Review of Black Rain (1989) by Stuart K — 17 Jan 2009
Sir Ridley Scott headed east to Japan for this tense and violent action thriller. Japan's neon soaked landscape is a perfect place to bring out Scott's visuals, and he turns in one of the better action films of the 1980's.
It has tough New York cop Nick Conklin (Michael Douglas), being assigned to escort violent Yakuza gangster Sato (Yusaku Matsuda) back to Japan. Conkin and his partner Charlie Vincent (Andy Garcia) travel back, only to find themselves being double crossed, and Sato escaping.
Now, they've got to work with the Japanese police, led by the uptight Masahiro (Ken Takakura), to help find their man, even if Conkin has an immediate prejudice towards the Japanese police. It's a very good action film, and even the Japanese landscape does mirror what Scott did only a few years earlier with Blade Runner (1982), he gets good performances out of his leads, (especially Douglas, who was on a successive roll at the time), the cinematography by Jan de Bont is beautiful, and brings out the best in Japan.
The film is nothing more than enjoyable 80's action cheese, and it's proud of it!! :).
This review of Black Rain (1989) was written by Stuart K on 17 Jan 2009.
Black Rain has generally received positive reviews.
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