Black Rain
1989 Directed by Ridley Scott
Synopsis
Their country. Their laws. Their game. His rules.
Two New York cops get involved in a gang war between members of the Yakuza, the Japanese Mafia. They arrest one of their killers and are ordered to escort him back to Japan. In Japan, however, he manages to escape. As they try to track him down, they get deeper and deeper into the Japanese Mafia scene and they have to learn that they can only win by playing the game the Japanese way.
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A Ridley Scott movie that people seem to hate because I guess they compare it to other Ridley Scott movies, but if you pit it against practically any late-80's/early-90's Steven Seagal cop film, it measures up quite nicely. Douglas chews ample scenery as the perfect action movie cliche that I can't get enough of: divorced, tough-guy NY cop can't let the bad guy go/must avenge death. Oh, and is he being investigated by internal affairs? You bet your ass he is. Loaded with one-liners and casual racism, Douglas heads to Japan where he runs afoul of the Yakuza and proceeds to be the perfect entitled-drunk-American-asshole-moron, acting like a dick to everyone he encounters, until of course he learns the value…
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Right from the start, Black Rain shows its true colors. In its opening scene, NYC police detective Nick Conklin (Michael Douglas) engages in a motorcycle street race and roundly trounces his opponent. Nick, of course, rides a burly Harley Davidson, the opponent a high-pitched Suzuki. The message is clear: American brawn beats puny Japanese cleverness. While this will eventually be moderated somewhat, it's a core value the script will stick with until the end.
And that's Black Rain's biggest problem. It is, of course, a movie borne out of American lack of self esteem, from a time when the Japanese bubble economy was going strong, and the more xenophobic Wall Street denizens lived in deep fear of the zaibatsus. Cinematically,…
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How is this movie not talked more about? I loved it! Michael Douglas is a bad ass. Ridleys direction pretty near flawless, often displaying visual similarities and noir-themes to that of Blade Runner.
Black Rain is a story drenched in style and the wonderful atmosphere of Japan leaps off in vivid locales from night club to the bustling streets of the city life to an indutrialised factory and mainland farms and villiages. If you watch Black Rain at all, watch it alone for its incredible settings and lovingly shot backgrounds. They will melt into your subconcious wishing you were there.
Featuing a nice Hans Zimmer score, futuristic and electronic. Black Rain is a treat that needs to be found by more people. -
i don't want to make some sort of case for this as an overlooked auteurist gem, but i do think it gets ignored by folks who fixate on the admittedly obnoxious 80s ugly American machismo (like that opening motorcycle race, i mean good lord) at the expense of a downright gorgeous, relatively thoughtful and occasionally even digressive spin on the fish-out-of-water buddy cop jam, tired though it was by 1989.
BLACK RAIN does a pretty good job of undercutting its main character's "plays by his own rules" nonsense by taking a strange hangout approach to Japanese police culture. we spend a lot more time in offices negotiating procedure, with each one of those encounters emphasizing that Douglas' individuality and bravado…
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Glossy, style over substance and all too typical culture clash 80s thriller with an already past it Michael Douglas confirming his credentials as cinema's Mid Life Crisis Man (he even drives a bike for God's sake!) Still, it's a fun ride boosted above the norm by the directorial flair of Ridley Scott and a rich visual palette of icy colours and moody hues offset by the occasional vivid explosion, spark or flame.
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The end of Scott's reign of stylistic excesses in the 1980s, Black Rain was far more fizzle than sizzle upon its initial release, and only looks worse twenty-odd years later. The film aims for a contemporary Blade Runner setting in the the harshly lit mean-streets, markets and nightclubs of Tokyo and it is safe to say that visually, the film is interesting (as are all of Scott's films) but as a police procedural which tries grasp and diffuse the US/Japanese tensions of the decade, the script is an abject disaster. Not only postulates that Japanese would be a lot more effective at ... something ... if they just adopted the American cowboy approach. It makes not a lick of sense from a police procedural standpoint, or for that matter a gang-war one. There is suspending disbelief then there is watching Black Rain.
Further writing on Black Rain coming up Monday on Rowthree's Ridley Scott Retrospective: www.rowthree.com/
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Many people seem to hate this. I love it.
