Rush Hour 3, starring Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan, opened in theaters in the U.S. yesterday, August 10. Reviews in periodicals like The New York Times, Newsweek and Entertainment Weekly have all said the movie is a complete flop, describing the film as “grimly unfunny,” or overly reliant on recycled material.
In spite of the poor reviews, two things one can look forward to in Rush Hour 3 are Japanese actress Youki Kudoh (pictured above) and Chinese actress Zhang Jingchu.On Youki:
(at the premiere of Rush Hour 3)
Youki last appeared in the films Memoirs of a Geisha as Pumpkin and in Snow Falling on Cedars as Hatsue Miyamoto. At 20-years-old, Youki received the Best Actress Award for her role in War and Youth, becoming the youngest person in her country to receive the award. This role also won her Best Actress awards from the Japan Film Critics, Hochi Film Festival, and the 34th Blue Ribbon Award.
On Zhang:
(at the premiere of Rush Hour 3)
Zhang won the Best New Performer Award at the 11th China Broadcast, Film and TV Huabiao Awards for her role in Huayao Bride in Shangrila in 2005, and was nominated for Best Supporting Actress in 2006 for her role in Seven Swords. Recently TIME Asia Magazine has named her one of “Asia’s Heroes,” lauding her passion and zeal for acting. The article can be found here. Rush Hour 3 is Zhang’s first American movie.
In Rush Hour 3, Youki plays Jasmine (not quite sure what she does, but she starts throwing knives at Jackie Chan in the trailer) and Zhang Jingchu plays Soo Yung, the daughter of Consul Han who was murdered in Rush Hour. Below is the trailer for the movie, where you can see some clips of Youki, but unfortunately Zhang managed to not get featured:
Youki Kudoh, Zhang Jingchu on the web:
Youki Kudoh and Zhang Jingchu @ rushhourmovie.com (movie website)
Youki Kudoh and Zhang Jingchu @ asianpopcorn.com
Youki Kudoh @ youkikudoh.net (official website)
Youki Kudoh @ imdb.com
Zhang Jingchu @ imdb.com
Zhang Jingchu @ time.com
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Saw the movie today and it was very funny and very good. Don’t know what the critics been smokin.
Wow, the Christine flood continues! Keep ’em comin’. 🙂
she’s such an overachiever..typical asian woman 🙂
You don’t know the half of it – Christine is an extreme over-achiever, a real prodigy. It was actually pretty hysterical that that Guernica idiot decided to boast to Christine that he entered university at 16, as Christine does indeed have him beat – even if what he was saying was true. 🙂
Still, while I’m greatly enjoying your posts Christine, make sure you give yourself enough time to rest – you don’t want to burn out before you reach your twenties! 😉
i was about to say the same thing…make sure you have time for your homework little christine 🙂
earlier than 16 for college…wow…i think i was 20 when i started….that GED was a bitch of a test :))
Yeah, look at how well researched her posts are – I think we have a new Google master (or should I say “mistress”). 😉
mistress christine ? kinky….oh whip me baby :)) j/k i am sure i am old enough to be her daddy 🙂
I could just imagine Christine as a dominatrix. 😉
haha all i’m really wondering is when all of this stuff i’m learning about asian women is going to come in handy. if i’m ever on jeopardy and the category serendipitously happens to be “female asian entertainers” then i will be thanking God that i became a poster 😀
also i feel happy with the fact that this is kind of forcing me to be more proactive about staying “in the loop” with pop culture, since as a college student i’m normally pretty tuned-out. sometimes i feel like a war could start or famous people could die and i probably wouldn’t know it until i resurfaced from the innermost study carrels of the library after finals were over, semesterly…
at least now i won’t feel stupid if any of my friends want to talk about asian movies or music (though, admittedly, that topic hardly comes up…)
sooo, not too worried about burning out…just running out of posting juice! what if i run out of asian women to post about? there is a fairly large blogteam posting nearly everyday, and an approximately constant number of asian entertainers (some die or fall out of the business, balanced out by those who enter the business). so there must exist a time when we will run out! :-O!!! we’ll have to resort to poorly made youtube home videos :[ *cough*example, cutiemish*cough*
Not a fan of Cutiemish Christine? I have to say, I do wonder about this YouTube home video phenomonon, or indeed personal blogs in general. How can anyone with a life have time for this stuff? 😉
Oh BTW Christine, it isn’t just people that we post about, but also events (such as this movie) – and there’s always new events to post about! So no, I don’t think you will run out of “posting juice”. 🙂
In Hollywood films-at least for the last decade or so-Asian chix have been typecast as sexless ASS KICKERS.A far cry from the submissive anglophile of previous generations …and a welcome change IMO.The writers could probably stand to rework that just a tad…say have Ms. Kudoh cast as ASS KICKIN’ SEDUCTRESS but hey -this ‘aint really her film.
BTW critics may get paid for their opinions-but the only critics that matter are the ones that buy tickets.
True about critics. But if a movie were damned by 90% of them but did a huge business, I’d follow their lead. Whenever I’ve not done so, I’ve regretted it.
Western pop culture has done every stereotype of Asian women from anglophile who melts before the white guy to submissive self-sacraficing victim to prodigious sex goddess to sexless ass kicker to ballbreaking dragon lady (hmmm this all sounds like my lovelife lol!). When will they ever get it right by portraying a real Asian woman? Maybe that won’t make money. Only exception I can think of is Heaven & Earth.
Christine, you have brought wind of change.
wow niners, that was very poetic! 😀 wind of change, i like it :]
thanks! 😛
Zhang (Soo Yung) is soo fine.