Carter and Lee, the famously diverse detective duo are back, and this time it's more pointless than ever. "Rush Hour 3" hopes that six years after the second film that viewers will be ready to jump back in with those quirky characters without any promise of bringing something new to the table. Not only does it settle for the same action gags and obnoxious jokes, but it seems to care even less about delivering them with any creative tact. It's like a mildly entertaining TV show episode.

The plot, something else not quite new, involves an assassination attempt on the life of Chinese Ambassador Han, which results in Carter and Lee traveling to France simply for a change of scenery because the US and China have already been done in the last two films. There in Paris, they are out to find and protect a girl with a secret list of names.

It's not that all of a sudden Chris Tucker got unfunny, but for the money they are paying him, they ought to try and improve his gag. He still treats women inappropriately and has blatant disregard for political correct speech except this time he just forces it at awkward moments. It sounded like writer Jeff Nathanson and director Brett Ratner were just hoping that because Tucker and Chan are black and Chinese respectively, that they were free from criticism of prejudice. It's not offensive, but "Rush Hour 3" walks a fine line with some of the dialogue.

The fight sequences are respectable as always, but even some of the action gags have been seen before. Nothing jumps out as particularly cool. Somehow there's always falling off a tall building in these movies and so this one follows suit with no good reason. Even the film's ending blooper reel feels remarkably like "Rush Hour 2's"

The appeal has simply worn off on this 10-year franchise. There was no indication that a third film would be successful 9 years after the first, but Ratner and the producers just decided to give it another go and hope the cash would follow anyway. Considering the movie barely grossed the estimated budget, I would say there will be substantial improvements if we are to see Tucker and Chan dance to "War" a fourth time. Even then, will anybody care?

Should movies make money, then the Hollywood rule of thumb is to make another, and another, until the franchise runs out of steam. The original Rush Hour was a Jackie Chan vehicle of sorts to break into Hollywood, and it made a lot of money with the mis-pairing opposite Chris Tucker in a buddy cop movie formula filled with action and comedy. Rush Hour 2 was made 3 years later and made even more money, but it took 6 years for the second sequel to be made, and 9 years for the entire trilogy to be done (pray tell, will there be another sequel?)

Is the franchise tired? Probably, yet probably not. Face it, it's Jackie Chan, and most of his films (with the exception of missteps such as Around the World in 80 Days) make Hollywood studios smile. You can rely on him to deliver the goods in any action comedy, but age unfortunately has caught up with him, not to mention as well the safer-than-safe minimal risks that studios in the West tend to take with its stars. The action sequences in Rush Hour 3 look a bit tired, tame, and very uninspiring, and what Jackie Chan can probably still do, has been whittled down to sequences that are just a pale shadow of what could have been.

Which leaves us with the comedy, thankfully still having its moments especially for those punchlines which deliver. Tucker again gets most of the snarky lines, and a target for those politically incorrect jokes, while dishing some of his own. If there's any hint of rudimentary character development after these years, is that his James Carter, besides having been relegated to traffic duties, managed to "half-chinese" himself, and no longer is that helpless cop who without his gun, can't kick a ball for nuts.

The plot is no rocket science, and in fact, the previous two movies just had something which could coast along from scene to scene, providing a platform either to get our heroes Lee (Chan) and his brother-from-another-mother James (Tucker) into fisticuffs, or provide something for laughs. The first had a kidnapping of a Chinese Consul's daughter which the duo had to investigate in the US, while the second brought them to Hong Kong on the trail of a counterfeiting scam. The third pits the detectives against Triads, and brings us full circle with the return of that little girl in the original movie, who's now all grown up, played by Chinese starlet Zhang Jingchu.

Zhang Jingchu follows in the footsteps of fellow compatriot Zhang Ziyi who starred in the previous sequel. But unlike Ziyi, Jingchu's role is sans martial arts, despite her character being a kungfu instructor. It's unfortunately a purely flower vase role, though she looks more fleshed and healthier than her druggy role in Protégé. Yvan Attal's supporting role as a French cab driver is actually more of a scene stealer - listen out for those jibes at America, though it's a little of a cop out how that eventually plays out. Some of the more totally insane moments involve those deliberate lost in translation moments, which are the more enjoyable moments in this movie.

Rush Hour 3 is similar in structure with its predecessors, and it does seem a tad familiar at times in the way the story gets developed, with only a change in locale, now set in Paris. It's basically an attempt to reunite the two stars in order to make another dent in the box office, so though they're back, this movie can't be taken all too seriously. It plays out like a cartoon for adults, though the local distributor decided to edit portions of the French revue scene to obta in a rating that everyone can go to.

If anything, stay behind for the outtakes, which triumphs over the main offering, hands down.

I thoroughly enjoyed the first two Rush Hour movies. They were fun and entertaining, with great stunts and an inspired double act. This sequel is not the worst sequel I have seen, the soundtrack is decent, the locations are striking and while he looks a little bored Jackie Chan at least manages to do something with his role.

However, Chris Tucker is very irritating this time around, and the chemistry between the two men isn't as strong. Also, the editing isn't as efficient and the stunts and fights aren't as well choreographed and feel rather tired. The pace is both rushed and laborious, the characters are barely credible either being clichéd or underdeveloped and the film is too long. Rush Hour 3 is further disadvantaged by a weak script, a predictable story and plodding direction, while the support actors fare little better.

Overall, rather weak and under-par. It isn't Chan's worst, not like The Medallion, but compared to two very enjoyable films it is a big disappointment. 3/10 Bethany Cox