Visually it is a masterpiece, great soundtrack by Zimmer. And I enjoy the story - sometimes all you need is a simple story.
Watching it on a 77-inch screen on bluray made an even greater experience.
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Osaka looks amazing here, shot like a really cool sci-fi noir. Andy Garcia is particularly charming and the Japanese supporting cast is excellent. Michael Douglas' character is not very interesting and the thriller-plot is average to decent, and cheesy towards the end but overall satisfying and enjoyable. and a cool 80s soundtrack, Zimmer does it again.
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Ridley Scott’s Black Rain is a stylish, neon-soaked action thriller filled to the brim with eighties characteristics. While its overlong runtime and rather predictable narrative prevent it from being a Scott classic, fans of these 80s actioners will definitely have a field day with a motorbike-riding, one-liner spouting Michael Douglas.
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I love this movie. It takes typical eighties "tough cop with a heart of gold" macho stereotypes and puts it in Japan which adds another cliche layer, the "fish out of water" routine with Andy Garcia being particularly grating with his clearly exaggerated American bullshit. It oozes American arrogance and boorishness. Every Japanese character is a stereotype and with that in mind I'd you like to perform a mental exercise before watching the movie: picture how you think a late eighties action film would portray Japanese people. Every single one of them will be just how you pictured.
All of that said: you will love this movie if you have a fondness for eighties action thrillers. It has some vintage…
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Black Rain is a simple yet effective story about cultural vigor and more specifically the relationship between Americans and the Japanese after World War II.
The main star of the film, Nick, is your typical "I play by my own rules" kind of cop who is balanced out by his cool-headed partner Charlie. The film starts out with the pair witnessing a crime by a Yakuza gang member (Sato) who is eventually to be escorted back to Japan by Nick and Charlie. However, once they arrive, the pair lose Sato and for the rest of the film they pursue him with the (limited) help of the Japanese police force.
The biggest standout for me though was Ken Takakura who played… -
i don't want to make some sort of case for this as an overlooked auteurist gem, but i do think it gets ignored by folks who fixate on the admittedly obnoxious 80s ugly American machismo (like that opening motorcycle race, i mean good lord) at the expense of a downright gorgeous, relatively thoughtful and occasionally even digressive spin on the fish-out-of-water buddy cop jam, tired though it was by 1989.
BLACK RAIN does a pretty good job of undercutting its main character's "plays by his own rules" nonsense by taking a strange hangout approach to Japanese police culture. we spend a lot more time in offices negotiating procedure, with each one of those encounters emphasizing that Douglas' individuality and bravado…
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Hurt by its predictable plot and corny writing, Black Rain is a template 80s action thriller. With a great central performance by Michael Douglas and a fantastic supporting cast, Ridley Scott creates a fun little trip into the heart of Osaka, Japan. Aesthetically it's amazing, with beautiful shots of the city at night, neon lights flashing and reflecting off the dark, damp streets as Hans Zimmer's amazing score triumphantly blares over all speakers. Whatever shortcomings it has are well worth sitting through to admire how much of an experience it is watching this with high-end home theater equipment. One of Ridley Scott's more underrated films, but surely one of the most beautiful films to come out of the age of excess.
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Decent American crime thriller with Michael Douglas as a borderline corrupt American cop who heads to the yakuza town of Osaka, Japan where he forms an unlikely partnership with a bureaucratic veteran played by Ken Takakura. The irony is that Douglas was known as the romantic leading man, and he is cast here as the tough guy... Ken Takakura was a tough guy icon in Japanese cinema known for his performances as honourable criminals in post war Japanese film. So the roles are reserved. Not a bad film, worth a watch.
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A Ridley Scott movie that people seem to hate because I guess they compare it to other Ridley Scott movies, but if you pit it against practically any late-80's/early-90's Steven Seagal cop film, it measures up quite nicely. Douglas chews ample scenery as the perfect action movie cliche that I can't get enough of: divorced, tough-guy NY cop can't let the bad guy go/must avenge death. Oh, and is he being investigated by internal affairs? You bet your ass he is. Loaded with one-liners and casual racism, Douglas heads to Japan where he runs afoul of the Yakuza and proceeds to be the perfect entitled-drunk-American-asshole-moron, acting like a dick to everyone he encounters, until of course he learns the value…