Tiros Cruzados

Not being familiar with the novel upon which this movie is based, nor with the author in general, it was with a clean slate and no expectations that I sat down to watch "Rain Fall".

I must say that I find it odd why the movie got such a low ranking on IMDb, because I found the movie to be rather interesting and captivating. It is a great political thriller/action movie a great amount of character development and a good flow to the movie. I especially like the way that the story was built up, you start out rooting for one side, then as the story progress, you switch sides and end up rooting for someone else entirely.

The story takes place in Tokyo, where top ranking officials are being murdered and a flash-drive with highly valuable information is being sought by the Tokyo police, CIA, the Yakuza and ex-special forces John Rain. But in this race to acquire the memory stick with the information, who can you trust?

"Rain Fall" was really nicely shot cinematography-wise. I like the angles used in the movie, and the usage of CCTV camera, that really added to the whole feel of the setting. Plus, the movie had some really great characters in it, characters with depths and personalities, where you got to have a deeper understanding for their motivations and their driving force.

And it also helped, of course, that they had some really good actors and actresses to play the various roles and make the characters come to life. Kippei Shiina (playing John Rain) really did a great job and was the driving engine in the movie, acting-wise. And hats off to director Max Mannix for managing to pull this movie off and come out with this great end result.

I was thoroughly entertained by this thriller, and was really caught up in the storyline. You are given bits and pieces of information continuously throughout the movie, but never enough to full grasp the wholeness of the plot. I liked that, because the story evolved and unfurled as you got deeper into the movie. And there was some nice plot twists throughout the movie as well.

If you like Asian cinema, then "Rain Fall" is well worth checking out, as it is great suspense and entertainment from beginning up to the very end. And the ending of the movie was actually quite good, managing to get the movie to come full circle.

If you're a fan of the Barry Eisler Rain novels, do yourself a favor and don't watch this. This movie is everything the novels are not: boring, full of plot holes, seriously lame fight scenes and a story line that makes little or no sense.

The movie feels patched together, like the director filmed a bunch of scenes and then tried to make them fit. They don't. The acting is fine, all of the cast give their best, but there just isn't much to work with.

The fight scenes are all super-quick-cut editing stuff, so you can't see what is actually going on. That is probably because our martial artist protagonist isn't a martial artist. I've seen better fights on the elementary school playground.

The plot is full of holes; not just little holes, but big, gaping holes that require you to do more than just suspend your disbelief. You would have to get a quick lobotomy before watching this if you don't want to be constantly aggravated by the plot holes. Characters will say something in one scene and then say the opposite in the next scene.

The editing seems to have been done by a spastic drug addict with ADHD: the cuts between scenes are missing any semblance of art or craft. There are a few times where the director blurs part of the picture or tries some other type of artistic effect that just doesn't work. In short, the direction and editing are just plain awful.

By the time you get to the cliché ending you will be bored and thinking about maybe clipping your toenails or something equally exciting. They managed to take an exciting novel about a hit man with issues and turn it into a boring movie. Buy one of the books instead of watching this.

Rain Fall, like the meteorological event of its namesake, came and went with little fanfare when it was released. Based on one novel in a series by Barry Eisler, it follows John Rain (Kippei Shina), a Japanese assassin for hire who becomes deeply embroiled in a hunt for a mysterious flash drive, the contents of which could have nasty consequences if released. Between the Yakuza, Japanese government and the CIA, Rain has his plate full, especially when he has to take a young girl under his wing who is in danger from all factions involved. Gary Oldman makes twitchy work playing William Holtzer, the unsavoury and corrupt Token CIA station chief. He barks orders like he's in a Bourne film, bends rules and is a morally blank, ruthless A-hole. Oldman plays him without his usual villainous and eccentric flair, opting for a stressed out, nervy turn which suits the gloomy tone of the film. It is a drab yet exciting affair, the intrigue dimmed down to dull greys and muted gunfights that ebb and flow with a minimal pulse. Shina is awesome as Rain, and seems born to play the spy thriller protagonist. Under the radar is how this one plays it, an atmospheric cloak and dagger outing well worth a watch.

This movie is a lesson on how to not make a movie. I had to give up 35 min into the movie because the camera-work was so bad I couldn't stand it anymore. It wasn't hand-held camera bad, it was worse. At least with the shaky hand-held camera you know why the screen keeps moving. In this film the camera seems to have ADD in a bad way, every second or two there is a cut, sometimes to another character, sometimes to an object being handles, sometimes to completely random points in the room. It's a visual frenzy that is very jarring to watch. Additionally every actor in not fully in frame, from mid-forehead up is completely cut off in virtually every shot, and I can't explain why and it's really annoying. The camera also tends to drift a great deal, as if someone left the cart in neutral and it started rolling away but they kept on filming anyway. The plot isn't quite as bad but the story is so hard to follow because of the shoddy camera-work that it might as well be. This movie is dreadful, avoid it unless you are interested in seeing a train wreck on screen.

This isn't a tragic love story or a bloody kill-fest inside a strip club (or a Bourne rip-off) but it's still decidedly oriental in its flavor and content.

CIA office in Japan headed up by Gary Oldman's character decides to outdo the Yakuza by controlling the country rather than just the police force and a few politicians--they could blackmail and extort high government officials, running Japan from behind the scenes and skimmimg rich profits.

Another character in the office of the CIA decides to reveal the blackmail scheme or contents to a reporter and creates a flash drive for that purpose but gets intercepted before the transfer. That's the McGuffin and the premise for the rest of the movie--nothing at all like Bourne, though the music has a quiet Bourne-like track in a couple places.

Rated this 7 stars to get the average higher than the 4.6 because it isn't that bad--my rating would be 5.5. It's mostly dialogue, you have to follow along...some of it is ruined by how unlikely it is to have occurred that way in real life, but overall, except for a brief hanging scene, you could almost watch it with kids in the room.

Rain Fall is a regular movie, a tame one as most of these types go, and not deserving of so many negative reviews though it's not a blockbuster either.