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Black Rain
on DVD (1989)
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Brief synopsis of Black Rain
Director Ridley Scott's international crime thriller stars Michael Douglas as Mike Conklin, a New York detective under investigation for corruption. When yakuza hit man Sato (Yusaku Matsuda) kills two American mobsters in New York, he's extradited to Osaka to face trial, with Conklin and Charlie Vincent (Andy Garcia) as his escorts. Mistakenly turning over their prisoner to yakuza disguised as police, Conklin and Vincent realize, after running down some blind alleys, that they have no chance of finding Sato in the unfamiliar city and enlist the services of Japanese desk cop Masahiro "Mas" Masumoto (Ken Takakura). While relaxing with Mas at a karaoke bar, the cops also get information on the world of the yakuza from Joyce Kinglsey (Kate Capshaw), a high-class bargirl. As they continue the search for Sato, the scrupulous, methodical, and civilized style of Japanese police work rubs the improvisational, rule-breaking Americans the wrong way. But when Vincent is murdered, Mas and Conklin realize that success will come only through a blending of investigative and cultural styles. The almost impenetrably sooty, neon-saturated city of Osaka is superbly photographed by future director Jan de Bont.
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Critics Reviews
Radio Times
This tense, glossy and violent thriller stars Michael Douglas and Andy Garcia as New York cops on assignment in Japan where Yakuza gangsters wield razor-sharp swords and where Kate Capshaw hangs out in a nightclub à la Marlene Dietrich. This being a Ridley Scott film, the atmosphere is so hyped up that the picture threatens to burst an artery every second, and Jan De Bont's photography (he went on to direct Speed and Twister ) delights in the neon-lit locations and makes the city of Osaka look like a vision of hell. Beneath all this is a very conventional cop thriller that makes an occasional comment about Japan's economic miracle following Hiroshima.
Time Out
Dishonoured detective Nick Conklin (Douglas) and easygoing partner Charlie Vincent (Garcia) escort a desperately...
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Halliwell's Film Guide
Effective thriller, though many may find unappetising its theme of redemption through revenge and violence.
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