I have enjoyed films and cinema for a very long time. From the time my father took me to the Elks theater to see "Star Wars," I was hooked. Much of the movies I was able to watch were on Saturday afternoons, when I could commandeer the family television. A good number of black and white horror films and "Godzilla" movies were always showing on the limited number of channels that were available in the late Seventies and early Eighties. When the VCR and the concept of movie rentals finally became reality in the earlier Eighties, my nephew Don (who is actually three months older than me) and I would walk to the video store and rent a movie or two for the weekend. We loved to rent science fiction and horror films. Some of my early favorites were "Alien" and that science fiction movie with Han Solo, "Blade Runner." When I was just entering my teens, I was not completely aware of what I director was, but I knew that Ridley Scott had something to do with movies I liked.
Years later, I was in the middle of my High School career and a new Ridley Scott movie hit the theaters. This film was "Black Rain." I had known of Michael Douglas from the two Jack Coltrane films, "Romancing the Stone" and "Jewel of the Nile." I had also known that a crazy blonde woman had stewed his rabbit in another film. "Black Rain" didn´t have Harrison Ford or any other stars that I followed at that time, but Michael Douglas seemed cool enough and I knew that Ridley Scott made great films. In my mind, "Black Rain" would find "Blade Runner" in Japan and instead of chasing down superhuman clones; the hero would be going after the Yakuza. While leaving the theater, I couldn´t help but feel disappointed by "Black Rain." The film had a nice amount of action, but I wasn´t as intelligent to the world as I am today and I didn´t quite understand much of what happened. At sixteen years old, I just wasn´t ready for "Black Rain."
Fast forward a few years and I have learned to appreciate "Black Rain." The racial differences and issues faced by Michael Douglas´ character are well understood and the situations that Nick finds himself in are now meaningful. His mistrust and disliking and eventual befriending of Masahiro (Ken Takakura) are no longer confusing; as I now fully comprehend the change of heart Nick finds when he learns to realize Masahiro´s motivations and cultural differences of character. The complexity and depth of the film´s plot are now meaningful and the film does not escape me as it did so many years ago. When I was only sixteen, the concepts of embezzlement, cultural differences, racial stereotypes, honor and Japanese police procedures were completely alien and unlike Ridley Scott´s "Alien," they didn´t devour the good guys and delightfully scare me. They confused me.
"Black Rain" is the story of two New York policemen, Nick (Michael Douglas) and Charlie (Andy Garcia), who must escort a Japanese Mafia boss, Sato (Yusaku Koyama) to Japanese to face prosecution. Upon arriving in Japan, the boss escapes and Nick makes Japanese headlines as the American who let Sato loose. Nick is escaping demons and allegations of stealing drug money by leaving America and his arrival in Japan is hardly enough to improve his situation. The two police officers are stripped of their guns and given roles as simple observers as the Japanese police continue their investigations. Japanese police officer Masahiro (Ken Takakura) is assigned to monitor and control Nick and Charlie. Charlie is very accepting of his new Japanese guide and beings a friendship, while Nick is far from pleasant to Masahiro. By not being permitted to take part in the investigation and being stripped of any authority, Nick is a stranger in a strange land. When Charlie is killed by the Yakuza, he discovers and understanding of Masahiro and learns that only by helping his Japanese counterpart and working with him can he bring down Charlie´s killer.
Michael Douglas brings Nick to life. Douglas does a solid job of playing a hard and tough police detective with a few skeletons in his closet. His portrayal of Nick in Paul Verhoeven´s "Basic Instinct" is further proof of this. Andy Garcia leaves the audience missing Charlie when the character is taken away. Charlie is a likeable character that perfectly complement´s Nick´s harshness and the film loses something when Charlie dies. Ken Takakura is especially good as Masahiro, a noble and respectable Japanese police officer that struggles to understand the American ideas and Nick´s uneasy personality. It is a shame the actor has only been in "Mr. Baseball" since then, and only five Japanese films since then. Kate Capshaw (Mrs. Steven Spielberg) feels like a late addition to the story and the film. She is the love interest of Nick, but hardly adds any weight to the film. She looks lovely in the film and has a few nice moments of dialogue, but is hardly memorable in her performance. She would later shine as Willie in the second Indiana Jones film, but didn´t add much here.
