Movie Review Rush Hour 3

Rush Hour 3 (2007)

Directed by Bret Ratner

Written by Jeff Nathanson

Starring Chris Tucker, Jackie Chan, Max Von Sydow, Noemie Lenoire, Jingchu Zhang

Release Date August 10th, 2007

Published August 9th, 2007

Chris Tucker has become something of a mystery. After 2001's Rush Hour 2, Tucker could not have been hotter. Tucker was commanding a salary of 20 million dollars per picture. He had offers coming in left and right and then nothing. For six years Tucker seemingly vanished from Hollywood. Six years later, after spending some time as a philanthropist in Africa, Tucker is back and returning to the character that made him a 20 million dollar man.

The endless troubles, budget and screenplay-wise, of Rush Hour 3 likely contributed to Tucker's absence. This sequel has been in the works since Rush Hour 2 opened to nearly 70 million dollars back in August of 2001. However, they just could not work out the many issues, until now, six years later.

It's been six years since Detective Carter (Chris Tucker) and his international partner, Inspector Lee (Jackie Chan) threw down against some bad guys. Today, Carter has gotten himself in so much trouble that he is directing traffic on the busy streets of L.A. Meanwhile, his pal Lee is back in town, protecting the life of Ambassador Han (Tzi Ma) who may have information that could bring down the evil Chinese Triad.

When the Ambassador is shot, though not killed, Lee and Carter re-team to search for the Triad leaders who organized the hit, knowing that if they don't the triad will return to finish the job and kill the Ambassador's daughter Soo Yung (Jingchu Zhang). The investigation takes Carter and Lee to Paris where the triad is searching for a secret linked to a cabaret performer (Noemie Lenoire) and the French Ambassador Varden (Max Von Sydow).

You can definitely see some wear and tear on the Rush Hour concept as the creators and stars have stretched this buddy cop premise about as far as it can go. Carter and Lee have been friends for nearly a decade now, since the original Rush Hour in 1998, and yet we are to believe they still cannot understand each other.

The jokes have run their course and what is left is Tucker trying to motormouth his way through some mediocre improv jokes and an aging Jackie Chan trying desperately to hide his use of stunt men and CGI to help him with the acrobatics that made him a star. To Chan's credit, the action is the film's best asset, even if you can occasionally see the CGI at the seams.

Joining Tucker and Chan in Rush Hour 3 is a motley crew of supporting players and cameo day players. Director Roman Polanski is a standout as an officious French police officer who confronts Carter and Lee at Air France airport security in a most uncomfortable fashion. It's uncomfortable not merely for the joke but for the fact that it is Roman Polanski and this joke. And, of course, the trailer plays up Chan and Tucker's encounter with the former world's tallest man Sun Ming Ming which is about as funny as it is in the trailers and TV commercials.

Then there is Yvan Attal as the snooty French cab driver George. His anti-American schtick takes the film dangerously close to social commentary for all of about 20 seconds before he is tearing through the streets of Paris and screaming I love being an American! Americans by his definition, being the kind of people who are constantly involved in car chases and gunplay.

The problem with Rush Hour 3 is that it just isn't funny enough. You know that when the biggest laugh in the movie comes from a woman with a wig and an oh so timely reference to The Crying Game that the humor is beyond stale. Thankfully, Jackie Chan and director Brett Ratner do well enough with the fight scenes that even the most bored and jaded moviegoer will find themselves compelled, especially in the big Eiffel Tower finale.

The Rush Hour series is tired and running on fumes, like so many third films in Hollywood sequel land. Remember Lethal Weapon3? Ugh!. Rush Hour 3 isn't quite that disastrous but it's not that much better either. Here's hoping that Chan and Tucker move on to bigger and better things. Chan might consider training someone else to take all of those falls that have taken such a toll on him.

As for Chris Tucker, it's nice to see him back on the screen as he does remain a welcome presence. Let's just get past the motormouth cops and get him into something more challenging, or at the very least, something funnier than the retread jokes of Rush Hour 3.

Movie Review: Catch Me If You Can

Catch Me if You Can (2002) 

Directed by Steven Spielberg 

Written by Jeff Nathanson 

Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hanks, Christopher Walken, Amy Adams, Martin Sheen

Release Date December 25th, 2002 

Published December 24th, 2002 

Less than a week ago, Leonardo DiCaprio entered theaters with Gangs of New York, his first truly adult performance. He returns in his new film portraying a kid again. In Steven Spielberg's Catch Me If You Can, DiCaprio is famed teenage con man Frank Abagnale Jr, the youngest man ever to make the FBI's most wanted list. Though DiCaprio is playing a teenager in this film, it is yet another grown up performance that announces DiCaprio as an actor of great depth.

