Review: In a shocking change in style from the first two entries in the film series, RUSH HOUR 3 finds director Brett Ratner and stars Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker engaged in a complex study of cross-cultural relationships, examining detective work in a post 9/11 globalised world, amid a labyrinthine plot that works on several thematic and symbolic levels.

Of course, I'm lying.

If you've seen either of the previous RUSH HOUR films, you should know the drill -

Cue: the fish-out-of-water scenario - this time Carter and Lee find themselves 'out of their depth' in France.

Cue: the racial stereotyping. At least in the RUSH HOUR films everyone is a target (equal opportunities racism?) but it's also surprisingly, and refreshingly, un-P.C.

Cue: the Asian bad guys (but include an upper class white man to distract from any sense of blanket stereotypes).

Cue: whiny wisecracks from Tucker and a slightly confused look from Jackie Chan.

Cue: the excellent score from Lalo Schifrin.

Then we're good to go.

It's been six years since Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker were last partnered up in RUSH HOUR 2. The latest film in the series kicks off with some singing and dancing from Tucker and it's clear from the outset that there's going to be a reliance on plenty of jokes from the first two films. The idea seems to be that if you found it funny the first time, you'll think it's funny again. This only works to a point – it's a bit hit and miss. The success of the film depends wholly on the familiarity of the two leads doing exactly the same things that they've done before.

This time around Carter and Lee manage to find themselves in France - although the plot and locations of the RUSH HOUR 3 are almost unimportant and are only really there to provide a link between comedy and / or action set-pieces. This works two ways – while it might seem like lazy filmmaking and writing, there's still something quite pleasing about being able to see the jokes before they arrive. RUSH HOUR 3 has its fair share of gags that fall flat (Carter posing as designer 'Bubbles' is a non-starter), but also a decent bunch that no matter how obvious they seem, how old they are or how heavy handedly they're delivered will still have you laughing along with them. While there's no truly 'inspired' moments in RUSH HOUR 3's script – the closest they come is a scene with a bilingual nun – there's also a few moments that are genuinely good quality. The best example of this is the appearance of George the taxi driver. Allaying fears that the Paris setting would just be an excuse for a lot of cheap 'French' gags (which there still are – part of Carter's chat up schtick involves the line 'I wanna shave your armpits'), it's good to see that George throws a lot of American stereotypes back at them. And it works very well.

The cast of RUSH HOUR 3 is certainly stronger than it needs to be and while maybe this adds to some of the appeal - seeing top actors engaging in such silliness - it also feels a bit of a waste. Hiroyuki Sanada proves he can act anyone here off of the screen adding more credibility to his straightforward villain character with a simple sneer than anything in the script. It's just a shame that credibility isn't important here. Elsewhere, Max von Sydow looks a little uncomfortable and is underused, and there's a bizarre appearance from Roman Polanski that's neither funny nor necessary. In the lead roles Chris Tucker seems as happy and whiny as ever and tries to steam-roll every scene, but this doesn't work quite as well this third time around partly because Jackie Chan seems a little too serious and the chemistry is lacking. While there's nothing exactly to criticise about his performance, Jackie will never compete with Tucker verbally and his subdued appearance here sometimes has the effect of relegating him to the background.

Action-wise RUSH HOUR 3 is okay but also pretty lightweight. Previously the series has never provided more than only very average Chan action and that still proves to be the case here too. While a few brief fights are fun you also may get the distinct feeling of deja vu (Jackie rolls around the floor, he flips items over his head, he lifts himself off of the floor in a door frame) and even the finale at the Eiffel Tower (we're in France!) feels a little bit flat. There's a brief moment of above average excitement during a face-off between Jackie Chan and Hiroyuki Sanada, but it's a highlight that's over all too quickly. The action highlight instead appears quite early in the film as a car chase through the streets of Paris. It's slapstick, but it's amongst the more tightly paced scenes in the film.

RUSH HOUR 3 does exactly what you would expect it to do: more of the same. Whether this is a good or bad thing depends largely on your opinion of the first two films. If you hated them then RUSH HOUR 3 won't convert you and suddenly make you a fan. If you liked them then you'll probably find enough here to enjoy – although the formula is wearing so thin you can almost see the numbers. There's nothing here that we haven't seen several times before, but as far as mindless action comedies go - and as long as you enjoyed the earlier films - RUSH HOUR 3 is a still a pretty fun way to spend an hour and a half.