Not many films use the Japanese Mafia, or Yakuza as it is called, as subject matter. Many Americans are only introduced to Tokyo and the Japanese culture in old "Godzilla" films. The strong cultural differences and struggle to fit into a strange land was more recently the subject of Sofia Coppola´s "Lost in Translation." "Black Rain" focuses on the outsider American in Japan and provides a gripping and captivating crime thriller that focuses on the mostly ignored Yakuza. There have been so many crime films that focus on the Italian Mafia or New York City. "CSI" and other television shows survive nicely on the same old situations. "Black Rain" is unique in taking the crime drama / action film to Japan and looking at an entirely different breed of criminal – the Yakuza. No many films have followed in the footsteps of Ridley Scott and "Black Rain" since the film was released in 1989. This is a shame, as a change of scenery and culture brings life to a tired and rehashed genre.
"Black Rain" is not a perfect film. It does find itself occasionally lost in its plot lines. The relationship between Joyce (Kate Capshaw) and the Yakuza and her relationship with Nick border on being meaningless and non-coherent. The war between the two Yakuza factions is not very detailed and Nick´s involvement between the two factions is also thinly detailed. Aside from these minor arguments, this is a very nice film to sit back and enjoy. The "fish out of water" plotlines with Nick is nicely done and perfectly contrasted with the friendly and personable Charlie adapting with much more ease. The film´s final climax is a great action sequence as Nick goes Johnny Rambo on the Yakuza mob. There are a lot of bullets spent and it is done quite believably. The wonderful neon lit nightlife of Japan is shown briefly, but is a great contrast to Ridley´s own "Blade Runner." "Black Rain" is a different entry in its genre and its plot balance between crime drama and ´stranger in a strange land´ is perfectly done by the masterful Ridley Scott. It took me a few years after I had first seen "Black Rain" to appreciate it, but I certainly do now.
Years later, I was in the middle of my High School career and a new Ridley Scott movie hit the theaters. This film was "Black Rain." I had known of Michael Douglas from the two Jack Coltrane films, "Romancing the Stone" and "Jewel of the Nile." I had also known that a crazy blonde woman had stewed his rabbit in another film. "Black Rain" didn´t have Harrison Ford or any other stars that I followed at that time, but Michael Douglas seemed cool enough and I knew that Ridley Scott made great films. In my mind, "Black Rain" would find "Blade Runner" in Japan and instead of chasing down superhuman clones; the hero would be going after the Yakuza. While leaving the theater, I couldn´t help but feel disappointed by "Black Rain." The film had a nice amount of action, but I wasn´t as intelligent to the world as I am today and I didn´t quite understand much of what happened. At sixteen years old, I just wasn´t ready for "Black Rain."
Fast forward a few years and I have learned to appreciate "Black Rain." The racial differences and issues faced by Michael Douglas´ character are well understood and the situations that Nick finds himself in are now meaningful. His mistrust and disliking and eventual befriending of Masahiro (Ken Takakura) are no longer confusing; as I now fully comprehend the change of heart Nick finds when he learns to realize Masahiro´s motivations and cultural differences of character. The complexity and depth of the film´s plot are now meaningful and the film does not escape me as it did so many years ago. When I was only sixteen, the concepts of embezzlement, cultural differences, racial stereotypes, honor and Japanese police procedures were completely alien and unlike Ridley Scott´s "Alien," they didn´t devour the good guys and delightfully scare me. They confused me.
"Black Rain" is the story of two New York policemen, Nick (Michael Douglas) and Charlie (Andy Garcia), who must escort a Japanese Mafia boss, Sato (Yusaku Koyama) to Japanese to face prosecution. Upon arriving in Japan, the boss escapes and Nick makes Japanese headlines as the American who let Sato loose. Nick is escaping demons and allegations of stealing drug money by leaving America and his arrival in Japan is hardly enough to improve his situation. The two police officers are stripped of their guns and given roles as simple observers as the Japanese police continue their investigations. Japanese police officer Masahiro (Ken Takakura) is assigned to monitor and control Nick and Charlie. Charlie is very accepting of his new Japanese guide and beings a friendship, while Nick is far from pleasant to Masahiro. By not being permitted to take part in the investigation and being stripped of any authority, Nick is a stranger in a strange land. When Charlie is killed by the Yakuza, he discovers and understanding of Masahiro and learns that only by helping his Japanese counterpart and working with him can he bring down Charlie´s killer.
Michael Douglas brings Nick to life. Douglas does a solid job of playing a hard and tough police detective with a few skeletons in his closet. His portrayal of Nick in Paul Verhoeven´s "Basic Instinct" is further proof of this. Andy Garcia leaves the audience missing Charlie when the character is taken away. Charlie is a likeable character that perfectly complement´s Nick´s harshness and the film loses something when Charlie dies. Ken Takakura is especially good as Masahiro, a noble and respectable Japanese police officer that struggles to understand the American ideas and Nick´s uneasy personality. It is a shame the actor has only been in "Mr. Baseball" since then, and only five Japanese films since then. Kate Capshaw (Mrs. Steven Spielberg) feels like a late addition to the story and the film. She is the love interest of Nick, but hardly adds any weight to the film. She looks lovely in the film and has a few nice moments of dialogue, but is hardly memorable in her performance. She would later shine as Willie in the second Indiana Jones film, but didn´t add much here.