The true story of Frank Abagnale Jr. is one made for the big screen. Before the age of 19, Abagnale had been an airline pilot, a lawyer, and a doctor. He was also a master check forger. The story is told in flashback as FBI agent Carl Hanratty (Tom Hanks) arrives at a French prison to retrieve Abagnale who had served two years in the prison for the same crimes he was charged with in the States. We flashback to young Frank and his picturesque family life. Frank's father, Frank Sr. (Christopher Walken), and his mother (Natalie Baye) seem to be happy. Unfortunately his father's business is going under and the IRS is beating down their door. The stress is breaking up the marriage. This leads Frank Jr. to hit the road and begin his life of crime.

Frank writes a series of bad checks before the banks finally cut him off. Then, inspiration strikes in the form of an airplane pilot. Seeing the respect and admiration people showed for airline pilots, Frank sets about becoming a pilot (or at least looking the part.) After conning officials at Pan Am into giving him a uniform and enough background information to be able to talk a good game, Frank sets about being a pilot. Using his uniform and sheer bravado, Frank starts forging checks from Pan Am. The uniform gave him instant credibility and Frank's ability to charm the female bank tellers meant never even having to produce an ID to have a check cashed in any bank in the country.

With the FBI onto his pilot scheme, Frank settles in Atlanta where a chance encounter with a sweet little nurse named Brenda (Amy Adams) leads Frank to become a doctor. He fakes a degree from Harvard Medical School and watches Dr. Kildare. Suddenly, he's working the night shift as the head on call doctor in the emergency room. Thankfully, being in charge of a group of doctors means that Frank is never left to tend to a patient. Frank's relationship with Brenda leads to yet another close call with the feds, and has Frank headed for Europe.

Despite his adept criminal mind and quick wit, Frank is still a kid and still a sloppy criminal and the FBI is quickly on his path. In one amazing encounter, Frank actually comes face to face with the FBI agents on his tail and crafts an amazing lie to make his escape by posing as a secret service agent. The scene relies on a great deal of convenient timing and luck, but then I'm sure the real Frank Abagnale was the beneficiary of convenient timing and luck throughout his criminal run.

Indeed, Frank Abagnale's story is true. He was the youngest man ever to make the FBI's infamous most wanted list. He did cash forged checks over a three year span that totaled over 4 million dollars and he did impersonate a doctor, an airline pilot, and a lawyer and even for a short time a French teacher in his own high school. His first taste of how to run a good con, he made it a full week as a French substitute without actually speaking any French.

Why did Frank Abagnale do all of this? The likely answer is because he thought he could get a way with it. Spielberg however can't help tossing in a little pop psychology as a partial explanation. The film posits that the break up of his parents' marriage and his desire to reunite them by buying their problems away caused Frank to become a criminal. That and his father's hatred for the government kept Frank on the run. 

DiCaprio however never communicates a tortured victim, but rather, an excitable teen who lacks a good solid hobby. If there had been extreme sports in Frank's day, he may have just risked his life on stupid stunts. In place of that, his need for a constant rush leads him to crime. FBI agent Hanratty becomes his unwilling accomplice, providing Frank with the reason to keep running. What fun is being a great con artist or a great anything for that matter, if no one is around to appreciate it?

Spielberg is a preeminent story teller and in Frank Abagnale he has a great story. Unfortunately, Frank is too good of a guy for there to be any great drama. The film makes great use of the audience as Frank's co-conspirators. With his charm and wit, DiCaprio has the audience cheering for him to get away and you can't help but laugh at the way Frank toys with the people who attempt to deny him. However, the audience never really understands the gravity of his situation. Stealing four million dollars is a serious thing; it's grand theft. Yet, Frank is so likable and the narrative is so forgiving to him one would think it was okay for him to get away.

In many ways, Catch Me If You Can reminded me of a far better film, The Talented Mr. Ripley. Both films are about troubled youth con men. Both guys are loners who are desperate for attention and both draw the sympathy of the audience; however, Ripley is far more dramatic than Abagnale. His longings and crimes add weight to the character that Abagnale lacks. Catch Me If You Can is far more flashy than Ripley is and, for that reason, the drama is lacking. Frank never seems to be in any real danger.

Both DiCaprio and Hanks are strong but Catch Me If You Can still seems weightless. It isn't a comedy but it's not nearly dramatic enough to be taken seriously. Yes, this is a true story. But something tells me the real story is a little more dramatic than the featherweight screen version. All of that said, Catch Me if You Can is wildly entertaining and with Spielberg, Hanks, and DiCaprio, you have a trio incapable of making a bad movie together. Catch Me if You Can may not live up to all of your expectations but it is nevertheless entertaining. 

