Chris Tucker as Detective James Carter, a fast-talking street-smart LAPD Detective originally assigned by the FBI to babysit Lee and keep him out of their investigation.Jackie Chan as Chief Inspector Lee, a top Hong Kong cop who comes to Los Angeles to help his friend find his kidnapped daughter.

Carter boards the plane with Lee, who annoyingly starts singing Edwin Starr's ' War' off-key. Before Carter leaves, agents Russ and Whitney offer him a position in the FBI, which he mockingly refuses. Han and Soo Yung are reunited and Han sends Carter and Lee on vacation to Hong Kong as a reward. Griffin, holding on to the vest, falls to his death when its straps are torn, but when Lee falls, Carter catches him with a large flag. Lee has a brief altercation with Griffin that culminates in both dangling from the rafters. Lee takes the vest and pursues Griffin, while Carter shoots Sang dead in a gunfight. Johnson gets the vest off Soo Yung, while Griffin heads to the roof with the bag of money. Carter sneaks out, locates Soo Yung in the van, and drives it into the building within range of Griffin, preventing him from setting off the vest. Griffin threatens to detonate a bomb vest attached to Soo Yung and demands that the ransom be paid in full, as compensation for the priceless Chinese artifacts which Lee recovered in his raid. Lee and Johnson realize Griffin is Juntao when Carter recognizes him from the Chinatown surveillance tape. Carter orders the guests to evacuate for safety, angering the FBI, but Lee catches Griffin accepting a remote for the detonator from Sang. At the opening of a Chinese art exhibition at the Los Angeles Convention Center, overseen by Han and Griffin, the now $70 million ransom is delivered, and Carter, Lee, and Johnson enter disguised as guests. Griffin later involves himself in the case, revealing more about the HKPF's past with Juntao's syndicate, and implores Han to pay the ransom to avoid further bloodshed. However, Carter refuses to give up and appeals to Johnson for assistance to sneak on board Lee's plane, where he persuades the Hong Kong detective to help stop Juntao together. Lee arrives and saves Carter from Juntao's syndicate, but they are taken off the case as the FBI blames them for the botched ransom drop, with Lee sent back to Hong Kong. Carter goes to the restaurant alone and sees a surveillance video of Juntao carrying Soo Yung into a van. Lee presses Clive into revealing his business relationship with Juntao, whom he met at the Foo Chow restaurant in Chinatown, earning Carter's trust. Carter's colleague, LAPD bomb expert Tania Johnson, traces it to Clive Cobb, a man previously arrested by Carter.

Spotting Sang nearby, Lee and Carter give chase but he escapes, dropping the detonator. The FBI traces the call to a warehouse, where a team of agents are killed by plastic explosive. While arguing with Special Agent-in-charge Warren Russ, Carter unwittingly negotiates with Sang, arranging a $50 million ransom drop. Lee makes his own way to the Chinese Consulate, where Han and the FBI await news about his daughter. Carter takes Lee on a sightseeing tour, keeping him away from the embassy while contacting informants about the kidnapping. Detective James Carter is tricked into 'babysitting' Lee as punishment for botching a sting operation when he finds out, he decides to solve the case. Han calls Lee to assist in the case, but the FBI, afraid Lee's involvement could cause an international incident, pawns him off on the LAPD. Two months later after Han takes up his new diplomatic post in Los Angeles, Han's daughter Soo Yung is kidnapped by Sang while on her way to school. Lee recovers numerous Chinese cultural treasures stolen by Juntao, which he presents as a farewell victory gift to his departing superiors, Chinese consul Solon Han and British police commander Thomas Griffin. He finds only Sang, Juntao's right-hand man, who escapes in a boat. On the last day of British rule of Hong Kong on July 1, 1997, Detective Inspector Lee of the Royal Hong Kong Police Force leads a raid at the wharf, hoping to arrest the unidentified, anonymous crime lord Juntao. Its box office commercial success led to two sequels: Rush Hour 2 (2001) and Rush Hour 3 (2007).

Released on September 18, 1998, the film grossed over $244 million worldwide. Tzi Ma, Tom Wilkinson, Ken Leung, Mark Rolston, Elizabeth Peña, and Rex Linn play supporting roles. It stars Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker as mismatched police officers who are assigned to rescue a Chinese diplomat's abducted daughter. Rush Hour is a 1998 American buddy cop action comedy film directed by Brett Ratner and written by Jim Kouf and Ross LaManna from a story by LaManna.

Juntao rush hour