Black Rain - Pioggia sporca

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.

This solid thriller deals with a down-home cop (Michael Douglas) accused of corruption and his young partner (Andy Garcia). They witness a grisly killing by a Japonese murderer named Sato (Matsuda). They pursuit him and barely escape with their life , but get detain him . They're assigned to protect him but with painful results when the mobster is transported to Osaka . Then they are assigned to upright Inspector (Ken Takatura) and forced into action against Yakuza . Thus starts a clash of culture and a cobweb of intrigue which keep the spectators on the edge of their seats. An American Cop in Japan. Their country. Their laws. Their game. His rules. Osaka, Japan. A cop on the edge. A conspiracy on the rise. A killer on the loose. A cop on the edge, a conspiracy in the rise, a killer on the loose.

A Ridley Scott Film From The Producers of "Fatal Attraction", this is a superb, though predictable at times, blending of tough American police genre and Japanese gangsters by means of a mobster organization called Yakuza, a kind of oriental Mafia . Michael Douglas as down-and-out police and Ken Takatura as honorable Inspector are very fine . Good secondary actors , such as : Andy Garcia and Kate Capshaw , Spileberg's wife . Appearing uncredited John Spencer as the chief official and Luis Guzman . This first-rate suspenseful action pic benefits from intelligent screenplay and visual dynamics ; however, being overlong , two hours and some. This special buddy-movie is full of neon lights from Osaka in videoclip and advertisement spots style . The motion picture was glamorously directed by Ridley Scott as stylish as ever , similar his previous film (Someone to watch over me) and others (Blade runner , Duelists , Legend) in which the visual style is impressive .

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

Nick Conklin (Douglas) and Charlie Vincent (Garcia) are US cops who get involved in a Yakuza killing and capture a dangerous murderer Sato (Yasuka Matsuda). When delivering him to authorities in Japan, Sato escapes and Conklin and Vincent are forced to team up with Masahiro Matsumoto (Ken Takakura) in order to hunt him down. The clash in cultures creates tension as the investigation continues.

On the surface this is a mismatched partner movie that thinks it's more than that because it addresses issues of honour between culture. It is more than a buddy cop movie and manages to be a tense thriller and look at the clash of East & West. I'm not a Douglas fan but he does play the darker characters quite well and is pretty good here. Garcia is good but is really only a plot device when you look at his character. Takakura is strong in his role as the cop trying to hold to the ways of honour of his bosses but torn by the action methods of the West and Douglas. It is him who has to carry much of the moral weight of the film. Matsuda carries off Sato well and makes him more that a gangster character.

The real star of this is Scott's direction. He makes his city-scapes a present day version of Blade Runner - Japan is darkly dangerous and lit in neon. The direction is very stylish but can sometimes take away from the quality of the product and make it seem all style and no substance. Hans Zimmer score is as haunting as ever and fits the mood perfectly.

The story is perhaps a tad hackneyed and is not anything that different. Some of the East/West clash stuff doesn't work but it is still interesting to see the characters change to take elements of the other's cultures. The style and action carries the film well - any insight into culture differences is a nice bonus, overall an unoriginal idea is turned into a good film by good actors and a good director.

Douglas, as a tough american detective and his partner played superbly by Andy Garcia chase down a murder suspect on his home turf- Tokyo An excellent movie that explores the culture shock felt by Douglas on his chase and the bureaucracy that tries to stop him..this violent tension filled film is not for the young ones but provides loads of action from the director of Blade Runner.. on a scale of one to ten... a 7