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If you pull it-you better use it. Black Rain is directed by Ridley Scott and written by Craig Bolotin and Warren Lewis. It stars Michael Douglas, Andy Garcia, Ken Takakura, Kate Capshaw, Yusaku Matsuda and Tomisaburo Wakayama. Music is by Hans Zimmer and cinematography by Jan de Bont. After New York cops Nick Conklin (Douglas) and Charlie Vincent (Garcia) arrest a sword wielding psychopath named Sato Koji (Matsuda), they are tasked with escorting him back to Osaka in Japan. From here they are plunged into a war that is brewing in the Japanese underworld. You see there's a war going on here and they don't take no prisoners. Welcome to Blade Runner's younger brother, Black Rain, a Ridley Scott film I feel has never received the credit it deserves. Viewing from the outside it looked like one of those 1980s cop movies, one where the main cop is washed up and perched on the edge of oblivion, his partner his sanity and voice of reason. However, Scott (brought in late to direct when Paul Verhoeven bailed) wasn't interested in the normalities of the cop drama, he saw the potential for cross continent culture clash and the chance to bring his visual skills to the fore. Yep, it's the big neon glitter of Osaka and the grime and dime of New York that is the big draw here, but characterisations are still rich for the drama, with Scott taking plenty of time to set up the lead protagonist. We know Conklin's troubles, we know how tight his friendship is with Charlie, and by the time things go grim and dour in Osaka we understand just why Conklin plunges head first into a do or die situation. Visually Scott infuses the picture with cramped locales, steamy streets, industrial wastelands and blood red suns, while his lead character is an unshaven trench coat wearer who still manages to look devilishly cool. It's perhaps the drawing of Osaka that is the most impressive, for it's an alien creation to us as much as it obviously is to Conklin, the ignorance gap between America and Japan still wide apart in 1989. Complaints? At just over two hours in running time the film does have periods of flatness, where some better editing wouldn't have gone amiss; though Scott's original cut was considerably longer, begging the question on if more could have been done to enhance the seething culture clash between cops Conklin and Matsumoto (Takakura)? Another problem is that Capshaw's character is under written, a crime when it's the sole female part of note in a two hour movie. Did more of the character hit the cutting room floor? Likely, because now it's a token eye candy offering, which is a shame since what little we do get hints at a savvy performance from Capshaw. Ridley Scott lifts Black Rain from merely being a fish out of water thriller to something more layered. True to say there is more style than substance (what style though), but there is still very much interesting juxtapositioning of countries and human interactions of credible worth as well. 8/10
The fact that the words "produced in association with Michael Douglas" appear on the credits before the name of the director (Ridley Scott) tells us much of what we need to know about this crime thriller. It is a project for and about Michael Douglas and it isn't very good. He ("Conklin") is a New York cop, and a bent one at that. Together with his oppo "Charlie" (Andy Garcia) he witnesses a Yakuza killing in a restaurant. Apprehending the culprit, they are tasked with repatriating him to Japan but manage to cock up the prisoner delivery when the plane lands. Determined to track down his miscreant escapee, he now proceeds to treat the local law enforcement with an arrogant disdain that ought to have found him neatly at the end of a Samurai sword. Of course, though, he is the hero - so the plot gradually swivels the characterisations round so he starts to look the decent, intuitive police officer whom the incompetent, hapless, Tokyo officers have needed all along. Luckily, Garcia gets to take an early bath which leaves us with a very weak supporting cast, a few scenes from a completely unnecessary Kate Capshaw ("Joyce") before an ending that made this legendary and lethal criminal fraternity look little more dangerous that a Californian fraternity house. Someone clearly decided that the dark and dingy look was in; the lighting is on half power for much of this, and what action scenes there are merely serve to further augment the star's "hard man" image but do little to add any depth to this really average story. Hans Zimmer's lacklustre score also seems to have come straight out of an episode of "Miami Vice", too. This is just poor, derivative and instantly forgettable.
Well made neo-noir thriller featuring great performances by Douglas, Garcia and Takakura with special mention to Yûsaku Matsuda who worked on this despite dying with bladder cancer (and he was only 40 years old). Not top shelf work compared to other Ridley Scott movies but it is shot well (courtesy also to DP Jan de Bont). **4.0/5**
Black Rain is one of those cop movies that's just downright cool. Unfortunately, it became dated quite quickly, but if you can look past that it's very much worth a watch. Ridley Scott knows how to make a good movie. And Michael Douglas certainly knows how to act.
Alexander, the King of Macedonia, leads his legions against the giant Persian Empire. After defeating the Persians, he leads his army across the then known world, venturing farther than any westerner had ever gone, all the way to India.
A New York nightclub manager tries to save his brother and father from Russian mafia hitmen.
In Hamburg, Ibrahim "Ibo" Secmez, of Turkish descent, wants to direct the first German kung-fu movie. For now, he makes commercials for his uncle's kebab restaurant. Titzie, an aspiring actress and Ibo's German girlfriend, finds she's pregnant. Ibo is uncertain about fatherhood - compounded by his father's disowning him for getting a German girl pregnant - so Titzie sends him packing. He makes attempts at getting it right, but as the birth approaches, he's still not ready. In the background are three thugs in search of good tripe soup and a Capulet-Montegue feud between the kebab joint and a Greek taverna across the street. Can Ibo be the glove upon that hand?
While doing a friend a favour and searching for a runaway teenager, a police detective stumbles upon a bizarre band of criminals about to pull off a bank robbery. The screenplay by Christopher Cannan and Steve Barancik is based on the short story "The House in Turk Street" by Dashiell Hammett.
When a woman's father goes missing, she enlists a local to aid in her search. The pair soon discover that her father has died at the hands of a wealthy sportsman who hunts homeless men as a form of recreation.
After proving himself on the field of battle in the French and Indian War, Benjamin Martin wants nothing more to do with such things, preferring the simple life of a farmer. But when his son Gabriel enlists in the army to defend their new nation, America, against the British, Benjamin reluctantly returns to his old life to protect his son.
It was a tumultuous time. In the early Meiji period, there was the first photographer in Japan who lived a heroic life. What fascinated him with photography was a photograph of a naked woman.
Mexican beauty Camilla hopes to rise above her station by marrying a wealthy American. That is complicated by meeting Arturo Bandini, a first-generation Italian hoping to land a writing career and a blue-eyed blonde on his arm.
Ma travels to Shanghai to look for his father and to learn kung fu from him, and in the process discovers that he has superhuman strength. He puts his extraordinary power to good use as he goes against a band of ruthless fighters!
A ruthless warlord is using his poisonous palm to kill Ming Patriots, and only the Kung Fu Phantom (Wong Tao) has a chance of ending his reign of terror.
Master Yu is invited to Los Angeles to take on numerous fighters in a Kung Fu contest. He beats all comers and this angers a local mob boss who lost a great deal of money on illegal betting…