fallfan

The Associated Press

HONG KONG -- "Rush Hour" put Jackie Chan in Hollywood's major leagues, but the Hong Kong star isn't a fan of his successful action comedy franchise.

Chan said when he made the first installment of the "Rush Hour" series in 1998 he only wanted to test the U.S. market and didn't have high hopes.

"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," Chan said in a blog entry on his Web site seen Sunday.

The actor said he made the sequel because he was offered an "irresistible" amount of money to do it and made the recently released third installment to satisfy fans of the series.

Chan said "Rush Hour 3" was no different from the first two installments for him.

"Nothing particularly exciting stood out that made this movie special for me ... I spent four months making this film and I still don't fully understand the humor," he said, adding the comedic scenes may be lost on Asian audiences.

Chan's comments came even though the "Rush Hour" series, which revolves around the racial humor stemming from the pairing of a Chinese (Chan) and a black (Chris Tucker) police officer, helped the action star cross over to mainstream American audiences.

"Rush Hour" was Chan's first movie to break $100 million at the U.S. box office, earning $141 million, according to the box office tracking Web site, Box Office Mojo. "Rush Hour 2" made $226 million and "Rush Hour 3" has earned $137 million so far.

Chan has been known to be blase about his Hollywood work.

He said in a 2005 interview with The Associated Press that he uses the high salary he earns in the U.S. to fund Chinese-language projects that truly interest him.

He also showed little enthusiasm for his latest Hollywood project, "The Forbidden Kingdom," which marks his first on-screen collaboration with fellow action star Jet Li.

McHawkson

I saw HBO's First Look: Rush Hour 3, Jackie said that he cannot wait till Rush Hour 4 because he love to work with Rush Hour crews.

devilshalo

Well.. if I got another $15 million to do another sequel that I don't enjoy... yeah, I'd be saying shit like that, too. It's easy money for Chan, who doesn't have to risk his life on set of a Hollywood film.

Sean O'Hara

Have you ever seen an HBO First Look or other EPK show where anyone says, "I hate this movie. The director's a complete asshat, and my fellow actors are narcissistic douchebags. The script is completely moronic, and I can't believe anyone will pay money to see it"?

james2025a

Well the humour in these movies is lost on me also...but thats due to the fact they simply are not funny. These movies are all terrible. Jackie Chan is also not what he used to be. He has never been a great martial artisit, but rather a good all round stunt guy. His early Hong Kong work was very entertaining, but he has not a good movie in many many years now. Added to which his english has not improved at all. He is just another actor that gets paid a big salary and sells any intergratory he had to star in a piece of shit.

McHawkson

No. But I'm telling what HE said in First Look. If he doesn't like Rush Hour, then why did he said "I hope they will make Rush Hour 4."

Sean O'Hara

Because HBO First Look is an extended commercial for the movie where everyone's supposed to say how great the films are and how they want to do more because they're so totally awesome. I guarantee you that half the things actors say on those shows is pure BS.

DVD Josh

KISS said the same thing when they took the makeup off.

Groucho

First movie = not bad, good chemistry between the leads, decent action and humor

Second movie = recycled all the jokes from the first movie, but this time Jackie says Chris's lines, and Chris says Jackie's lines. Ho ho ho.

Third movie = Pass

Matthew Ackerly

I don't blame him for hating these movies.

pinata242

Tell him to join the club.

chanster

Its sure easy to bad mouth something when you know the franchise is dead.

Rush Hour was kinda funny, 2 was lame, and there was no way I would see 3

J.J.A. Sabadoz

Where's the contradiction? He could easily like the people he's working with without liking the product (in fact, I'd same that's very common).

GoldenJCJ

Unless of course, you've hated them from the beginning...

Robert

He was probably paid more for the Rush Hour movies than any movie he has ever made in previously.

dsa_shea

If I were making 15 million a movie I would have a Coke, a smile and shut the fuck up.

DJariya

If you throw another $15-20M in Jackie's face, I'm sure he'll tell you that he will do 3 more sequels. As for the HBO First Look, it's a EPK and he cannot say anything bad about the movie.

I read that he only really enjoyed the skit where he sang "The Closer I get to you."

UAIOE

1st off: I'm glad he agrees with me. And I'd only disagree with him if he badmouthed the "Shanghai" movies...those were his best American movies ever.

I can understand why he wouldn't like doing American movies all that much. In HK he pretty much got to do whatever he wanted and he could Direct, act, produce, edit, choreograph if he wanted to. All his American movies are based around Jackie + some lesser actor (and only the movie(s) I mentioned above worked) and it seems like nobody wanted his input on anything, even though he has been doing stuff since the early 80's.

And I know that not all of his HK movies are great, but none of them were million dollar junk like "The Tuxedo". I wanna see Jackie do stunts, not have some forced romance with Jennifer Love Hewitt.

Joe Molotov

Cool, I don't like the Rush Hour movies either. *high five*

tylergfoster

It's sad that he's unenthusiastic for the Jet Li movie though. Since they've been putting that one off for so long, why even do it if your heart isn't in it at least a little?

Drexl

Yeah, IIRC Gene was the one who really hated the RH movies.

DthRdrX

Chris Tucker must love the Rush Hour movies. He makes so much money, he retires until they make a new one ....

nateman

While I completely agree with Jackie Chan & I think anyone has the right to say what they want, I can’t stand when (& some do) actors don’t care about the movie they made & bad mouth it.

I can’t stand the Rush Hour movies either & I don’t think they’re funny, but for fans of the franchise, Jackie Chan should keep his mouth shut.

I was looking forward to The Forbidden Kingdom until I read this from Mr. Chan, "The movie I just shot with Jet Li, The Forbidden Kingdom, actually isn't that great... The Forbidden Kingdom is a movie made for Americans...”

For Li's sake, I hope the film does well at the Box Office. For Chan's sake, I hope it bombs.

I can’t believe anyone would support this ungrateful ass-hat.

starseed1981

I love Jackie Chan. Have since the 80's. But seriously, if you don't like the American market, get the hell out and don't come back. He's made more money here than majority of his Hong Kong films combined (probably more). It's interesting that he holds his Hong Kong work in such high regard because most of them flop terribly (Rob-B-Hood anyone?) and he hasn't really had a hit there since New Police Story. He's pretty much reached Woody Allen status over there: people regard his work for what he's done in the past but his films aren't box office success'.

Shannon Nutt

Chan didn't say he hated it...he said he didn't understand it. I can see an American actor doing a Chinese film and not understanding or enjoying the final product. It's a culture thing, not a "I hated doing this/working on this" thing.