[ratethatcommentary.com]
Login | Register


Rush Hour (1998)


Commentaries on this disc:

Commentary 1: Director Brett Ratner Rating:3.4/10 (13 votes) [graph]Login to vote or review
Reviewed by Brian Thibodeau on May 5th, 2004:Find all reviews by Brian Thibodeau
Here we go. In a commentary that reveals more of the director's hubris than anything truly interesting about the production of the film, Brett Ratner talks Rush Hour:

"I said "Okay, how am I gonna convince this guy to work with me. He's been making movies longer than I've been alive." So I sit down and say "I just have to be honest," so I sat down and I told him basically, "Okay, this script sucks, but I think I know how to make it better." So what I did was I told him also, I said "Jackie, in order to succeed in America, you have to a movie that's a typical American film. I wanna put you with real actors, and let you concentrate on the acting, and then it's gonna take you to the next level."

In all fairness, I guess there was no way for Brett to predict that "next level" would consist largely of glorified sidekick roles in a series of typical American films. Oh well, at least he got him away from all those Chinese "non-actors."

(Then again, I've never particularly thought of Jackie Chan as a good actor, and i have most of his movies! He usually overdoes even the most subtle scenes. He's more of a presence, and an athlete, than anything)
Reviewed by directorscut on July 14th, 2005:Find all reviews by directorscut
I don’t believe I have heard a commentary before that made me this furious. Within a couple of minutes I wanted to throttle Brett Ratner who is clearly an ignorant, xenophobic, egotistical prat. Apparently American cinema is the bastion of all things great, while Asian cinema is just a bunch of amateurs making silly movies. Of course compared to the masterpiece that is “Rush Hour”, “Project A” and “Police Story” do seem rather insignificant. Also of note is that the film seems to contain all of Ratner’s favourite actors, and of course the film and everyone involved is “brilliant” in every respect.
Commentary 2: Composer Lalo Schifrin, with isolated score Rating:3.3/10 (6 votes) [graph]Login to vote or review
Reviewed by Pineapples101 on August 16th, 2012:Find all reviews by Pineapples101
I always really dug this film and always had quite a bit of respect for Ratner, based on this being only his second major film and the film being so impressive visually...
But this commentary really annoyed me. Ratner is utterly ego centric. There is not a glimpse of humility throughout, it's just me, me, me, me! How great I am, how I did this so well etc

That said, he does cover all aspect of the production and he does give major props to all involved. He's just so damn self obsessed! Im looking forward to hearing his tracks on the following Rush Hour films to see if he's gotten any sense of humility in the preceding years. I suspect Im going to be let down.