The Rush Hour Of Jackie Chan ing-bottom: 151.66%;">A hero is being hung down from a helicopter some 200 feet above. As the sun bets down, he swings about. Suddenly, a top needle of a skyscraper is pressing toward him. He fails to dodge and bumps heavily on the concrete needle. This stimulating shot impressed in numerous Jackie Chan fans. Now it’s the “ rush hour” to be repaid for that devotion for him. As an Asia’s favorite action hero, he has finally conquered Hollywood. Rush Hour, Chan’s new made-in-America blockbuster, rocketed to the top of the charts on its opening weekend in the United States, winning an unexpected cross-over audience. In three days, the box-office tally was $33 million—the highest weekend gross ever for New Line Cinema. Now in its sixth week in American theatres, the film, directed by Brett Ratner, has so far taken in more than $117 million. Chan had already scored when such films as Rumble in the Bronx and First Strike were released in mainstream theatres in the U. S., and not just in Chinatown and specialty video stores. Now Rush Hour has turned Jackie Chan into a household name the way Enter the Dragon made a legend of Bruce Lee. The bi-racial pairing and good cop/bad cop storyline are predictably formulaic — Chan is Chinese and co-star Chris Tucker is black — similar to such films as the Lethal Weapon series starring Mel Gibson and Danny Glover. Yet the producers have wisely focused on the strengths of the two stars: Tucker’s hilarious, rapid-fire jive-talk, and Chan’s nimble derring-do in tight spaces and high places. The film begins in Hong Kong on the eve of the hand-over as Han, a mainland Chinese diplomat, is dispatched to Los Angeles as consul general. A gangster promptly kidnaps Han’s darling daughter — and demands $50 million as ransom. Though the vaunted Federal Bureau of Investigation gets called in. Han sends for his own man from Hong Kong, Lee(Chan), a Hong Kong detective with specialties to Han’s family. The FBI doesn’t like this one bit, and the stereotypical operation chief barks: “This is an FBI assignment, and I don’t need and help from the LAPD” —Los Angeles Police Department — “or some Chungking cop!” When Lee arrives, LAPD Detective James Carter(Tucker) is assigned to keep him out of the real investigation. The dynamic duo inevitably team up, getting into one scrape after another. For example, they pursue one suspect through a building, nearly catching up with him until their collective weight sends them crashing through a rotting bridge. Fortunately, much of the lame storyline is played for laughs. Tucker, an arrogant cop more interested in grabbing glory than in police teamwork, delivers his politically incorrect pronouncements on women, Asians, and anyone else, in a rambling, high-pitched voice. In