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Rating: 7 stars

All movies seen on 01/22/2013

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Showdown in Little Tokyo (1991)

Directed by Mark L. Lester

Action | Crime

Most recently watched by sensoria

Overview

An American with a Japanese upbringing, Chris Kenner is a police officer assigned to the Little Tokyo section of Los Angeles. Kenner is partnered with Johnny Murata, a Japanese-American who isn’t in touch with his roots. Despite their differences, both men excel at martial arts, and utilize their formidable skills when they go up against Yoshida, a vicious yakuza drug dealer with ties to Kenner’s past.

Rated R | Length 79 minutes

Actors

Dolph Lundgren | Brandon Lee | Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa | Tia Carrere | Philip Tan | Rodney Kageyama | Ernie Lively | Renee Griffin | Reid Asato | Takayo Fischer | Simon Rhee | Vernee Watson-Johnson | Gerald Okamura | Toshishiro Obata | Lenny Imamura | Roger Yuan | Susan E. Cox | Rick Cramer | Keith Boldroff | R. David Smith | Anthony Maccario | Rome Viharo | Keenan Thomas | Steve Park | Jim Ishida | Rachen Assapiomonwait | Ryan Ryusaki | Jeff Ramsey | Phil Chong | Al Leong | Branscombe Richmond | James Lew | George Cheung | Jimmy Taenaka | Bill Saito | Al Goto | Stuart Quan | Nathan Jung | Leo Lee | Kenny Endoso | Robert Gatewood | Steven A. Hite | Steven Ito | Tori Sinclair

Viewing History (seen 2 times)

Viewing Notes

I adore this movie. Of course this isn’t a great movie. Yet with what Lester set out to accomplish w/Lundgren & Co, it works on that simple, silly actioner level w/equal amounts of squibs and sex appeal. It may be the perfect template for all early to mid 90s DTV action flicks that ran rampant across the cable channels.

Having not seen in maybe 15+ years I was amused that my library had this on VHS. Exactly the format I originally rented from the local video store back in the day. Forgot how corny Brandon Lee’s lines are in this as if he was practicing for a less menacing Crow still to come.

Tia Carrere (a year older than me) maintains an ugly beauty throughout; despite her entrance as a club singer, she’s never positioned as the sex bomb. Beaten up and broken she never once looks less than amazing.

Hard to imagine Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa was 40 years old when he made this. If only I could look that good now. Lundgren is a delight hearing him spout Japanese and run around in short shorts. He loves going shirtless (I think his shirtless time > his shirted time). All in all I could probably watch this movie every week and never get tired of it. It takes me back to a time when every video store I visited had this movie on the shelves, a time when movies like this were commonplace and it was okay to have fun and not be so goddamn serious.

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