Showdown in Little Tokyo
I really don’t want to say that “Showdown in Little Tokyo” is ahead of its time…mainly because it sucks. (And let’s face it, their attempt to trade on the success of “Big Trouble in Little China” with its title is lame.) For a buddy cop movie, it lacks the wit and chemistry of “Lethal Weapon.” For an action movie, it lacks the excitement of even the cheesiest ’80s action cinema. However, the mixture of Asian and American culture was relatively new; made two years before John Woo became the first Asian director to make a Hollywood movie, the best way to describe Mark L. Lester’s film is to call it the calm before the storm.
For its buddy cops, Lester cast Dolph Lundgren, who made his big splash in “Rocky IV,” and never really topped it, and Brandon Lee, who found himself in the shadows of his father Bruce until he found immortality in what would, sadly, be his final role in “The Crow.” Because every one of these movies require some sort of “twist,” Lundgren is a cop who was raised in Japan, and is immersed in the culture, and the ancient legacy of Japanese warriors, while Lee is a Japanese-American who doesn’t have much use for his own culture. Given the two’s personalities, it makes sense, but that doesn’t make things any better as they battle the Yakuza in early ’90s Los Angeles.
After “The Crow,” I watched the rest of Brandon Lee’s films, and unfortunately, none of them are really defensible; only 1992’s “Rapid Fire” comes closest to being “good” before his swan song. This is one of his worst, lacking in basic things like intelligence, humor, and logical action which, say what you will about John Woo’s asthetic, is in full abundance in his best films. I will say, though, it’s not a terrible use of its actors; Lundgren was never a big box-office draw removed from Sylvester Stallone or Jean-Claude Van Damme movies, but he’s a good fit for this type of character (well, sort of). And Lee has some good moves as an action star– I just wish they had bothered to write smart dialogue for him to say. And as the witness the pair have to keep alive, it’s always good to see the lovely Tia Carrere get work, even if she would have better material to work with in “Wayne’s World” (although kudos to the filmmakers for getting her naked…hey, be grateful for what you get). Still, all three of these actors deserved better than a third-rate action movie, even if it is only a mercifully short 79 minutes.