Not many films use the Japanese Mafia, or Yakuza as it is called, as subject matter. Many Americans are only introduced to Tokyo and the Japanese culture in old "Godzilla" films. The strong cultural differences and struggle to fit into a strange land was more recently the subject of Sofia Coppola´s "Lost in Translation." "Black Rain" focuses on the outsider American in Japan and provides a gripping and captivating crime thriller that focuses on the mostly ignored Yakuza. There have been so many crime films that focus on the Italian Mafia or New York City. "CSI" and other television shows survive nicely on the same old situations. "Black Rain" is unique in taking the crime drama / action film to Japan and looking at an entirely different breed of criminal – the Yakuza. No many films have followed in the footsteps of Ridley Scott and "Black Rain" since the film was released in 1989. This is a shame, as a change of scenery and culture brings life to a tired and rehashed genre.
"Black Rain" is not a perfect film. It does find itself occasionally lost in its plot lines. The relationship between Joyce (Kate Capshaw) and the Yakuza and her relationship with Nick border on being meaningless and non-coherent. The war between the two Yakuza factions is not very detailed and Nick´s involvement between the two factions is also thinly detailed. Aside from these minor arguments, this is a very nice film to sit back and enjoy. The "fish out of water" plotlines with Nick is nicely done and perfectly contrasted with the friendly and personable Charlie adapting with much more ease. The film´s final climax is a great action sequence as Nick goes Johnny Rambo on the Yakuza mob. There are a lot of bullets spent and it is done quite believably. The wonderful neon lit nightlife of Japan is shown briefly, but is a great contrast to Ridley´s own "Blade Runner." "Black Rain" is a different entry in its genre and its plot balance between crime drama and ´stranger in a strange land´ is perfectly done by the masterful Ridley Scott. It took me a few years after I had first seen "Black Rain" to appreciate it, but I certainly do now.
I have enjoyed films and cinema for a very long time. From the time my father took me to the Elks theater to see "Star Wars," I was hooked. Much of the movies I was able to watch were on Saturday afternoons, when I could commandeer the family television. A good number of black and white horror films and "Godzilla" movies were always showing on the limited number of channels that were available in the late Seventies and early Eighties. When the VCR and the concept of movie rentals finally became reality in the earlier Eighties, my nephew Don (who is actually three months older than me) and I would walk to the video store and rent a movie or two for the weekend. We loved to rent science fiction and horror films. Some of my early favorites were "Alien" and that science fiction movie with Han Solo, "Blade Runner." When I was just entering my teens, I was not completely aware of what I director was, but I knew that Ridley Scott had something to do with movies I liked.
Years later, I was in the middle of my High School career and a new Ridley Scott movie hit the theaters. This film was "Black Rain." I had known of Michael Douglas from the two Jack Coltrane films, "Romancing the Stone" and "Jewel of the Nile." I had also known that a crazy blonde woman had stewed his rabbit in another film. "Black Rain" didn´t have Harrison Ford or any other stars that I followed at that time, but Michael Douglas seemed cool enough and I knew that Ridley Scott made great films. In my mind, "Black Rain" would find "Blade Runner" in Japan and instead of chasing down superhuman clones; the hero would be going after the Yakuza. While leaving the theater, I couldn´t help but feel disappointed by "Black Rain." The film had a nice amount of action, but I wasn´t as intelligent to the world as I am today and I didn´t quite understand much of what happened. At sixteen years old, I just wasn´t ready for "Black Rain."
Fast forward a few years and I have learned to appreciate "Black Rain." The racial differences and issues faced by Michael Douglas´ character are well understood and the situations that Nick finds himself in are now meaningful. His mistrust and disliking and eventual befriending of Masahiro (Ken Takakura) are no longer confusing; as I now fully comprehend the change of heart Nick finds when he learns to realize Masahiro´s motivations and cultural differences of character. The complexity and depth of the film´s plot are now meaningful and the film does not escape me as it did so many years ago. When I was only sixteen, the concepts of embezzlement, cultural differences, racial stereotypes, honor and Japanese police procedures were completely alien and unlike Ridley Scott´s "Alien," they didn´t devour the good guys and delightfully scare me. They confused me.
