Black Rain

I saw this film on crappy pan and scan VHS when I was about 12 and I didn't really understand it and I wasn't really up on Ridley Scott's work. As a result, the impact of the film was somewhat lost on me. I was expecting an action film instead of a character drama with lots of police procedure. But now, older and wiser and with a brand new Blu Ray of the movie, I am finally able to appreciate how clever the film is.

The story unfortunately IS riddled with 80s Cop Movie clichés and goes through quite a lot of familiar motions. But if you see past that you'll appreciate the immense atmosphere and mood that Ridley Scott piles on. Simply put, Michael Douglas is Nick Conklin, a bad cop (pretty much the exact same character in Basic Instinct) who drag races on his superbike to pay alimony and pinches drug money instead of turning it in for evidence. Enjoying lunch with partner Charlie (Andy Garcia) in a steakhouse in New York's meat-packing district, they just happen to witness a Yakuza execution by wanted Japanese criminal Sato (Yusaku Matsuda, who was dying of cancer during filming and didn't tell anyone). After a quick punch-up and shoot-out they find themselves chaperoning Sato back to Osaka. But when they arrive there he manages to escape, leaving them embarrassed with lots of questions to answer.

Nick and Charlie find themselves in a very foreign and intolerant world and recapturing Sato proves to be difficult in many ways. Not the least of which is Japan's alienating culture (from an NYPD point of view) and rigid rules. Nonetheless, Nick is determined to catch Sato and restore his honor.

Like I said, the atmosphere of the film is overwhelming, which is really all the film needs. The clichés and stereotypes don't matter so much when you are involved this much. Hans Zimmer (his first film with Ridley Scott) provides a deeply emotional and very melodic score that'll be rattling around in your head for days. It's a shame it's never had a comprehensive CD release, as it's one of Zimmer's most impressive efforts.

You could call it a pretty 80s movies, but I still do feel that it holds up pretty well today. As one of Ridley Scott's more forgotten works, it's well worth checking out.

Black Rain is an absolutely gorgeous movie to look at. And for the most part it's highly entertaining and well acted - the guy playing Sato is brilliantly menacing. But occasionally, very occasionally, it descends into either complete predictability or downright cheesiness. A motorbike chase, well, that's a surprise! And that award ceremony right near the end - why? It's totally irrelevant, feel good factor nonsense - the sort of stuff you get with bog standard action movies. And this is not bog standard, and not really an action movie. Certainly underrated and deserving of a better audience than it has received, but ultimately let down by a few lapses in quality.

Micheal Douglas has always been, at least for me, one of the better actors to portray a cop on screen. Very believable, very real, he just has a natural feel for this type of role. I think its due to the fact he starred as one on TV in "The Streets of San Francisco". Everything blends in this cop thriller. It oozes style and panache. It also has an underlying emotional core that I think gets underrated by critics. Douglas as Nick Conklin has some fine moments playing off the characters played by Andy Garcia, Kate Capshaw and especially Ken Takakura. This movie combines excellent acting, gorgeous cinematography, great atmosphere, along with some solid action set pieces...and gets it right. Director Ridley Scott brings all his cinematic guns to bear and spins these elements into a definitive police action thriller. I loved this flick when I saw it in 1989 and I still do. It may not be as audacious as when it premiered, time has seen to that(ex.action scenes have really gone virtual reality)but it's still a respectable addition to your DVD library. And of that fact there is no gray area!

I was searching a review from a Japanese reviewer and found one, very tough with the film. It made me react here.

First, I consider myself as neutral as nor American nor Japanese even if I know those two fascinating countries inhabitants a little. And I did not feel the same the Japanese reviewer did. In my sense the film does not mock Japan. It does not show Japan as 'inferior' but as different. And this is all the interest of this film whose purpose in my opinion is to show the opposite mentalities and culture. Both sides are presented. The bad and the good ones.

The Bad : Japoneses are showed as ridiculous with red tape and bureaucracy matters, with shy behaviors, weird violence (for occidental people). But Americans too. Those are presented as brutal stupid beasts, for example when Charlie Vincent run after a motorbike without understanding the trap is going into or when Nick Conklin does not manage to restrain himself from knocking everywhere. Or when Nick signs a stupid sheet of paper without distrust. The two Americans are also presented as arrogant as they don't even think that foreigners could speak English .. because they don't imagine it is even possible. Even the American/Japanese prostitute rejects their arrogance. Also American police is presented as corrupted and messy ... So no one wins here I guess.

The good : Japaneses are also presented as good. Cops are straight but cooperative and honor respectful, mainly instructed, efficient. Even if they lack of adaptiveness and are bad inspired to reject the American cops help. The mafia is well presented too. Franckly, they really are scary guys but gain respect with their honor code. Sato is impressive.

Here I agree with the Japanese reviewer : The Americans are glorified (music helps :). Nick manages on his own (yet with the help of Mas) to solve a difficult case in a country he obviously even doesn't know. This is clearly the weakness of the film.

Yet what I really appreciated was the oppositions between Mas and Nick. Wiseness and honor of Mas, for example when he feels insulted by Nicks thief behavior or when he learns from Nick. Humanity and pugnacity of Nick.

I also liked mafia's leader speech with Nick. Here we definitively can't say the film only runs for America, obviously.

One regret. We definitively see too little of Japan. Even if the film does much in presenting a country that we mainly bad know in occident, it could have done more. That said, I think this was not the purpose of the director who just wanted to focus on mindsets.

Another regret : the ridiculous sounds of the motorbikes especially in the beginning of the film and in the last scene.

The actors are all perfect. The soundtrack is really cool. Contrarily to the Japanese reviewer, I appreciated the way the director represents Japan, with subtlety, as Japan is all about. And USA with strength, as USA are all about too, sometimes too much :). If the oppositions between the two countries are exaggerated, it is in the purpose of showing them better and make understand, I guess. This is a 'must-be-watched' film for me. One of the best of Ridley Scott.

Americans - quite arrogant are they not? Well not all of course, but Michael Douglas or rather the character he's portraying is quite the prime example of an arrogant specimen. Some may argue that he has the qualities to be like that, but showing off some respect wouldn't hurt him or his colleagues.

Having said that, the culture clash is quite apparent. But also how both sides come together. The movie may be a bit too long for some, but saying Ridley Scott is not technically sound or doesn't know what he's doing, would be a mistake. And having a cast that delivers like that is quite something. Andy Garcia having the time of his life, playing the "sane" one. The karaoke sequence is quite mesmerizing ... which is important for other inevitable character building stuff.

Tension is holding from start to finish too. Which isn't an easy feet ... and the end sequence is quite nicely made. Predictable, but very well done indeed