Two racist cops walk into a bar. They walk out a little less racist. 

That pattern summarizes the crux of most scenes in the Rush Hour trilogy. The two protagonists, an East Asian man and a Black man, fail to see each other. But over the course of the movies, they build a cross-cultural dialogue—and eventually, cross-racial friendship. 

Depicting relations between Black and Asian folks on screen remains unusual to this day. This is true even though more conversation between the two communities about internal biases and possible alliances have popped up. 

In 2020, limited solidarity at Black Lives Matter and Stop Asian Hate protests hinted at a future renewal in the communities’ connection. But North American media has not kept up or built on the trend. 

Instead, we look back to past popular movies that showcased Black and Asian relationships (Mississippi Masala, The Karate Kid 2010 remake, and of course, Rush Hour). From these films, some of the sentiments unearthed in 2020 emerge, namely a look into how both Black and Asian individuals can reckon with bias against each other. 

Rush Hour’s appeal

Rush Hour and Rush Hour 2 remain interesting today because of how they flip the tropes of the buddy cop movie on its head by bringing racial tensions and cultural boundaries to the forefront of the relationship. Given the historic distrust and animosity between the Black and Asian community and law enforcement, the choice to play with the tropes of the buddy cop movie become even more impactful. 

But first, in order to flip the scripts, the movie almost invites the audience to pigeonhole the two main protagonists into racial tropes.

For most of the first movie, Detective Inspector Yan Naing Lee (played by Jackie Chan) falls into the stereotype of the “inscrutable Asian,” where Asians are emotionless creatures who silently plot against Western interests, along with the “lost foreigner” trope. When Lee remains quiet at first, Detective James Carter (Chris Tucker) assumes Lee does not speak English. Carter later American-splains to him, not believing Lee could be competent on his own. 

Similarly, Carter gets portrayed as fast-talking and dim-witted, a typical for Black men casted in comedic roles at the time. Lee falls for the trap and pins setbacks on what he sees as Carter’s tendency to talk first and think second. 

Both detectives start skeptical of the other’s abilities, mostly because they fall prey to stereotypes that lead them to doubt the other’s competence. 

Read more: Identity through the eyes of a Black Asian: Part 1

Flipping the scripts

Unlike many similar movies, the first installment starts in Hong Kong, which shows Lee as a capable agent navigating his home. Only once Lee reaches Los Angeles does he appear unable to perform the basics of his job. 

However, the plot pivots to show that Lee can become a competent cop after relying on the relationship he builds with Carter.

The entire second movie is about reversing roles. Carter becomes the clueless foreigner in Hong Kong whereas Lee becomes the street-smart cop. By the time they return to the US, both characters have a better cross-cultural understanding to help them solve the case. 

Without the second movie that swaps the home court advantage, the Rush Hour series would remain another piece of media where Asians are shown to be constantly out of place.

The movies take common stereotypes and twist them around into a way for the characters to get closer. Having an absent father (often simplistically and problematically associated with Black families) becomes a bonding moment for Carter and Lee who both lost their fathers at a young age.

Countering biases

The movie toys with the audience’s expectations and internal biases as well. At the beginning of the movie, we are led to expect that Lee cannot speak English. We are somewhat surprised when he does. 

Similarly, after the main plot has wrapped up, we expect that Carter cannot speak Cantonese. 

But in the final moments, Carter reveals that he could speak Cantonese the whole time, albeit not all that well. Carter has been playing inscrutable all along, just in his own way. 

The same holds true for when we are introduced to Kenny (Don Cheadle), Carter’s informant who runs a Chinese restaurant and gambling ring. 

At first, Kenny’s character is confusing to the audience. After all, a Black man who runs a Chinese restaurant, speaks Cantonese, and knows enough kung-fu to go toe-to-toe with Lee is unexpected. 

We tend not to expect characters to have a strong cross-cultural sensibility. But Kenny represents the blossoming connection between Black and East Asian cultures, something unexpected and underreported at the time. Kenny, in a way, acts as a stand-in for the influences of Chinese martial arts in hip-hop culture (think Wu-Tang Clan).

Our surprise at the existence of his character reveals the internal biases that Rush Hour likes to play with. And the reversal of expectation is where much of the comedy in this scene, and the movie at large, draws its power. 

Just like the characters in the movie, the audience holds bias too. 

And perhaps the whole movie’s comedy falls on the assumption that there is no way a Black man and an Asian man can work together, let alone as police partners. And yet somehow they do, and they succeed. 

Counter to the audience’s expectations, they form a strong enough bond—a cross-cultural relationship—to serve as complementary detectives. 

What’s next?

With Chan hinting at the creation of a Rush Hour 4 back in December, what would a fourth installment of the franchise bring to the table? 

The first two films offered a glimpse into the possibility of cross-racial and cultural translation. But how will the producers and writers of Rush Hour 4 depict solidarity when anti-Black and anti-Asian hate and violence are on the rise? 

Because the news cycle has seen the possibility of Black-Asian alliance, has the root of the series’ comedy been zapped away? How will they find new ways to toy with our expectations and the characters’ assumptions without relying on the same tropes they once did?

Certainly, more thought and care should be placed into this movie to continue to create a commentary that shows the strength of cross-cultural relationships, rather than reusing the same formula to generate insensitive cheap laughs.