one of the funniest scenes, Tucker takes Chan to mingle with other tourists in front of the famous Hollywood landmark, Mann’s Chinese Theatre — built as a fantasy interpretation of “Chinese” during the Art Deco period. He says: “Look familiar? Just like home, ain’t it” You might see one of your cousins walkin’ around here.” At first, Chan seems to be a hapless patsy to Tucker’s bullying. Ultimately, he proves himself by making a getaway in the inimitable Jackie Chan way — deftly leaping from the top of a double-decker tour bus to a street sign suspended overhead, dropping onto a passing flat-bed truck, then into the motor-home of startled American vacationers, before somersaulting into a taxi. The climax of the film comes when Chan is seen tip-toeing across five-storey-high beams inside the Los Angeles Convention Centre. Long-time Jackie Chan fans may find his antics too familiar and the film’s slick editing relying more on camera tricks than real stunts. After all, Chan is almost 44 years old and Hollywood insurance codes prohibit actors from performing some of the outrageous stunts for which Hong Kong films are famous. Still, Chan has always been considered one of the most popular and respected stars in the Chinese film world. Given the typical typecasting of Asians as hookers or triads (witness Jet Li’s Western debut in Leathal Weapon 4), Jackie Chan’s relaunch as an action hero in the West is a resounding triumph. 在距地面約200英尺的上空，一勇士被綁在一架直升機上倒懸着。烈日當空，他來回搖擺着。突然，一座摩天大廈的尖型頂柱朝他逼來，他躲避不及，重重地撞在混凝土頂柱上。 這驚心動魄的鏡頭深深地印在無數成龍迷的腦海裏。而今他的奮不顧身得到了“尖峯時刻”的回報。作爲亞裔頗受歡迎的動作片巨星，他終於征服了好萊塢。成龍新近在美國攝製的巨片《尖峯時刻》首映周內即飈升至排行榜首，出人意料地贏得了大批非亞裔觀衆。僅僅三天，票房收就達到三千三百萬美元——這是新幹線影院早高的周收入。這部由佈雷特·蘭特納執導的影片，目前在美國本土影院的第六週收入已超過一億一千七百萬美元。 早在美國主流影院放映的如《布朗克斯區的喧囂》和《第一次的罷工》時成龍就已獲得了成功，而不僅僅是在唐人街和特色錄影帶商店。而今《尖峯時刻》就如同當李小龍的《猛龍過江》所創造的神話那樣，成龍已成爲家喻戶曉的名字。 兩個種族的角色搭檔以及紅白臉式的故事情節不免有些俗套—— 成龍是中國人而聯袂明星克里斯·塔克是黑人——這就像是《致命武器》中的影星梅·吉布森和丹尼·格洛弗。然而製片商明智地看中了這兩個影星的長處：塔克滑稽搞笑，妙語連珠，而成龍無論高空狹隙都身手敏捷，藝膽過人。 本片開始於香港迴歸前夕，當晚一名被派駐洛杉磯當總領事的大陸外官韓路經此地。一名歹徒隨即綁架了韓的寶貝女兒— 並索要五千萬美元的贖金。 儘管赫赫有名的聯邦調查局接到通知，但韓還是從香港請業了親信李（成龍飾），他是一名與韓家有着特殊關係的香港探員。聯邦調查局對此十分不滿，刻板的警長叫道：“這是聯邦調查局的事，我不需要LAPD—— 洛杉磯警署—— 或是某個中國警察的幫助！” 李到來後，LAPD的偵探詹姆斯·卡特（塔克飾）奉命阻止他涉及真正的調查。最終走到一起聯手辦案，但一次接一次地出洋相。比如，他們穿越一棟大廈去抓疑犯，馬上要抓住時他們二人纏在了一起，從一座不堪重負的腐橋摔下。 幸好，那些蹩腳的情節只是爲了搞笑。塔克，這個自負的警官，熱衷於譁衆取寵，卻不顧精誠團結，他滔滔不絕地尖聲發表那些對婦女、亞裔及其他人的政治上偏見的言論。其中最逗的一幕，塔克帶成龍混在其他遊客中站在著名的好萊塢標誌，曼恩斯中國戲院前，這個戲院是在裝飾派藝術時期建造的用於對“中國特色”奇思異想的表意建築。塔克說：“眼熟嗎？象是在家裏，不是嗎？也許你會在附近看到你的一個堂兄。” 起初，成龍像是個老受塔克欺負的倒黴蛋。最終，他以無與倫比的成龍式作派輕巧地從一輛雙層旅遊車的車頂躍向懸掛在頭頂上的街標牌，又落入一輛駛過的平板卡車，而後進了一輛使那些度假的美國人大驚失色的旅宿汽車，最後一個跟斗翻進了一輛出租車，從而虎口脫險並以此證明了自己的實力。 電影的高潮部分是：成龍在洛杉磯會議中心五樓高的橫樑上踮腳而過。 成龍迷們會發現，他的滑稽噱頭多已較爲眼熟，且很多搶眼鏡頭多是靠攝影技巧而非真實的絕技。畢竟，成龍快44歲了，在香港電影中一些引以爲榮的危險絕技在好萊塢的保險條例中是不允許做的。儘管如此，成龍一直被人爲是中國電影界最受歡迎和尊重明星之一。與亞洲人常一成不變的扮演小偷或“天地會”會衆的角色相比（參看李連杰在域外影片《致命武器》之四中的首度亮相），成龍在西方影壇重樹了動作片的英雄形象的確是一大成功。
