish (the outtake of that scene focuses on Chris Tucker repeatedly stumbling over the word, and the dish's name was not included in the final cut, leaving only the "kosher meal" part). It's highly unlikely gefilte fish would be served as part of an airplane meal. It's something Jews generally only eat on the Sabbath and holidays, and it's a bit pricey for airplane food. The scene seems rooted in a popular misconception that equates kosher food with Jewish cuisine. ''Kashrut'' is simply a set of restrictions on what an observant Jew can eat, and most standard American meals can be made kosher. If you request kosher food on an airplane, it's going to be pretty much the same type of food as any other airplane meal; it isn't likely to be a traditional Jewish food like gefilte fish.

* ArtisticLicenseReligion: The second movie features a scene where Carter for some reason orders a kosher meal on an airplane, which includes gefilte fish (the outtake of that scene focuses on Chris Tucker repeatedly stumbling over the word, and the dish's name was not included in the final cut, leaving only the "kosher meal" part). It's highly unlikely gefilte fish would be served as part of an airplane meal. It's something Jews generally only eat on the Sabbath and holidays, and it's a bit pricey for airplane food. The scene seems rooted in a popular misconception that equates kosher food with Jewish cuisine. ''Kashrut'' is simply a set of restrictions on what an observant Jew can eat, and most standard American meals can be made kosher. If you request kosher food on an airplane, it's going to be pretty much the same type of food as any other airplane meal.

* ArtisticLicenseReligion: The second movie features a scene where Carter for some reason orders a kosher meal on an airplane, which includes gefilte fish (the outtake of that scene focuses on Chris Tucker repeatedly stumbling over the word, and the dish's name was not included in the final cut, leaving only the "kosher meal" part). It's highly unlikely gefilte fish would be served as part of an airplane meal. It's something Jews generally only eat on the Sabbath and holidays, and it's a bit pricey for airplane food. The scene seems rooted in a common misconception that equates kashrut with traditional Jewish food. A typical kosher meal on an airplane is going to be pretty much the same as any other airplane meal, other than its following Jewish dietary restrictions.[[note]]Kashrut is simply a set of religious restrictions on an observant Jew's diet--mainly that certain animals can't be eaten, and that they must be slaughtered in a particular way. Kosher food isn't a synonym for Jewish cuisine. Most popular dishes in America, from pizza to sushi to tacos, can be made kosher. Indeed, it's even possible for popular Jewish meals (such as bagels and lox) not to be kosher at all.[[/note]]

[[AC:FilmRushHour2]] (2001)

[[AC:Rush Hour 2]] (2001)

[[AC:Rush Hour 3]] (2007)

[[AC:Film/RushHour (1998)]] (1998)

[[AC:Film/RushHour1998]] (1998)

[[AC:Rush Hour]] (1998)

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[[AC:Rush Hour]] (1998)

On the last night of British rulership in UsefulNotes/HongKong, Detective Inspector Lee (Chan), a close friend of Consul Han (Creator/TziMa), confiscates stolen artifacts from Crime Lord Juntao. Six months later, Juntao abducts Consul Han's daughter Soo Yung (Julia Hsu) in Los Angeles. Lee flies in from Hong Kong to assist the FBI.

The FBI requests help from the LAPD to "babysit" Lee - who gladly use the opportunity to get rid of Detective James Carter (Tucker).

The first movie was a major success and became the 7th top-grossing film of 1998, with a gross of over $141 million at the U.S. box office ($269 million when adjusted for 2019 inflation). The combination of motor-mouthed Tucker with Chan's gravity defying stunts proved to be a winning combination, in no small part due to Chan's movies being mostly comedies anyway.

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/RushHour2.jpg]]

[[AC:Rush Hour 2]] (2001)

Lee and Carter are in Hong Kong on vacation. Lee sees Ricky Tan (John Lone), the leader of a group of counterfeiters, and a woman named Hu Li (Creator/ZhangZiyi) in a nightclub. Lee and Carter attempt to bust them but are unsuccesful.

But following some hunches, Lee and Carter fly back to Los Angeles, where they meet meet Secret Service Agent Isabella Molina (Creator/RoselynSanchez) who directs them on how to find the counterfeiters. Like the first movie, she was trying to get them out of her way, but Lee and Carter again find the right chain of evidence that takes them to UsefulNotes/LasVegas and the perfect money-laundering location.

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[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rushhour3.jpg]]
[[AC:Rush Hour 3]] (2007)

Inspector Lee and Detective Carter are back in action in Paris. After Ambassador Han is almost assassinated, they need to protect Genevieve (Noémie Lenoir), a French woman who has a list of the Triads' leaders. Lee also has personal struggles with a Chinese-Japanese criminal mastermind named Kenji (Creator/HiroyukiSanada), who is also Lee's long-lost blood brother.

Their race will take them across the city, from the depths of the Paris underground to the breathtaking heights of the Eiffel Tower, as they fight to outrun the world's most deadly criminals and save the day. Of the three, this is the [[{{Sequelitis}} least well-received]].

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The franchise was thought finished after the third movie especially since Tucker has moved away from urban comedies and Chan had appeared in less and less Hollywood films. However nine years since the last release, it was soon announced that the series will be rebooted into a [[Series/RushHour TV series]] with a new cast. It aired on CBS on March 31, 2016. [[ShortRunner And was cancelled on May 16, 2016]].

In 2015, Chan said to media that production for ''Rush Hour 4'' is in progress. He confirmed it again in 2022.

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* ArtisticLicenseReligion: The second movie features a scene where Carter for some reason orders a kosher meal on an airplane, which includes gefilte fish (the outtake of that scene focuses on Chris Tucker repeatedly stumbling over the word, and the dish's name was not included in the final cut, leaving only the "kosher meal" part). It's highly unlikely gefilte fish would be served as part of an airplane meal. It's something Jews generally only eat on the Sabbath and holidays, and it's a bit pricey for airplane food. The scene seems rooted in a common misconception that equates kashrut with traditional Jewish food. A typical kosher meal on an airplane is going to be pretty much the same as any other airplane meal, other than its following Jewish dietary restrictions.

** Han and Soo Yung are absent from the second film, but return in the third. ** Isabella, Lee's Secret Service love interest in the second film doesn't return in the third film. She and Lee broke up after Carter shot her in the neck.