Movie Review: The Terminal

The Terminal (2004) 

Directed by Steven Spielberg 

Written by Sacha Gervasi, Jeff Nathanson 

Starring Tom Hanks, Catherine Zeta Jones, Stanley Tucci, Chi McBride, Diego Luna, Zoe Saldana

Release Date June 18th, 2004 

Published June 17th, 2004 

I thought it was an urban legend. My brother and I were discussing the new Steven Spielberg/Tom Hanks flick The Terminal when he told me the story of Merhan Karimi Nasseri. Mr. Nasseri has spent the past 15 years in the international terminal of Charles De Gaulle Airport in France after his bag was stolen with all of his identification.

The Iranian born Mr. Nasseri has lived off the kindness of the airport staff for 15 years, has inspired 2 documentaries and a French film called Tombes Du Ciel or Lost In Transit starring the legendary Jean Rochefort. Now Mr. Nasseri is a getting a big time American treatment from Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks. Sadly, this trifle of a film is exposed for it’s light as featheriness by the dramatic true story on which it is loosely based.

In The Terminal, Tom Hanks is Viktor Navorsky who has come to New York City from his Eastern block home of Krakozhia. Unfortunately while Mr. Navorsky was flying to America, Krakozhia plunged into civil war and the government dissipated. Now in America, Mr. Navorsky is a man without a country, his Visa is invalid because the U.S government can’t recognize a ruling power in Krakozhia. Until the war ends and a new government is established, Viktor must remain in the airport terminal.

Breaking the bad news to Viktor is the not so kindly head of the airport’s Homeland Security Office Frank Dixon (Stanley Tucci). It is Frank who could find away to really help Viktor but instead strands him with bureaucratic red tape and then takes a sadistic interest in preventing Viktor from making the most of his desperate situation.

Stuck in the International terminal, that looks more like a mall than an airport thanks to the numerous real brand name stores, Viktor waits and involves himself in the lives of the airport staff. There is Diego Luna as a food delivery worker who trades Viktor free food in exchange for Viktor’s help in romancing an INS Agent played by Zoë Saldana. Although Viktor knows he can’t leave, he visits the INS office every day to have his passport declined.

Chi McBride is a baggage handler with a soft spot for late night card games. He sees Viktor as a soft mark for poker games but soon becomes a real friend. And then there is the janitor, an Indian man played by Kumar Pallana, a lovable oddball with a secret past. Pallana provides the biggest laughs of the film and none of them at his expense.

Finally, there is Catherine Zeta Jones as Amelia, a flight attendant who takes a shine to Viktor but can’t get involved because she is hopelessly involved with a married man played briefly by Michael Nouri. While she tries to resist the urge to be with the married man, Amelia and Viktor come close to romance until the plot conspires to split them.

Despite the film’s dramatic underpinnings, everything is kept very light and airy. In fact, it’s so light that it floats off the screen and almost immediately from your memory. Tom Hanks, arguably our most talented actor, here plays a sort of lovable puppy of a character whose moral fiber is so unquestionable, he is too good to be true. There is nothing wrong with a character that is virtuous but Viktor is Touched By An Angel good. Maybe that explains why Stanley Tucci's officious bureaucrat hates him so much anyone this perfect would eventually get on your nerves. Still, Tucci is too evil to be true until the plot calls for him to look the other way.

Too good to be true describes most of The Terminal which suffers from a script full of contrivances. Viktor quickly learns English, lucks into the food deal with Diego, lucks into a job working construction in the terminal and in typical forced romantic comedy fashion, he has a meet-cute with Amelia that becomes a running gag.

I have been quite hard on The Terminal to this point so I should point out that their are a number of good things about the film. Steven Spielberg's direction is typically strong in its structure and look. Cinematographer Janusz Kaminsky relishes the freedom given him by a set that was built specifically for the film and for his camera to be positioned as he pleased.

The film’s biggest star may in fact be the set created by production designer Alex McDowell. Rather than trying to wrangle shooting time in a real airport terminal, McDowell and his team of designers built a terminal inside of a Los Angeles airport hangar. The flawless design is a seamless recreation of any major airport terminal in the country right down to the uncomfortable benches, the ungodly level of branding, and astoundingly high prices.

However, without a well-told story to decorate the terrific set, the movie isn't worth anymore than it's production design. The Terminal is likable and sweet, and occasionally quite funny, but it is also inconsistent, simpleminded, and lighter than air. Tom Hanks is his typically likable self and Mr. Spielberg's direction is of his usual quality. It's unfortunate that the script by Sacha Gervasi and Jeff Nathanson is far below the quality of their work.

The Lion King (2019)

The Lion King (2019) 

Directed by Jon Favreau 

Written by Jeff Nathanson 

Starring Donald Glover, Seth Rogen, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Alfre Woodard, Billy Eichner 

Release Date July 19th, 2019 

Published July 18th, 2019 

The Lion King 2019 is an incredibly emotional and moving film. Putting aside the comparisons to the animated original, this version of the story is exceptionally well told. Director Jon Favreau has brilliantly captured this Shakespearean tale for the whole family with epic music and resonant themes and given it a modern flavor via a remarkable voice cast who elevate the material with their inventive riffing and gorgeous singing. 

