rush hour 2 Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Aging martial artist Jackie Chan apparently keeps a blog, and has written the following on it, according to the AP: he's fully aware that Rush Hour, Rush Hour 2 and Rush Hour 3 all sucked. He knew they were crap when he made them, and he knows it now. (I think Richard Corliss of Time Magazine is now the last remaining person on Earth who doesn't know it -- he gave Rush Hour 3 a glowing review.) Of the first Rush Hour, Chan says "When we finished filming, I felt very disappointed because it was a movie I didn't appreciate and I did not like the action scenes involved. I felt the style of action was too Americanized and I didn't understand the American humor." Okay ... thanks for sharing. So why did he return for more of the same, after such a negative experience? Because, he says, he was offered an "irresistible" sum of money. He doesn't even bother giving a reason for the third one, apparently.

The interesting thing about all of this is that Chan seems to equate the bad humor of the Rush Hour movies with American taste, in general, as if we're a nation of people who think Rush Hour is the bar by which good taste is measured. He uses the word 'American' over and over again, when pinpointing the flaws of his various projects. Of his upcoming movie, The Forbidden Kingdom, with Jet Li, he tells us -- at least it's in advance, this time -- that the movie is no good. Why? It's "a movie made for Americans." I can't wait for the press junket for that one ...

Maggie Q has been one busy gal lately, and it doesn't look like her schedule is letting up anytime soon. Already well known to audiences in Hong Kong, she played small parts in Rush Hour 2 and the forgettable Around the World in 80 Days, and she had her first big breakout role opposite Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible III.

Q recently finished filming the ping-pong crime comedy Balls of Fury with Christopher Walken and George Lopez, has just been cast with Ewan McGregor and Hugh Jackman in the sexual thriller The Tourist. She will go directly from shooting that over the next few weeks into the terribly named Die Hard sequel, Live Free or Die Hard (this movie is going to tank if they keep that title).

We're all for actresses from foreign films breaking out into larger roles, but Hollywood frequently brings stars over from other countries, and then doesn't seem to know what to do with them. The talented Swiss actress Irene Jacob made her dubious first American film appearance in U.S. Marshals, which was her last "Hollywood" film and Audrey Tautou recently appeared in The Da Vinci Code, although her next two projects will be back home in France.

Maggie might be bitten pretty hard by the Hollywood bug, but she is currently in Pusan promoting Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon, a period Chinese film for which she has had to learn how to ride a horse, play a pipe, and speak an ancient language. According to Q, "Just because I'm working in Hollywood these days doesn't mean that I've turned my back on Asia. I will go anywhere in the world where there is good material."

Good for her. With any luck she'll still have a career after Die Hard: Freedom Fries.


More Maggie Q on Cinematical:

Cinematical Seven: Movie Nerd Fantasy Camp -- Re-Casting Star Wars!