Last night (03/31/16) was the premiere of Rush Hour on CBS, arriving with mixed reviews. The latest trend for the TV season has been to revive a variety of beloved films including Limitless, Minority Report, and with Taken and Lethal Weapon on the way. Revivals may range from reboots, sequels and prequels. The series in question is a full reboot of the franchise, using the same characters with younger actors. Why is it being rebooting? this question was presented on the FAQ section of IMDB, where a wise user answered it in such a philosophical way.
Hats off to you, arcade_kid
The original Rush Hour was directed by Brett Ratner and released during the height of the buddy-cop era in 1998. Part of what makes Rush Hour stand out from the rest of its kindred is the explosive chemistry between leading actors Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan. Even those unfortunate souls who never experienced this film cannot deny the instant chemistry between these two comedic forces:
See it yet?
The casting of these specific actors allowed for the film to include a lot of racial tension, made more prominent by Jackie Chan’s thick accent and occasional blunders regarding American customs (later reversed in Rush Hour 2 when Chris Tucker’s Detective Carter visits Hong Kong with Chan’s Detective Lee).
Naturally, the new Rush Hour reboot on CBS has a big name to live up to. Whether the show survives or crashes largely depends on audience’s willingness to judge the show based on its own merits, as opposed to comparing it to the film it’s based on. The task is easier said than done, considering the pilot focused on retelling the same story as the original film within a smaller time frame.
Detective Lee is now played by Jon Foo, the stoic detective who works by-the-book. Though Foo is a martial artist, he doesn’t yet get many opportunities to shine in the pilot, and the few scenes he does get are brief and include quick cuts. Jackie Chan’s unique blend of martial arts and clumsy humor is what makes most of his films stand out, and the style is very difficult to emulate. Viewers cant help feeling that something is missing when Jon Foo stoically throws a series of kicks and punches without once shifting expression. Detective Carter is played by Justin Hires with a performance reminiscent to Chris Tucker mixed with Kevin Hart. Many of the racial jokes throughout the episode come from his character, and are very similar to the original film. Whether these types of jokes still hold up with viewers today as they did in 1998 remains to be seen.
To be fair, Rush Hour is only one episode in, and the episode was spent rehashing the plot of the film with just a few minor tweaks. As it moves on and the actors gain more experience on set and with each other, we may see them develop their own sense of chemistry which may be worth the watch, even if it never rivals what we’ve seen in the films. It will also be interesting to see if the show follows the usual cop-show format, or if they plan on steering in another direction. Rush Hour will air on CBS Thursday nights at 10 p.m. Many of us will be tuning in to see where the series goes next, but for those who may have felt turned off by the pilot, no worries…you’ll always have these guys:
Written by: Michael Gonzalez.