You likely already know this story, Mufasa (James Earl Jones) is the King of The Pridelands. He and his beloved Sarabi (Alfre Woodard) have just had a son who will one day himself become the King. Simba, voiced as a cub by J.D McCrary, is a curious young lion who easily finds trouble but with the wisdom of his father, he will one day make a fine King. Unfortunately, Simba’s uncle,  Scar (Chiwetel Ejiofor) has other plans. 

Scar seeks the throne and will use any nefarious means necessary to get there. Scar’s first attempt to get rid of young Simba sends the young lion and his friend, Nala (Shahadi Wright Joseph), into an elephant graveyard where hyenas reign. Simba and Nala are rescued by Mufasa but Scar seizes the opportunity to convince the hyenas to become his very own army. It will be the hyenas who lead to the death of Mufasa while he tries to protect Simba. 

Mufasa dies and Scar runs off Simba by accusing him of causing his father’s death. Scar also sends hyenas to kill Simba but the young lion manages to escape into the desert. Here, Simba begins a new life. With the help of Timon (Billy Eicher) and Pumba (Seth Rogen), Simba is able to leave his grief and shame behind and grow into a mature lion without the strictures of royalty and duty while nursing the scars of his past. 

Nala voiced by Beyonce as a mature lioness, eventually finds Simba is still alive and you know where the story is headed from there. The key to this telling of the story of The Lion King is how we get to the ending and in getting there we have a remarkably rich and fulfilling journey. The story of The Lion King 2019 is told with music and the music of this version of The Lion King is superb. I won’t be hyperbolic and declare that the music here is superior to the original, I will only say that I preferred the ways in which Hans Zimmer and Beyonce, among others, have updated this score and the original songs. 

The changes are seemingly minimal but they make a huge difference in how you accept The Lion King 2019. For instance, the Can You Feel the Love Tonight segment. In the 1994 version of The Lion King the scene is suitably romantic and filled with heartfelt emotion though it is slightly shorter than the new version. The slightly longer version here takes full advantage of this new style of The Lion King with Caleb Deschanel's rich and glorious cinematography underlining the romance and deepening the impact of the moment. 

It also helps to have Beyonce and Donald Glover not just as the singing voices of Nala and Simba, but their speaking voices as well. The jarring shift from one vocal style to the other isn’t damning in the original, just notable. Here however, the seamless shift singing to speaking adds a little more verisimilitude. That and, of course, we are talking about Beyonce whose voice is transcendent. That’s not a dig at Sally Dworsky who is a Broadway veteran of immense talent, it’s merely that Beyonce is a global superstar whose voice connects to audiences in an epic fashion that fits the grandiosity of this CGI approximation of live action. 

Donald Glover is also incredible but in a unique and different way. Glover’s voice acting in the song is superior to the original because he is singing in character and accounting for the fear and angst of Simba in a way that perhaps Joseph Williams cannot because the character is not fully his. He’s more focused on singing the song,Glover is singing the character and I found the difference to be notable. 

Another notable improvement for me over the original was the performance of the song Hakuna Matata which benefits from the unique and recognizable voices and personas of Billy Eichner and Seth Rogen. Neither is well known for their singing but the way they perform this song feels as fresh and even more alive than the original. That’s not to say I don’t appreciate Nathan Lane and Ernie Sabella but they are notably stage-bound in their energy, limited by the animation style. 

Eichner and Rogen meanwhile had the advantage of working in the CG realm and director Jon Favreau’s ability to allow them to explore a little and riff within the music. Eichner and Rogen have talked in interviews about how they were allowed to improvise their dialogue and even improvise in their songs and that playfulness is part of what makes this take on The Lion King so lively as opposed to the original. 

The best change however, from the original movie is the song Be Prepared. Performed here by Chiwetel Ejiofor, the song is transformed from a pop ditty talk sung through a thick English accent by Jeremy Irons, to an operatic dirge that is shortened to more specifically state Scar’s nefariousness. Where the original overstayed its welcome and tried to fit the pop nature of the rest of the soundtrack, this version of Be Prepared better serves the character of Scar while also cutting to the chase on Scar’s story. 

Is there a calculated cynicism driving Disney to remake their animated catalog in live action and CGI? Yes, it's unquestionably a mercenary effort. That said, the artists who have contributed to this version of The Lion King have transcended how The Lion King 2019 came to exist by delivering a resonant and lovely take on this grand material. They have brought the music into a modern context and stayed true to the remarkable themes of the original story and delivered a compelling, humorous romantic and touching film.