Plot
Two New York cops get involved in a gang war between members of the Yakuza, the Japanese Mafia. They arrest one of their killers and are ordered to escort him back to Japan...

Release Year: 1989

Rating: 6.5/10 (21,044 voted)

Director: Ridley Scott

Stars: Michael Douglas, Andy Garcia, Ken Takakura

Storyline
Two New York cops get involved in a gang war between members of the Yakuza, the Japanese Mafia. They arrest one of their killers and are ordered to escort him back to Japan. In Japan, however, he manages to escape. As they try to track him down, they get deeper and deeper into the Japanese Mafia scene and they have to learn that they can only win by playing the game the Japanese way.

Writers: Craig Bolotin, Warren Lewis

Cast:
Michael Douglas - Nick Conklin
Andy Garcia - Charlie Vincent
Ken Takakura - Masahiro
Kate Capshaw - Joyce
Yûsaku Matsuda - Sato
Shigeru Kôyama - Ohashi (as Shigeru Koyama)
John Spencer - Oliver
Guts Ishimatsu - Katayama
Yûya Uchida - Nashida
Tomisaburô Wakayama - Sugai
Miyuki Ono - Miyuki
Luis Guzmán - Frankie (as Luis Guzman)
John Costelloe - The Kid (as John A. Costelloe)
Stephen Root - Berg
Richard Riehle - Crown

Taglines: Osaka, Japan. A cop on the edge. A conspiracy on the rise. A killer on the loose.

Release Date: 22 September 1989

Filming Locations: 1000 N. Crescent Drive, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office Details

Budget: $30,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend: $9,677,102 (USA) (24 September 1989) (1610 Screens)

Gross: $45,645,204 (USA)

Runtime: 125 min

Trivia:
Jackie Chan turned down a role, as he didn't want to play a "bad" character.

Goofs:
Revealing mistakes: Towards the end of the movie, Nick shoots a hole in a bed sheet hanging on a clothes line, but the pre-cut hole is visible before it is shot.

Quotes:
Nick Conklin: [to Matsumoto] You watch your tail, cowboy.

Ultra-moody cop fiction.

Rating: 7/10

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.

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