Plot
Three years after the events of Rush Hour 2, Chinese Ambassador Solon Han, with Hong Kong Police Force Chief Inspector Lee as his bodyguard, addresses the importance of fighting the Triads at the World Criminal Court in Los Angeles, while LAPD Detective James Carter is working as a traffic cop.
Just before Han announces the whereabouts of Shy Shen, a semi-mythical individual of great importance to the Chinese mob, an assassin shoots him. Lee chases after and corners the shooter but hesitates when he learns that the assassin is his childhood foster brother, Kenji, allowing him to escape just as Carter arrives having heard about the shooting over the police radio.
Han is later hospitalized at UCLA Medical Center, having survived the assassination attempt, and Lee and Carter promise his daughter Soo Yung to find the person responsible. She insists they head to the local Kung Fu studio to retrieve an envelope Han left her, but they learn from studio master Yu that the Triads took Soo Yung's belongings and are heading to the hospital to kill Soo Yung and Han.
Lee and Carter return to the hospital to intercept the hitmen who came to kill Han. After defeating them, Lee and Carter interrogate one of them who apparently only speaks French with the help of Sister Agnes, a French-speaking nun. For her protection, they take Soo Yung to the French Embassy, leaving her with the French ambassador and chairman of the World Criminal Court, Varden Reynard. Reynard and Soo Yung are nearly killed by a car bomb, so Lee and Carter go to Paris to investigate this case further.
After a painful inspection from Parisian Commissaire Revi, Lee and Carter meet anti-American taxicab driver George and force him to drive them to a Triad hideout. While there, Carter meets stage performer Geneviève while Lee is tricked by mob assassin Jasmine, who claims to have information about Shy Shen, and Carter saves Lee from being killed.
The pair tries to escape but is ultimately captured by Kenji's men. They are taken to the sewers where Kenji promises to let them live if they leave Paris, but Lee refuses when Kenji cannot grant the same for Han and Soo Yung. Following a short struggle, he and Carter successfully escape. They recover and rest at a hotel, and Lee soon reveals his relationship with Kenji and decides to continue alone after declaring Carter as not his brother, in the same manner as Kenji.
A disillusioned Carter leaves but recomposes himself when he spots and follows Geneviève. Meanwhile, Reynard meets Lee and explains Shy Shen is not a person but a list of Triad leaders and that Geneviève is Han's informant with access to the list. After locating Geneviève and saving her from being killed, the two flee with her to their hotel. They are attacked by Jasmine, but George rescues them. Geneviève reveals to Lee and Carter that the Triad leaders' names were tattooed on the back of her head and that she will be beheaded if the Triads capture her. Lee and Carter bring her to Reynard, who reveals he was working with the Triads.
Kenji calls to inform Lee that he has captured Soo Yung and demands he turn over Geneviève. Lee arrives at the Eiffel Tower to make the exchange, with Carter disguised as Geneviève with a wig. Enraged, Kenji challenges Lee to a sword fight, during which the two fall into a safety net. After Kenji's sword cuts the net, Lee tries to save him, but Kenji is touched by Lee's kindness and lets go, falling to his death and devastating Lee. Meanwhile, Carter single-handedly fights off Kenji's henchmen, manages to save Soo Yung, and defeats Jasmine by kicking her into an elevator wheel that bisects her.
After escaping the remaining Triad members, Carter and Lee are confronted by Reynard, who threatens to kill Geneviève and frame them. However, George shoots Reynard from behind, killing him. As the police arrive, Revi tries to take credit for Lee and Carter's work, but they both knock him out with a double punch and leave with a victory dance to Edwin Starr's "War".
