Film Research #4 - Rush Hour
Rush Hour, released to the world in 1998, is an American-Chinese buddy action comedy film which revolves around a pair of mix-matched cops working to save a kidnapped daughter. The opening of Rush Hour can begin by seeming more serious than other entries to my research but shares similar aspects as Beverly Hills Cop.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvWY9pYLf9g
Here we are shown a Mid-Two shot of two men, a white and a black which immediately displays a sense of power between the two which we can tell because the white man is in a clean, smart suit leaning up against his car look impatient, watching the black man drive in, smiling and nodding his head disapprovingly. The black man is wearing a large black overcoat which makes the audience feel uneasy due to the amount of hidden space, leading the audience to assume at this point that the white man is the more important of the two due to his more official and smart looking attire. We also see that the black man is wearing sunglasses even though it is night which symbolises that he has something inside him he wishes to hide, which is revealed later on. The scene continues to a conversation between the two, discussing who is late which the audience can tell is the black man since he arrived, clearly in a hurry due to his reckless driving. During the scene the white man takes his glasses off, proving to the black man that he has nothing to hide in this confrontation.
The black man uses fast speech and crazy hand gestures to distract the white man to the fact he was late, diverting his attention to trying to understand what he is saying and following his gestures. As we saw in other film openings, this is a convention in cop films when a black man is involved as they use their speech and gestures to distract to the underlying fact. He also acts as the white man's friend, being all chummy with him
telling him to 'put gun away' which is clearly a threat to the black man which he wants to get rid of so hides his intention of protecting himself under his 'concern' for the white man. As they walk to the back of the car the black man starts quickly looking around nervously checking each side multiple time, this makes the black man seem nervous making the whole event seem illegal to the audience as why else would someone check their surroundings multiple times. It also enforces the stereotype that black individuals are often involved in crime. He also repeats the phrase 'come on' a lot of times as he is waiting for the boot of the car to be opened, this is to rush the white man, providing a sense of urgency and only adding to the feeling that this is illegal for the audience. The way he uses his dialogue and gestures could be seen as desperation to get this deal over and done with as quickly as possible so as to avoid detection by the wrong people (police) and could be transferred to my opening through the uses of repeating words where a certain act needs to be done quicker or sooner and I could use the fact of the body language being large and intimidating to show who my main character his and display his power.
The next part of significance is when the boot is opened and there is a close-up of its contents, a batch of C4 which is commonly known as explosives. When they are shown there is a change in the non-diegetic sound, a soundtrack is heard which is low and slow, providing suspense to display to the magnitude of the situation. We can confirm with the white mans actions, holding the boot and constantly diverting his gaze from the boot of the car to his surroundings clearly displaying his unease to having this boot open. The black man reacts by complimenting him first, making him feel good about the deal, showing him his acceptance to then spin it on his head and say "oh shit" after being told it is C4. The serious nature on his face at this point eludes to the fact he is nervous to actually obtain this, realising the damage it could do but then quickly reassures the white man by telling him 'you don't now how you make me feel' and saying that another party couldn't get it and then questioning where he got it from. This chain of events convinces the audience that the black man is eager to obtain this, assuming he is up to no good. As he leaves to go get 'the money' a pair of cops confronts the pair.
car. The fact he keeps his backed turned to the officers and his back is turned when the shot is towards the pair, like a POV shot from the officer's perspective which displays the fact that he has something to hide from them. He then quickly takes the black man hostage holding him to gunpoint. The officers immediately draw their weapons and point them at the pair, there are a lot of straight edits at this point to quicken the pace of the film, keeping the audience on their toes as anything could happen at any moment. The black man then try's to convince the officers to leave to keep them out of harms way, trying to convince them that him and the white man were just talking which at this point they clearly were doing more than just talking due to the possession of a gun. Using his quick talking, the white man is focused on the officers and what the black man is saying, not what he is doing and he takes this opportunity to punch the white man and drop him to the ground, all the while keeping his hands out and where the officers can see him as if he were to put them near his pockets, as stereotypes would lead us to assume, the officers may shoot him out of caution. After a brief exchange of phrases between the officers and the black man the music begins to slowly make its way louder and to a higher pitch to display that something is about to happen.
As the music spikes, changing to a different track the white man shoots both officers from the ground and the black man being cautious quickly jumps behind a car. The conventions here are that as the white man shoots the camera is focused on him then cuts to the man being shot, and repeats for the next. The way the black man dives behind a car is over-exaggerated and therefore creates this sense of comedy in the
scene. The white man then quickly gets in his car and rushes to get out the parking lot, seeing his escape and trying to prevent it, the black man pulls out his own gun and begins shooting at the getaway car. The sound of the tires screeching throughout this scene puts emphasis on the constant changes of speeds, going from fast to slow causes the tires to skid and create the noise, making the audience aware of how fast the car is going. He then crashes into the police vehicle displaying his desperation to get away as he does not care for the cars around him as he crashes into many others soon after. A comedic element is seen when the black man runs over to the officers and says 'didn't I tell you to get back in the car?' which in this situation is inappropriate and therefore comedic.
As the scene continues the music often spikes with volume/pitch when the car crashes into something, skids or when a gunshot is fired providing emphasis on the action in the scene. After shots are fired and the car crashes/nearly crashes into many oncoming vehicles the white man says 'Ive got C4 in the trunk!' shouting as if trying to tell the black man to stop which is ironic as not only was it the black man who wanted the C4 in the first place but also because he would never be able to hear the man in the car, the shakiness of the camera in this shot also helps emphasis the action and suspense of the shot
After a shot that breaks the back window of the car, the music begins to fluctuate from high to low, keeping the audience engaged and foreshadowing the soon-to-be explosion of the car. The breaking of the glass also symbolises the breaking of the white man's resolve as he soon after decides to abandon the car and jump out into the road. Then the shot cuts to a mid shot of the black man and his gun as he shoots and then cuts to the car exploding, featuring many angles so that the audience is engaged and that the explosion is always in the centre of the shot. The music here can hardly be heard but has become very loud/high pitched to display the sudden explosion.
After the explosion is finished it cuts to a semi-long shot of the black man as the music cuts to a light-hearted musical track, similar to that of a dancing track. The funniest part of the opening is here, after having blown up a car, the black man believes it is the best idea to then do a 'victory dance' looking around as he does, displaying his want to show off and for people to see and give him their attention. After this he rushes over to
Overall, Rush Hour has shown me the proxemics are crucial in a scene. At the start the black man is stood in front of the white man, using large gestures to assert dominance over the conversation and situation, the police are placed far way from the pair to show their caution to approach two dodgy looking men. It has also shown me the importance of soundtrack and editing to create a sense of action, where lots of quick cuts were used to display action like during the shooting and that music should be low pitched to show mystery and a slight danger but peak to a high pitch/volume when the action is about to begin or something important has happened like a bullet being shot. It has also shown me the importance of lighting, with it being based at night it show me that the time of day and lighting of a shot often dictates the general feel, for example since this shot is done at night it adds to the illegal aspect of the exchange.
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