By Jonathan Klotz | Published
The Rush Hour trilogy has not only stood the test of time, it has aged like a fine wine, and all three films appeared in Netflix’s top 10 at the same time. That’s an impressive feat for a film series that began in 1998 and ended in 2007, although there was a short-lived series without Chris Tucker or Jackie Chan. Once again, it was the incredible chemistry between the two men that transformed the buddy comedy into a global blockbuster.
Rush hour
Rush hour ranked #1 on Netflix, sometimes ranking in the top three, and nearly 30 years later, it’s still the buddy comedy at the top. Chan’s by the book Chief Inspector Lee and Tucker’s LAPD detective Carter are brought together at first, to keep Lee busy and away from the investigation into his friend’s missing daughter. Of course, they end up bonding over shared trauma and off-key singing to reluctantly save the day.
Rush hour 2
Given that the film grossed over $275 million, a sequel was inevitable, but Rush hour 2 defied expectations, not only becoming a streaming hit on Netflix over two decades later, but remaining one of the best sequels of all time. By moving the action from Los Angeles to Hong Kong, Carter is now the fish out of water on Lee’s turf, and the result is a sequel that hits all the right beats. This time, they take down a counterfeiting ring, and the rich white man Carter knew was behind it, with even more of the same charm from the first film.
Rush hour 3
Rush hour 3lowest-ranked on Netflix, is the weakest in the franchise, but that still makes it an exceptional buddy comedy. Lee and Carter have come to terms with the strange friendship between them as they take on the Chinese mafia and even Lee’s old childhood friend can’t come between them at this point. It says a lot about the strength of a franchise when the worst-performing film still grossed $275 million worldwide.
The last of the buddy comedies
A fourth Rush hour has been in the works for years, with Chris Tucker talking about it in 2019 and Jackie Chan confirming it was in production as late as 2022, but at this point they might as well start a project. Beverly Hills Cop and make it a Netflix original. Movies have changed since the two first appeared on screen together, and now buddy action comedies, once a Hollywood staple, have fallen out of favor. Unexplored tried to bring them back with Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg, but we’re a long way from the days when Jimmy Fallon and Queen Latifah could take on a big-budget buddy comedy together.
Thanks to changing movie tastes, the Rush Hour trilogy on Netflix is a fun return to the type of movie Hollywood stopped making. Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan, as the DVD special features and their countless interviews together make clear, also started out as work colleagues who didn’t really like each other but became friends who traveled the world together. If Rush hour 4 is going to happen, it can’t happen soon enough.
