Review of Showdown in Little Tokyo (1991) by Stuart K — 13 Apr 2009
These are the kind of martial arts action films that you don't get anymore, the ones with the violent blood shed, illegal weapons that often fell foul of the censors scissors, the cheesy wisecracks and the buddy-buddy partnerships that you often saw in these films.
On the basis of this, it would be good to see a film like this again. This one has cop Chris Kenner (Dolph Lundgren), an American who was raised in Japan, and his newly appointed partner, the Japanese-American Johnny Murata (Brandon Lee), who was raised in San Fernando Valley.
Kenner doesn't like American culture, and Murata doesn't like Japanese culture, but they are both martial arts experts, which comes in handy for their mission, as they go into Los Angeles' Little Toyko district to take on the deadly Yakuza, Kenner knows only too well about the Yakuza, as they killed his parents in Japan when he grew up, and the man they're after in this case, Yoshida (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa), was responsible for his parents murder, so it becomes personal.
It's a bit of silly action entertainment that doesn't outstay it's welcome, it's director Mark L. Lester made alot of violent action films during the 1980's, like Class of 1984 (1982) and Commando (1985), and this comes at the tail end of the golden age of those violent action films.
It's fun, and it deserves more recognition.
This review of Showdown in Little Tokyo (1991) was written by Stuart K on 13 Apr 2009.
Showdown in Little Tokyo has generally received mixed reviews.
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