genius-15

What could be a more flattering gift to the world's second most prosperous nation than Nick Conklin? He rides a motorbike, awkwardly struggles to master using chopsticks, pronounces Sato as Sate-Oh, and instructs his veteran Japanese counterpart with lines like "sometimes you have to go for it!" Black Rain is one of the very few legitimate explanations foreigners have for being concerned about arrogance in America. Japanese are characterized as by-the-book squares who immediately allow impersonators to snatch someone on their most-wanted list right from under them. Luckily, two rough-mannered New York buddy detectives, one of whom later admits to being "crooked", help teach those Osaka keystone cops how it's done---American style!! I enjoyed the cinematography of Japan's bustling metropolitan scene and peaceful rural setting, but isn't that what the Travel Channel is for?

Let's say for a moment that Pacific Gas and Electric actually poisoned a community's water supply to "enhance shareholder value." Is there really anything inspirational about a film that chronicles such an event? I would join the chorus of just persons demanding that each victim receive a large monetary sum in addition to effective medical treatment, but not jump for joy at a film exploiting the tragedy. Especially when the star of the film is...Julia Roberts??? Her grossly irritating performance was enough to roil even Ms. Brockovich herself, and I can see why. Yet plenty of cinemagoers appreciate that level of acting, and if you're among them, then this will certainly tickle your fancy. Keep in mind, however, that numerous independent reports have refuted Ms. Brockovich's claims of environmental toxicity as total bogus. Yet she received a larger multimillion dollar settlement from PG&E than did a number of the supposedly afflicted litigants. There is no shortage of corporate villains in the USA who deserve to be chastised, but it seems this film furthered the blame of the wrong people.

Or were the producers merely following the formula of late 80s/early 90s action movies and television (Lethal Weapon, Die Hard, Walker Texas Ranger) by portraying the combination of a white cop and a black one as some sort of novelty? Besides watering down Crichton's criticism of Japanese business practices, the screenwriters seemed determined to step up their racial cautiousness by portraying John Connor's partner, Smith, as a black man. There's nothing really outrageous about that either, but a black cop who wears a beige suit accompanied by an orange shirt and uses his ties with the Los Angeles ghetto gangs to elude Yakuza-like thugs? I welcome that sort of entertainment in an Eddie Murphy or Chris Tucker movie, but it's totally out of place here.