Product: Showdown in Little Tokyo [VHS] (1991)
Rating: 4.0
Fun & Action In No "Little" Amounts
I'd say that "Showdown in Little Tokyo" is Dolph Lundgren's best movie yet, hands down. I'd even say that with the exception ofThe Crow, it's also Brandon Lee's best film, and Tia Carrere's best non-TV work. Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa and Toshiro Obata are a bit more difficult to speak for, but this is certainly them at their most evil. Director Mark Lester didCommandoandFirestarterprior to this, but he'd never do anything as good as "Showdown" afterwards. Even writers Stephen Glantz and Caliope Brattlestreet can't claim to have done anything as noteworthy as this film later in their careers, and how could they? - "Showdown in Little Tokyo" is arguably the most defining opus of late-80s/early-90s American action cinema, and a must-have for lovers of buddy-cop flicks, the Yakuza on film, western kung fu, cheesy plot points, and muscular European action heroes.The story follows Chris Kenner (Lundgren,Universal Soldier) - a police sergeant and student of the samurai who's dedicated his career to fighting the Yakuza's presence in the US. When he's teamed up with a wisecracking Japanese-American partner in Johnny Murata (Lee), Kenner expects himself to be hindered, but finds himself thrust into a plot orchestrated by crime lord Funekei Yoshida (Tagawa,Mortal Kombat) to distribute a dangerous new drug across the streets of America...and kill anybody who gets in the way.For starters, yes I think it's a bit odd to have Lundgren play the no-nonsense hero while the son of Bruce Lee is the goofball sidekick, but their ability to play both of these parts without flinching is a testament to their underrated acting skills and keeps the movie fresh as far as I'm concerned.That aside, the cast effectively submerges themselves into their hammy roles without complaint to keep things enjoyable: Tagawa and Obata (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) remain cold and malicious until they bust out some action, Carrere is the effective damsel in distress with a couple of twists, bit-players Phillip Tan (Wake Of Death) and Renee Allman ("Port Charles") don't do anything wrong, and even super-heavyweight Reid Asato (The Odyssey) uses his massive frame to become a credible menace. Absolutely no one comes close to winning an award, but the roles are filled so effectively that it's hard to find fault with anybody.Of course, it's the action we're really interested in here, and there's plenty of that to go around. To break it down, Lundgren has four shootouts (one of them using oriental throwing weapons), three hand-to-hand fights, and one swordfight; Lee has two shootouts and four hand-to-hand fights. Lee's battle with Toshiro Obata is surprisingly technical; Lundgren's and Tagawa's katana showdown is arguably the best close-quarters interaction that either of them had filmed in the last half-decade, though Lundgren's shoot-`em-up invasion of Tagawa's home steals the show and is the best of its kind since Steven Seagal's own interior gunfight inHard to Kill.There are a few funny/absurd parts (like Lundgren turning over a convertible and jogging near-naked through a junkyard) and even a couple of outright goofs (dummies are visible in some scenes) that affect the film's overall quality, but nothing's about to drag "Tokyo" down, thanks to its unrelenting dedication to the themes and hypes of its periods as an action movie. In a way, it's superior to many a modern action film that does its best not to be an action film for the sake of money. "Showdown in Little Tokyo" was a box office bomb, but as far as I'm concerned, it's the best kind of cult movie you can get.