Brett Ratner
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Brett Ratner

Rush Hour (1998) is a Jackie Chan vehicle but also a lighweight melody that represents a welcome change from the stereotypical kung-fu film.

In Hong Kong a gangster escapes chased by acrobatic detective Lee, but thanks to Lee's work a load of 5000-year old antiquities are recovered and his British boss publicly praises him at his farewell reception (Hong Kong is being handed over to the Chinese). Lee's chief and his daughter (a fanatic admirer of Lee) move to America to take over the Chinese consulate but the girl is brutally kidnapped. The consul calls Lee, but the FBI wants control of the operations and asks the local LA police chief for an officer to distract Lee when he arrives. The chief has one problem that doesn't go away, a reckless African-American detective named Carter, and is happy to assign him to this case (pretending it is a delicate FBI case). Carter soon realizes the truth, that he has to babysit this undesired Chinese guest. Lee pretends he does not speak English and quickly eludes Carter's guard (he handcuffs him to the steering wheel). Lee reaches the consulate and enters the compound eluding dozens of FBI agents and meets the consul. Carter shows up tied to the steering wheel (and learns that Lee speaks perfect english).
Despite Lee's warnings, the FBI falls in a trap and dozens of officers are killed when a building blows up. But the FBI is still determined to keep him away. Carter, though, helps him track down the gangster, Juntao, in a restaurant. Unfortunately the shoot out prevents the FBI from delivering the ransom and the girl is again taken away by the gangsters. Carter, though, has caught a glimpse of a British man in cahoots with the gangster: he is the same man who represented the British government in Hong Kong.
Carter employs his semi-legal methods to investigate, while the FBI seems only interested in paying the ransom and getting the girl back safe and sound. His only comfort is a female colleague, an expert in explosives, whom he flirts with although she shows no interest in him. Again, Carter and Lee reach Juntao just when the FBI is about to deliver the ransom: at a busy reception in a luxurious hotel to welcome the Chinese antiquities. At the end of an acrobatic fight, the evil British agent crashes down from the ceiling while trying to reach a helicopter. The girl is booby-trapped but the female expert saves her.
Carter is awarded a vacation in Hong Kong.
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