Review of Black Rain (1989) by Ola G — 23 May 2012

Nick Conklin (Michael Douglas) is a tough veteran New York City police officer facing possible criminal charges; Internal Affairs believes Nick has been involved in a corruption scandal. Nick is divorced from his wife, who has custody of their two children. Nick also has financial difficulties due to alimony and child support as well as other concerns. During a barvisit with his partner Charlie Vincent (Andy García) they observe two Japanese men having what appears to be a friendly lunch with some Italian gangsters. Nick is increasingly suspicious of the group until another Japanese man enters the restaurant with several armed henchmen and seizes a small package at gunpoint from the leader of the Japanese group. As the man turns to leave, one of the Japanese men at the table says, in Japanese, "The Oyabun [Godfather] will not stand for this." The leader of the Japanese group chimes in, "As always, such a troublesome child." The Japanese man finds these remarks insulting and he slashes the man's throat, stabs another in the chest, and then walks out. Nick and Charlie follow immediately and, after a short chase, arrest the suspect after he nearly kills Nick.The suspect turns out to be a Yakuza gangster by the name of Sato (Yusaku Matsuda). The situation is further complicated when Nick's superior officer, Captain Oliver (John Spencer), tells him that Sato is to be extradited to Osaka and given to the police there. Nick is angry that Sato will not be tried for murder in the United States, but agrees to escort him to Japan together with Charlie. Nick's captain also has an ulterior motive for sending Nick overseas, thinking it will keep Nick from causing more trouble and exacerbating the already biased Internal Affairs investigation of him. When they arrive in Osaka, men identifying themselves as Japanese police immediately meet them on the plane, display a "transfer document" written in Japanese and take Sato into their custody, leaving the plane by the rear exit. As Nick and Charlie are about to get off the plane themselves, another group of police enter from the front and identify themselves in English, indicating that the first "cops" were impostors. Nick and Charlie are taken to the headquarters of the Osaka Prefecture Police and questioned. They are blamed for Sato's escape. After much haranguing by Nick, who shows xenophobia towards the Japanese, who rarely acknowledge that they can speak English, he and Charlie are allowed to "observe" the hunt for Sato. However, the senior police officer emphasizes that they have no authority in Japan and it is illegal for them to carry their guns, which are all confiscated. They are assigned to Masahiro Matsumoto (Ken Takakura), a mild-mannered and experienced officer, who will be their guide. Throughout the investigation Nick behaves rudely, offending Matsumoto, while Charlie tries to be more polite. Nick also makes contact with an American blond nightclub hostess, Joyce (Kate Capshaw), who explains that the Japanese public, including the giggling hostesses in the club, all believe that Nick and Charlie are not to be taken seriously because they allowed Sato to easily escape from custody, and represent American inefficiency and stupidity. Through her, Nick discovers that Sato is fighting a gang war with a notorious crime boss, Sugai (Tomisaburo Wakayama). Sato used to be a lieutenant for Sugai and now wants his own territory to rule. Sato had traveled to New York to disrupt a meeting with American Italian gangsters about a counterfeiting scheme being set up by Sugai. Nick will yet again go his own way to get hold of Sato....

I saw "Black Rain" back in 1989 at the movies when it came out, and as far as I remember I thought this Ridley Scott flick was pretty alright. Reseeing it gave me not the same feeling. Douglas character Nick is hardly a character you like or really give a damn about. Andy Garcia is the balance to Nick, but Douglas dominates too much and doesn´t carry any real positive characteristics. He´s a bigot, he´s corrupt etc etc. "Black Rain" is not amongst Ridley Scott´s better ones, it´s just a classic 80´s copmovie with nothing that really makes it stand out except that half of it is set in Japan. The whole flick is stereotypes set up during autopilot mode it seems. Douglas is normally good, here he is ok. That goes for Garcia as well. The Ray Charles kareoke scene feels so forced in my book. An 80´s trick to get in some sort of humouristic scene in the middle of the movie. Was good to see a quite stunning Kate Capshaw though. When it comes to Scott, it feels that this was maybe not a script and movie fitting him. More for his brother Tony. In a way it feels as well that they didn´t use Japan enough in the movie to create an even stronger sense of the country. "Black Rain" dropped off my chart after reseeing it.