"Black Rain" is the story of two New York policemen, Nick (Michael Douglas) and Charlie (Andy Garcia), who must escort a Japanese Mafia boss, Sato (Yusaku Koyama) to Japanese to face prosecution. Upon arriving in Japan, the boss escapes and Nick makes Japanese headlines as the American who let Sato loose. Nick is escaping demons and allegations of stealing drug money by leaving America and his arrival in Japan is hardly enough to improve his situation. The two police officers are stripped of their guns and given roles as simple observers as the Japanese police continue their investigations. Japanese police officer Masahiro (Ken Takakura) is assigned to monitor and control Nick and Charlie. Charlie is very accepting of his new Japanese guide and beings a friendship, while Nick is far from pleasant to Masahiro. By not being permitted to take part in the investigation and being stripped of any authority, Nick is a stranger in a strange land. When Charlie is killed by the Yakuza, he discovers and understanding of Masahiro and learns that only by helping his Japanese counterpart and working with him can he bring down Charlie´s killer.
Michael Douglas brings Nick to life. Douglas does a solid job of playing a hard and tough police detective with a few skeletons in his closet. His portrayal of Nick in Paul Verhoeven´s "Basic Instinct" is further proof of this. Andy Garcia leaves the audience missing Charlie when the character is taken away. Charlie is a likeable character that perfectly complement´s Nick´s harshness and the film loses something when Charlie dies. Ken Takakura is especially good as Masahiro, a noble and respectable Japanese police officer that struggles to understand the American ideas and Nick´s uneasy personality. It is a shame the actor has only been in "Mr. Baseball" since then, and only five Japanese films since then. Kate Capshaw (Mrs. Steven Spielberg) feels like a late addition to the story and the film. She is the love interest of Nick, but hardly adds any weight to the film. She looks lovely in the film and has a few nice moments of dialogue, but is hardly memorable in her performance. She would later shine as Willie in the second Indiana Jones film, but didn´t add much here.
Not many films use the Japanese Mafia, or Yakuza as it is called, as subject matter. Many Americans are only introduced to Tokyo and the Japanese culture in old "Godzilla" films. The strong cultural differences and struggle to fit into a strange land was more recently the subject of Sofia Coppola´s "Lost in Translation." "Black Rain" focuses on the outsider American in Japan and provides a gripping and captivating crime thriller that focuses on the mostly ignored Yakuza. There have been so many crime films that focus on the Italian Mafia or New York City. "CSI" and other television shows survive nicely on the same old situations. "Black Rain" is unique in taking the crime drama / action film to Japan and looking at an entirely different breed of criminal – the Yakuza. No many films have followed in the footsteps of Ridley Scott and "Black Rain" since the film was released in 1989. This is a shame, as a change of scenery and culture brings life to a tired and rehashed genre.
"Black Rain" is not a perfect film. It does find itself occasionally lost in its plot lines. The relationship between Joyce (Kate Capshaw) and the Yakuza and her relationship with Nick border on being meaningless and non-coherent. The war between the two Yakuza factions is not very detailed and Nick´s involvement between the two factions is also thinly detailed. Aside from these minor arguments, this is a very nice film to sit back and enjoy. The "fish out of water" plotlines with Nick is nicely done and perfectly contrasted with the friendly and personable Charlie adapting with much more ease. The film´s final climax is a great action sequence as Nick goes Johnny Rambo on the Yakuza mob. There are a lot of bullets spent and it is done quite believably. The wonderful neon lit nightlife of Japan is shown briefly, but is a great contrast to Ridley´s own "Blade Runner." "Black Rain" is a different entry in its genre and its plot balance between crime drama and ´stranger in a strange land´ is perfectly done by the masterful Ridley Scott. It took me a few years after I had first seen "Black Rain" to appreciate it, but I certainly do now.
Years later, I was in the middle of my High School career and a new Ridley Scott movie hit the theaters. This film was "Black Rain." I had known of Michael Douglas from the two Jack Coltrane films, "Romancing the Stone" and "Jewel of the Nile." I had also known that a crazy blonde woman had stewed his rabbit in another film. "Black Rain" didn´t have Harrison Ford or any other stars that I followed at that time, but Michael Douglas seemed cool enough and I knew that Ridley Scott made great films. In my mind, "Black Rain" would find "Blade Runner" in Japan and instead of chasing down superhuman clones; the hero would be going after the Yakuza. While leaving the theater, I couldn´t help but feel disappointed by "Black Rain." The film had a nice amount of action, but I wasn´t as intelligent to the world as I am today and I didn´t quite understand much of what happened. At sixteen years old, I just wasn´t ready for "Black Rain."
