Showdown in Little Tokyo

Murata: "What are we going to call this in the police report?"
Kenner: "How about community relations?"
Murata: "Well, we blew up the crime scene, killed the suspects, enjoyed the local parade..."
Kenner: "I like it."

release year: 1991
genre: action
viewing setting: home Bluray 11/26/21 and 10/4/18 and home DVD, 2/26/17 and 8/24/15 and 3/30/13 and 1/18/10 and 1/27/03

synopsis: Two martial-arts cops take on drug-dealing Japanese gangsters who are establishing a foothold in the U.S.

impressions: This is the perfect non-blockbuster action movie. Despite lacking big names and a big budget, it does a hell of a job entertaining you, with good action and wisecracking and just enough plot to hold it all together. There was good banter between the two leads, and lots of cool little scenes like when Dolph's ninja senses detect intruders outside and he gets up and Brandon Lee is already awake with gun in hand, or when Dolph uses a metal dinner tray to block a bad guy's punch, then shortly thereafter when the bad guy holds up a tray to block Dolph's punch, Dolph just punches right through it. We also get hand-to-hand combat, knife combat, sword combat, thrown sais and kama, pistols, shotguns, automatic rifles...it's all here, folks.

quotable:
   "Listen. We can do this right...clean...like a cop in the 20th century, not some samurai warrior. We're gonna nail this guy...and when we get done, we're gonna go eat fish off those naked chicks."

   "What happened at the house?"
   "Minako's fine, but...um...I had to kill nine of 'em."

acting: Dolph Lundgren's big, hulking martial-arts cop seems more sure of himself in drama situations than Brandon Lee's white-collar martial-arts cop. In fights, both are outstanding. Tia Carrere did a good job in an early role as a woman to be rescued (repeatedly.) Cary Tagawa was a great villain - ruthless and he could fight! Action movie staple (and stuntman!) Al Leong makes an appearance as one of the evil henchmen.

final word: Good fundamentally-sound buddy/action movie.

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