Review of Showdown in Little Tokyo (1991) by Timothy S — 10 Nov 2011

"Showdown in Little Tokyo" has some elements that make you think this might be something special. Mark Lester is an experienced action director, it features the film debut of Bruce Lee's son and sometimes even Dolph Lundgren is entertaining. But, it's painfully obvious from the opening moments that this film is going nowhere.

Lundgren is ridiculously dull, almost to the point of being a mockery of himself. You can't tell if he's in on the joke or not. Brandon Lee shows some promise, but it's hard to tell just how good he could be considering the lame dialogue he's saddled with. And co-star Tia Carrere does what she does best: she's hot.

The movie recycles B-movie plot #24, and there's just nothing new to see here. There are some pretty kick-ass shoot-outs courtesy of Lester, and the running time is mercifully short. It's almost funny how the screenwriters give the Lundgren character all of these quirky personality traits to make his special or unique. He's delivery is so wooden that it's all in vain. His career peaked with his first feature.

There's not even any memorable bad guys here, and everyone knows that a good action movie relies on a great villain. They're all generic and bland, thrown under the virtually meaningless "Yakuza" banner. It's not as sinister as it sounds.

The rest of "Showdown in Little Tokyo" is as forgettable as its title. It's not really all that horrible, but there's nothing special about it either. Except, that is, for Tia Carrere in a hot tub.