Semi-entertaining piece of stereotype and cliche
New York undercover cop Luca has his cover blown during an attempted sting on mobster Rocco. The fallout leaves a cop and a civilian dead. Meanwhile in Korea officer Kim lives in the shadow of his wife and child murdered by a gang called the black orchid. When Luca is moved top homicide he finds a connection to the black orchid gang bringing Kim from Korea. The two must work together to stop the mysterious assassins causing a gang war between the mob and the Yakuza.
I thought this would be a martial arts type US cross over movie and I wasn't far off. In fact this film covers all stereotypes of the mismatched-cop movies. We have a foreign cop, a hard assed cop, a firm but fair black captain etc etc. The cliches are overpowering and the story itself is nothing special. Because of the cliches you never get to the point of getting to believe in the characters. The action scenes are OK but it's nowhere near the type of martial rats stuff I expected even Martial Law is more exciting.
The cast are mixed Biehn is OK but really overdoes the tough guy stuff and delivers his lines flat. Park is not much better, at times I thought he was poor because he was foreign and at other times I thought he was poor because he was rubbish. Tagawa is always value for money but has too small a role. The rest of the cast are nothing more than stereotypes police captain, mobsters, informants etc. The whole cast is one big cliché.
The ending deserves special mention (don't worry I'm not spoiling the end!), the line `yeah, see you but next time I'll come to Korea!' is typical of this mass produced straight-to-video gumph, already planning an international sequel .
Overall it's almost rubbish. The fact that you know exactly what to expect from it means you're not disappointed (there's a backward compliment!) but it's still pretty poor. May I suggest you watch Rush Hour instead it's cliched too but it has more energy, comedy and flair. This is very workmanlike stuff.
I thought this would be a martial arts type US cross over movie and I wasn't far off. In fact this film covers all stereotypes of the mismatched-cop movies. We have a foreign cop, a hard assed cop, a firm but fair black captain etc etc. The cliches are overpowering and the story itself is nothing special. Because of the cliches you never get to the point of getting to believe in the characters. The action scenes are OK but it's nowhere near the type of martial rats stuff I expected even Martial Law is more exciting.
The cast are mixed Biehn is OK but really overdoes the tough guy stuff and delivers his lines flat. Park is not much better, at times I thought he was poor because he was foreign and at other times I thought he was poor because he was rubbish. Tagawa is always value for money but has too small a role. The rest of the cast are nothing more than stereotypes police captain, mobsters, informants etc. The whole cast is one big cliché.
The ending deserves special mention (don't worry I'm not spoiling the end!), the line `yeah, see you but next time I'll come to Korea!' is typical of this mass produced straight-to-video gumph, already planning an international sequel .
Overall it's almost rubbish. The fact that you know exactly what to expect from it means you're not disappointed (there's a backward compliment!) but it's still pretty poor. May I suggest you watch Rush Hour instead it's cliched too but it has more energy, comedy and flair. This is very workmanlike stuff.
- bob the moo
- 13 may 2002