Product: Showdown in Little Tokyo [VHS] (1991)
Rating: 5.0
"In between cooking cycles you're supposed to baste us!"
Scandic ubermensch Dolph Lundgren teams up with genetically-destined martial arts master Brandon Lee to deliver a short, hilarious and action-packed performance as two policemen fighting LA's merciless (and unintentionally campy)yakuza.As the two are initially paired we see their struggle to mesh their differing socio-historical views of Japanese culture, as Kenner (Dolph) tries to persuade Murata (Lee) of the intrinsic superiority of all things Japanese, from apparel to furniture (and women too, as proven by singer and "seppuku supporter" Miyako (Tia Carere), the inevitable love interest).The pair confront new yakuza boss Yoshida and his clan as they plan to unleash on America drugs packaged in beer bottles so to allow Americans to enjoy both "our beer and our drugs while watching football" as Yoshida blissfully claims.You will be entertained in seeing men breaking their own necks (and then, thanks to the magic that is cinema, appear in the subsequent scene very much alive), breasty blondes getting decapitated, bathtub fights, careless yakuza employees losing their fingers, katana swords and the unmistakable "male bonding" process that treats the viewer to dialogue that makes "Brokeback Mountain" seem like a manifest for heterosexuality in comparison. The dialogues are in fact the ace in the hole of this film: poignant, soulful and unforgettable ("Put the finger in the trash", "This time I heard you coming", the review title etc.). In the end the duo unleashes their vendetta on "oyabun" Yoshida, the man also responsible for making sashimi out of Kenner's parents when he was a child.All in all, an interesting martial arts flick, some good fights, some original deaths and some phrases of sure interest for nostalgics of the American 80s action genre.