Han has discovered the identity of Shy Shen – the mystical leader of the Triads. But he’s silenced by an assassin’s bullet before he can uncover the evidence.

Enter Detective Carter and Inspector Lee with their inimitable style of crime fighting. Their search for Han’s assassin takes them swiftly to the French capital.

They don’t know the language, the culture or even exactly what they’re looking for. But their adventure sees Lee trade blows with an old acquaintance called Kenji (Hiroyuki Sanada), Carter romance a beautiful femme fatale named Genevieve (Noémie Lenoir), while both take an unguided tour of the city’s sewers.

Mostly, though, their stay in Paris involves them poking fun at French people. In one scene Tucker’s Carter forces a taxi driver to sing the American national anthem at gunpoint. Tasteful.

You’d be forgiven for thinking that cabbie George would take offence. In actual fact he signs up to our heroes’ crusade proclaiming ‘I want to be an American’. Of course he does.

The Rush Hour routine turns stale in its third outing. Chan (now in his fifties) lacks the speed and stamina that made his fight scenes so appealing in the first two films.

Tucker’s Carter seems to break into an annoying, wailing rendition of a soul song every 10 minutes, while his jokes are predominantly racist, sexist or both.

There are some funny moments. Roman Polanski’s cameo as the sadistic Paris police chief gets a laugh. The ‘lovers tiff’ which briefly separates our crime fighting couple gets you chuckling.

The Eiffel Tower finale also delivers some sky-high thrills and the film looks terrific thanks to the energetic, colourful camerawork of Crash cinematographer J. Michael Muro and the sumptuous set designs of Edward Verreaux

But ultimately, as the Elton John lyrics that feature on the soundtrack say, ‘It’s getting more and more absurd.’

Bill Beattie