Cinema

'Rush Hour', Killed by Critics, Kills Box-Office

Third time's a charm, they say?

By Elena Gorgan, Entertainment News Editor

13th of August 2007, 08:51 GMT

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Poster for 'Rush Hour 3'. This will probably be the last one they'll ever make.

This was the summer of box-office hits - that much is for sure. But the summer of 2007 was more than that: it was the best period of the year for threequels to come out, among which 'Pirates of the Caribbean', 'Shrek', 'Spiderman' and 'Ocean's' were only the most profitable of the bunch. Another of the long expected (and about six years overdue) sequel to the sequel to the movie was also 'Rush Hour', a project that fans were literally dying to see.

A proof of their high expectations and anxiety was duly reflected in the movie's performance at the North American box-office: despite poor reviews (to put it mildly), 'Rush Hour 3' took the number one spot, with $50.2 million worth of ticket sales. However impressive the amount of money it did over the weekend might seem, no one can actually deny that the third part of Lee and Carter's adventures (in Paris, this time) was a bit of a disappointment.

Sure, fans literally crowded the theaters to see it (thus enabling 'Rush Hour' to push the two-hour adrenaline rush that is 'The Bourne Ultimatum' to the second spot only in its second week), but how does the third part stand in comparison to the previous two ones? And it's here that critics are most relentless about: neither in terms of quality or grossing is 'Rush Hour 3' to be compared with the previous two installments.

First off, the second movie took in $64.7 million in its first weekend and that was way back in 2001. Second of all, most critics have practically demolished the entire franchise through this last installment: it is neither funny, nor worth watching, not even a good follow-up to two movies that literally made history come alive before our very eyes. Dubbed by movie critics Brett Ratner's career death wish, 'superfluous and lazy' and certainly 'one of the worst movies of 2007', the third installment to what was until now a very lively and entertaining franchise just goes to show that you can, in fact, built a momentum on previously acquired fame. And tradition. And a cult following.

As far as the main stars are concerned, they are not about to be let down by some negative criticism, even if it overshadows the positive kind. 'If the fans love it and the critics don't, that keeps you balanced. I never get big-headed this way.', actor Chris Tucker said in the days prior to the release. And, who knows? Maybe that's all that matters, the love of the fans, I mean.

TAGS:

Rush Hour | sequel | Chris Tucker | Jackie Chan | box-office

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