Rush Hour 3 is a 2007 film and the third installment in the martial arts/action-comedy Rush Hour franchise starring Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker that began with the 1998 film Rush Hour and continued with the first sequel Rush Hour 2 in 2001. The film was officially announced on May 7, 2006, and filming began on July 4, 2006. The film is set in Paris, Los Angeles, and Hong Kong. Rush Hour 3 was released on August 10, 2007, in Canada, the US, and UK.[1]

Academy Award-winning film director Roman Polanski co-stars as a French police official involved in (Chan and Tucker's characters) Lee and Carter's case. Tzi Ma reprises his role as Ambassador Han, Lee's boss and friend who appeared in the first installment. This film has received a M rating by the Office of Film and Literature Classification (Australia) and a PG-13 rating by the MPAA for "sequences of action violence, sexual content, nudity and language".

The film was not screened in Chinese theaters in 2007 due to an "overabundance" of imported films released that year, an import official stated (China only allows 20 imported films to be released nationwide in theaters each year).

Three years after the end of Rush Hour 2, James Carter is no longer a detective, but a traffic cop on the streets of Los Angeles. Lee is now the bodyguard for his friend Ambassador Han, the former Consul from the first film. Lee is still upset with Carter about an incident in New York City when Carter accidentally and non-fatally shot Lee's then-girlfriend in the neck, Secret Service agent Isabella Molina.

During the World Criminal Court discussions, as the Ambassador addresses the importance to fight the Triad, he announces that he knows the identity of the Triad leadership known as the Shy Shen. Suddenly, Han takes a bullet in the shoulder, disrupting the conference. Lee pursues the assassin and corners him, discovering that the assassin is his "brother" Kenji. When Lee hesitates to shoot Kenji, Carter shows up driving towards the two and accidentally nearly runs Lee over, allowing Kenji to escape.

In the hospital, Lee learns that Han will make a full recovery. Han's daughter, Soo Yung (Zhang Jingchu), now grown up, arrives and makes Lee and Carter promise to capture the one behind the shooting. She then informs Lee and Carter that her father gave her an envelope which contains important information regarding the Triad, and that the envelope is in her locker at the martial arts studio where she works. Lee and Carter make their way to the martial arts studio where they battle a giant, (Sun Ming Ming), but find out that a gang of armed men had already arrived and taken the contents from the locker. Lee and Carter realize that Soo Yung and Han are in danger and rush back to the hospital.

Once the two reach the hospital, a gang of assassins arrive to kill Soo Yung and Han. Lee and Carter manage to defeat them, with the help of Soo Yung, and interrogate the leader of the assassin squad. Much to Lee and Carter's surprise, the Asian assassin only speaks French. With the help of a resident nun, Sister Agnes (Dana Ivey), in translation, they find out that they are marked for death by the Triad along with Soo Yung and Han. For her protection, they take her to the French Embassy and leave her under the care of Reynard, the French ambassador. When a car bomb detonates, nearly killing Reynard and Soo Yung, Lee and Carter decide to go to Paris to investigate.

In Paris, (after getting a painful cavity search from a Parisian commissioner, played by Polanski) Lee and Carter meet up with George, a taxi driver. George refuses to drive Carter, saying that Americans make him sick, as they are "the most violent people on Earth"—to which Carter replies by forcing George, at gunpoint, to drive to a Triad hideout disguised as a gentleman's club. There Lee fights off a Triad assassin named Jasmine (Youki Kudoh); meanwhile, Carter meets a beautiful woman named Geneviève (Noémie Lenoir). However, Lee and Carter are both forced out of the club and are captured by the Triads. Lee and Carter manage to escape, but then have a falling out concerning Lee's relationship with Kenji. Shortly after Carter storms out, Reynard appears and tells Lee that Han's informant knows where Shy Shen is. The informant turns out to be Geneviève, and both Lee and Carter end up looking for her.

After the two have encountered Geneviève they save her from an assassination attempt by the Triads and flee to their hotel room.[3] However, they are attacked again by Jasmine and decide to hide out with George, who now has fostered a great appreciation for the United States. Lee and Carter learn that Geneviève not only knows where the list is, she is the list. The names of the thirteen Triad leaders have been tattooed on the back of her head, as per tradition, and Genevieve explains that she will be decapitated and buried if the Triads capture her. When Lee and Carter bring Geneviève to Reynard, he reveals that he has been working with the Triads all along. Kenji calls and informs Lee that he has captured Soo Yung and that he would like to exchange Soo Yung for Geneviève.

Lee arrives at the exchange point, the Jules Verne Restaurant in the Eiffel Tower, with Carter, disguised as Geneviève. During a sword fight, Lee and Kenji fall off the tower and get caught in a safety net. Kenji's sword cuts the safety net open and it collapses, leaving both men hanging on for dear life. Lee then grabs Kenji's arm, intending to save his life. Kenji then willingly lets go of Lee and presumably falls to his death, saving Lee's life, who then, with less weight, swung to a scaffolding. Meanwhile, Carter single-handedly defeats the rest of the Triad henchmen, unwittingly kills Jasmine, and saves Soo Yung. As they send Soo Yung down the elevator, more Triads arrive. In order to escape, Lee and Carter use a French flag as a makeshift parachute and float to safety. However, they are confronted by Reynard, who is holding Geneviève hostage and threatening to kill her and frame Lee and Carter for her murder. However, George, having followed Lee and Carter, manages to shoot Reynard and declares "Case Closed". The police suddenly arrive, with the commissioner from earlier gloating and trying to get undeserved credit. After giving the commissioner a team punch to the face, Lee and Carter leave the scene dancing to War.