Product: Showdown in Little Tokyo [VHS] (1991)
Rating: 4.0
Lundgren and Lee tackle the Yakuza...
Showdown In Little Tokyo (1991) is a buddy cop vehicle for Dolph Lundgren, who is teamed with newcomer Brandon Lee (The Crow, Rapid Fire), taking his first steps in his tragically short career as an action star. Set in the Little Tokyo section of Los Angeles, the crime drama features detectives Chris Kenner (Lundgren) and Johnny Murata (Lee), taking on a gang of Yakuza who are dealing "ice". This is a bit of a departure for the low-key Lundgren, who usually operates without a partner. Lee bears the brunt of most of the jokes, as he knows little about his own native culture.As Yoshida, the leader of the Iron Claw Yakuza gang, Cary Hiroyuki Tagawa is given a role with some substance, and he makes the most of it. Yoshida's sadistic ruthlessness is displayed many times, with the most graphic example being the beheading of a woman who tried to warn one his enemies. After taking over the Bonsai Club, Yoshida takes a fancy to singer Minako Okeya (Tia Carrere) and subsequently rapes her. Further cementing his bad guy credentials, Kenner recognizes Yoshida as the man who killed his parents, when he was a boy in Japan.The story doesn't strive for realism, as the emphasis is firmly on action, and the tone is gritty and often brutal. The attempts at humor are only mildly successful, but Lee and Lundgren work together well enough, and they face their toughest test when they are captured by Yoshida's gang, and are sadistically tortured by electrical shock.In his feature film debut, Brandon Lee, son of the legendary martial arts icon Bruce Lee, clearly shows that he had inherited some of his father's physical gifts, displaying some terrific kicking skills. Sadly, Lee would be accidentally killed in 1993, while filming The Crow. Lundgren is bulked up and particularly well defined, and even engages in a little swordplay in his final battle with Yoshida. This is one of Lundgren's better efforts, back at a time when he still had the backing of major studios, unfortunately the film did not do very well financially. Rating: 3.5 stars.