Rush Hour
- Carter and Lee's friendship as a whole.
- It should be noted that no matter what dumb shenanigans the duo get into or whose fault it is, they’re always ready to protect the other.
- The "War" scene. Up until this point, Carter and Lee clearly don't like each other. Once Lee starts attempting to sing along to the song, Carter helps him out. Then they start dancing along to it and mimicking one another, and for the first time in the film, these two start having fun together.
- During this sequence, Lee teaches Carter how to swiftly disarm someone with a firearm, and the entire time, both are very obviously enjoying the other’s company. They even share a laugh once Carter gets the hang of it!
- After the disaster at the Foo Chow restaurant, Lee has to face the extremely disappointed and upset Consul Han, who chews him out for his failure. Carter, who was in another room getting his own chewing out, then bursts in and first bows to Han, then apologizes for both of them and speaks up for Lee. Although it doesn't do much, it was still very noble of Carter to do.
- To be more specific, he says to Han that Lee would "never jeopardize his daughter's life", and that he loves her. Keep in mind, he barely knows Lee, but does know how close the bond between him and Soo Yung is.
- Once Carter finds Soo Yung bound and with a hood over her face in the back of a truck, the first thing he does is to pull her hood off and next reassure her that everything is going to be okay. It's especially heartwarming to note how the tone of his voice changes as soon as he meets eyes with her. A Jerk with a Heart of Gold indeed.
- The long-awaited embrace between Soo Yung and Consul Han once they're reunited. The music is a nice touch as well.
Rush Hour 2
- When Carter and Lee are reunited after the latter mistakenly thought the former was killed in an explosion, the look on Lee's face is nothing but awestruck relief that his friend is alright. Doubles as a funny moment as well.
- To add to this, Lee is heavily implied to have almost gone on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge. This is after he had only known Carter for a total of maybe three years. He truly does care about him.
- Earlier on, Lee, having felt genuinely sorry about the disaster involving the Triad bar, takes Carter to a massage parlor to make it up to him. Carter is more than pleased about this — until Ricky Tan shows up.
- In movie one, Lee attempts to listen to The Beach Boys on Carter's car radio, leading to a hilarious back and forth where Carter is heavily implied to not be a fan of the band. In the first scene of them in Rush Hour 2? They're both happily singing and dancing to "California Girls". Awwww.
- Likewise in the latter film, while Lee is grieving Carter's supposed loss earlier that day, he hears "I'll Be Missing You" on the radio while driving, and then proceeds to start dancing to it like Carter used to.
- At one point, Lee and Carter find themselves hanging precariously from a snapped-off piece of bamboo scaffolding about a few dozen feet off the ground. Carter is very obviously the most frightened out of the both of them, to the point of Tears of Fear. Lee immediately tries to reassure him, saying that the bamboo they're dangling from is "very strong".
Rush Hour 3
- We see at the beginning Carter and Lee’s friendship has taken a hit due to something that happened involving Isabella. Despite that, Carter doesn’t hesitate to rush to Lee’s aid when he hears about Han getting shot.
- Soo-Yung shows up at the hospital and hugs Lee, and then Carter. She hasn’t forgotten he saved her life.
- Also, when she asks them both to find out who tried to kill her father, the two of them don’t hesitate.
- Carter knows Lee resents him, but he insists on helping him.
- The ending. Soo-Yung is saved, Kenji, the Dragon Lady, and Renard are dead, and one would guess their mooks will be arrested. Also, Geneviève survives which likely means the Triads are done. Carter and Lee both punch out Revi both as payback for the painful cavity search / interrogation and for trying to take credit for taking down the Triads. They then walk off dancing while Edwin Starr’s “War” plays. They are brothers again!
