For some reason, which is probably financially motivated, Rush Hour 4 is coming to the big screen. According to Crave, producer Arthur Sarkissian has confirmed that they’re close to choosing a screenwriter for the film and that director Brett Ratner may return, if he’s interested.
Check out what he had to say below.
“I am working on Rush Hour 4 right now with Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan. I’m trying to do it closer to how I did Rush Hour 1, more down to earth, more gritty, introduce two new characters and make it real the way the first one was. I personally was not happy with the third one. I thought 1 and 2 were very good. I think 3 got out of hand a little bit. It’s not a matter of just bringing them back to do another segment of that or a sequel to it by putting them in another city and having them bicker. I don’t want that. I want something new.”
As for possible storylines, the details aren’t clear yet but here’s what Sarkissian said:
”Chris is now married, maybe Jackie is married to Octavia Spencer, I don’t know. Married to Chris’s cousin, they live in Shanghai, Chris goes out to visit them. I don’t know, I want something energetic.”
Speaking on Chris Tucker and his involvement, the producer said the following:
“He’s getting a little older. I think he can fit it. What was great about Rush Hour 1 and 2 mostly was the relationship of these two and it came out of nowhere. It was just very real. We didn’t build it, we didn’t write it. It just happened. I think the action will be there but it has to be molded to fit him today and not forced into stuff that he won’t do.”
Finally, he compared the film to Fast Five, which does give me a bit of hope.
“One of the things that surprised me and actually excited me was how they did Fast Five. They kept the characters, they took them and they put them in a whole different world. They put them in the world of a heist movie and it worked. I think that was brilliant what they did because if you’re not careful, what happens is you just keep repeating yourself. There’s not much you can do. You’ve got to be very careful but that’s where creativity and energy and good thought and a little bit of hard work comes to try and give them something that’s in that world but a little different.”
Now, like I mentioned above, I’m really not sure why we need a fourth film in the series. As Sarkissian acknowledges, the third one was a mess and personally, I thought it was complete garbage. That being said, it’s nice to see that the producer feels the same way and that he wants to try and make the Rush Hour 4 more similar to the first two, which weren’t great films, but still enjoyable.
The comparison to Fast Five was also a bit reassuring, as that’s a film that really turned a dying franchise around. Perhaps the same can be done with Rush Hour 4.
Like I said before, the first two films in the series were fun and enjoyable but I really, really did not like the third. So, as of now, I’m on the fence about a fourth. I don’t think we really need it but if it’s handled with care, you might just see me in the theatre for it.
What are your thoughts? Do we need a Rush Hour 4?