Fast forward a few years and I have learned to appreciate "Black Rain." The racial differences and issues faced by Michael Douglas´ character are well understood and the situations that Nick finds himself in are now meaningful. His mistrust and disliking and eventual befriending of Masahiro (Ken Takakura) are no longer confusing; as I now fully comprehend the change of heart Nick finds when he learns to realize Masahiro´s motivations and cultural differences of character. The complexity and depth of the film´s plot are now meaningful and the film does not escape me as it did so many years ago. When I was only sixteen, the concepts of embezzlement, cultural differences, racial stereotypes, honor and Japanese police procedures were completely alien and unlike Ridley Scott´s "Alien," they didn´t devour the good guys and delightfully scare me. They confused me.
"Black Rain" is the story of two New York policemen, Nick (Michael Douglas) and Charlie (Andy Garcia), who must escort a Japanese Mafia boss, Sato (Yusaku Koyama) to Japanese to face prosecution. Upon arriving in Japan, the boss escapes and Nick makes Japanese headlines as the American who let Sato loose. Nick is escaping demons and allegations of stealing drug money by leaving America and his arrival in Japan is hardly enough to improve his situation. The two police officers are stripped of their guns and given roles as simple observers as the Japanese police continue their investigations. Japanese police officer Masahiro (Ken Takakura) is assigned to monitor and control Nick and Charlie. Charlie is very accepting of his new Japanese guide and beings a friendship, while Nick is far from pleasant to Masahiro. By not being permitted to take part in the investigation and being stripped of any authority, Nick is a stranger in a strange land. When Charlie is killed by the Yakuza, he discovers and understanding of Masahiro and learns that only by helping his Japanese counterpart and working with him can he bring down Charlie´s killer.
Michael Douglas brings Nick to life. Douglas does a solid job of playing a hard and tough police detective with a few skeletons in his closet. His portrayal of Nick in Paul Verhoeven´s "Basic Instinct" is further proof of this. Andy Garcia leaves the audience missing Charlie when the character is taken away. Charlie is a likeable character that perfectly complement´s Nick´s harshness and the film loses something when Charlie dies. Ken Takakura is especially good as Masahiro, a noble and respectable Japanese police officer that struggles to understand the American ideas and Nick´s uneasy personality. It is a shame the actor has only been in "Mr. Baseball" since then, and only five Japanese films since then. Kate Capshaw (Mrs. Steven Spielberg) feels like a late addition to the story and the film. She is the love interest of Nick, but hardly adds any weight to the film. She looks lovely in the film and has a few nice moments of dialogue, but is hardly memorable in her performance. She would later shine as Willie in the second Indiana Jones film, but didn´t add much here.
Not many films use the Japanese Mafia, or Yakuza as it is called, as subject matter. Many Americans are only introduced to Tokyo and the Japanese culture in old "Godzilla" films. The strong cultural differences and struggle to fit into a strange land was more recently the subject of Sofia Coppola´s "Lost in Translation." "Black Rain" focuses on the outsider American in Japan and provides a gripping and captivating crime thriller that focuses on the mostly ignored Yakuza. There have been so many crime films that focus on the Italian Mafia or New York City. "CSI" and other television shows survive nicely on the same old situations. "Black Rain" is unique in taking the crime drama / action film to Japan and looking at an entirely different breed of criminal – the Yakuza. No many films have followed in the footsteps of Ridley Scott and "Black Rain" since the film was released in 1989. This is a shame, as a change of scenery and culture brings life to a tired and rehashed genre.
"Black Rain" is not a perfect film. It does find itself occasionally lost in its plot lines. The relationship between Joyce (Kate Capshaw) and the Yakuza and her relationship with Nick border on being meaningless and non-coherent. The war between the two Yakuza factions is not very detailed and Nick´s involvement between the two factions is also thinly detailed. Aside from these minor arguments, this is a very nice film to sit back and enjoy. The "fish out of water" plotlines with Nick is nicely done and perfectly contrasted with the friendly and personable Charlie adapting with much more ease. The film´s final climax is a great action sequence as Nick goes Johnny Rambo on the Yakuza mob. There are a lot of bullets spent and it is done quite believably. The wonderful neon lit nightlife of Japan is shown briefly, but is a great contrast to Ridley´s own "Blade Runner." "Black Rain" is a different entry in its genre and its plot balance between crime drama and ´stranger in a strange land´ is perfectly done by the masterful Ridley Scott. It took me a few years after I had first seen "Black Rain" to appreciate it, but I certainly do now.
No comments:
Post a Comment