Black Rain (1989) ("I Love the 80s" Edition; CD Included; Sensormatic)

Me Don't Understand You -- Shoot!

By Yahoo! Shopping User  Feb 20, 2001

Where did Ridley Scott go wrong? He burst onto the scene w/
amazing films like Alien and Blade Runner but what has he done
since?

Black Rain is a derivative cop movie that just happens to take
place in Tokyo. The stylish Tokyo architecture and neon-lit
streets allow Ridley to indulge in his trademark fantastic
scenarios. But it's not nearly as fantastic as Blade Runner
(I guess the present is not as exciting as the future.) The
relationship between the American Douglas and the Japanese
xxxx is formulaic; they don't understand each other's cultures
so they fight against each other while the bad guy commits more
crimes. That's just the backdrop for what will be many scenes
you've seen before in cop movies of this nature.

The only interesting part of the movie is Douglas's admission
of stealing money to support his family. Suddenly, he's not
the saint the director has made him out to be and the admission
creates a REAL conflict between he & his Japanese counterpart.
Stealing goes against xxx's moral code and yet he's bound to
work w/ Douglas. It's unfortunate the movie didn't revolve
around these types of moral/social problems as opposed to the
superficial "I don't understand your culture, nor do I care to"
attitude.

All in all, I was excited to see this movie and utterly disappointed
with the results. The ingredients were there for a far more
convincing movie particularily if it would've examined the
moral and social differences between the two cultures in more
depth. Yes, it's an action movie, but a lousy one b/c you've
already seen every action scene in a different movie.