Buy it... if you appreciated the shift towards larger orchestral constructs in Rush Hour 2 and you'd seek even further movement towards a standard action stance for Lalo Schifrin.

Avoid it... if you prefer more stylish jazz in your Schifrin scores than straight action music, for the hip elements in this sequel are underutilized.

Schifrin

Rush Hour 3: (Lalo Schifrin) Director Brett Ratner's duo of Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker has proven to be a money tree for New Line Cinema, with the trilogy of Rush Hour films growing by the hundreds of millions in earnings with each entry. The third film has been no less of a success, once again placing its entertainment value in the two leads and sending them on subsequent chases around the world. Ratner continues to claim that an absolutely essential member of his production team is composer Lalo Schifrin, whose legendary status in the realm of jazzy action scores has extended in his late years to the Rush Hour trilogy. Now 75 years of age, Schifrin is short on new assignments, with his collaboration with Ratner providing the only true mainstream glimpse at his ongoing efforts. Also continuing to rave about Schifrin's influence on these films, Ratner goes so far now as to say that without hearing the Argentinian's score in Enter the Dragon, he might never have come up with the cross-cultural idea for the Rush Hour scripts in the first place. Over the course of these three films, Schifrin's music has expanded from a short and rather bland action base in the first film to a far more varied and interesting combination of cultures in the two sequels that much better mirrors the glory days of Enter the Dragon. Ratner specifically designated a larger orchestral sound for the sequel score, and that approach has carried over to Rush Hour 3. The merging of Western orchestral sounds and the authentic oriental specialty instruments isn't ground-breaking, and many listeners will likely write it off, though the insertion of the traditional jazz elements pervasive in these Schifrin scores is the true selling point. As any Schifrin fan will be quick to point out, the composer is no slouch at composing strictly for a large symphony, but in these films (best defined by the quirky characteristics of their two leads, as well the colorful supporting roles), the jazz is key. Overall, when you step back and look at Rush Hour 3, the merging of sounds continues to be of interest, though none of the genres really sparkles.

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As requested by Ratner once again, Schifrin returns to the Rush Hour theme and retools it for another round of action. Outside of the opening and closing moments of the film, however, one of the major disappointments is how sparingly Schifrin employs this entire theme. With its catchy opening four notes, descending with a cool simplicity in trademark Schifrin fashion, it's difficult to understand why this part of the theme --not to mention the entire thing-- wasn't given more air time in Rush Hour 3. The only major brass statement of the theme worth mentioning comes midway through "Parachute Down," the final score cue on the album. The opening performance of theme, though heavily advertised, is rather tepid in its pacing and rendering; this short cue begs for far more vitality and enthusiasm. The remix of the theme at the end is a regrettable attempt to compensate for this hapless performance with more power in the electronics. As for the score itself, Rush Hour 3 allows for far more of Schifrin's traditional orchestral scoring technique to shine than before. The final five major score cues, representing the bulk of the action material on album, are all largely devoid of the hip, stylish jazz tones that often accompanied Schifrin's earlier music in the genre. Perhaps it was thought that such a sound could be truly out of touch with modern audiences, though it's still surprising to hear the modern edge to Schifrin's newest action volleys. Immediately in "Chasing the Assassin," Schifrin displays that he's just one step away from becoming a mirror for David Arnold's action music for the current James Bond films. With his reliance on wild, bass heavy drum arrays and constantly clanging metallic percussion, the similarities to Arnold's current approach is uncanny. Few and far between in Rush Hour 3 are the parody elements that played a significantly larger role in earlier franchise scores; the only truly tongue in cheek moment in the score is in "Two Americans in Paris," with a faux French-stereotyped accordion. Staggered rhythms in several cues are a return to Schifrin glory as well, including some entertaining moves in "Giant Kung Fu." Overall, though, Rush Hour 3 lacks the truly snazzy Schifrin style that defines the composer's career, and without an abundance of those sounds, the score conveys itself as a only standard action affair. ***   Amazon.com Price Hunt: CD or Download