Customer Reviews

Showdown in Little Toyko [VHS]

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

There is a Reason Dolph Lundgren has been around and it's not because of his incredible acting skills. The reason is that he is one of the icons of cheesy action films. So when you get an action comedy such as this it makes for a fun little trip for an hour and a half.

The story here is that Dolph Lundgren is police officer on the trail of the iron claw, a group of yakuza run by a man who murdered his parents when he was a child. He teams up with a wise cracking Brandon Lee and together along with a sexy Tia Carrea they take down the Sinister Drug Lord.

What makes the movie funny is that Dolph Lundgrens character is an america who is totally into the Japanese way of the Samurai while Brandon Lee grew up an American Mall Rat and is a fish out of water at some of the places that they go to search for these criminals.

Overall this is a simple early 90's action film that appeals to those who like to spend an afternoon hooting and hollering at bad guys getting their @$$ handed to them as well as the usual gratiouse nudity and one liner moments. Leathel Weapon this is not but for a good low price, you can't go wrong.

Ah, the adventures of the type-casted actor (Jason Statham, reading this?). In 1991 some mediocre filmmakers contacted Lungren for a movie and they told him that he would be playing Drago (from 'Rocky IV') once again. For legal purposes they told Lungren that the English diminutive for Drago is Kenner.

Kenner: he's a cop, he wears a black leather jacket, he's impervious to bullets, he lifts cars, he single-handedly mangles and destroys people and public property, he is emotionless and expressionless, and he works alone. Like a pirate...cop, the expressionless Kenner swings on a rope onto the ring of an illegal fight club, pummels both fighters, and puts everyone in mortal danger, or as he likes to say, "under arrest." Perhaps Kenner is angry because the Asian mob bosses never invite him to be a contestant in their fight club - and because of this, Kenner drives his muscle car around town looking to take out his mildly racist frustrations on members of the Asian community to the tune of "left over Miami Vice music" (Tom Servo). Later in the movie, Kenner throws some human bodies around like rag dolls and in the process he destroys a Chinese restaurant, where he then meets his assigned partner played by Brandon Lee. I felt bad for Brandon Lee just for having had to read the script for this movie, especially those revolving around Kenner's crotch (this in itself deserves some additional analysis, but I'll leave that to someone else). Brandon Lee and Kenner don't like each other at first but upon listening to Kenner's tragic story about the murder of his parents, Lee joins Kener in a mindless game of revenge because he really "likes him" and in the end they'll be able to "eat fish off of the naked chicks". Well guess what? I like Dolph too, er I mean Kenner. And while the director's intent was to convince the viewers that Kenner needs a midwife to assist him in giving birth to human emotions, the real moral of this story is: we all need someone to help us kill bad Japanese druglords to avenge the deaths of our loved ones.

This movie is so god AWFUL that I LOVE IT!

Tia Carrere NEKID, a pretty stoner decapitated by a samurai sword, nude women buried in sushi? Sure sounds like a porno film, don't it? Well, it's not. It's got nudity, kung fu, and Brandon Lee and that's more than what you'd ask out of this film. The Martial Arts scenes are excellent, ranging from a brawl in a bathhouse, to a duel in a street fair. There's also twice as much comedy here as you'd expect, most of it delivered by Brandon ("In between cooking cycles, your'e supposed to baste us."). Dolph Lundgren is also fun to watch, and he sometimes rather inadvertendly contributes to the comedy ("Take this, point it in the direction things are, pull the trigger and they'll fall down.") For nudity, kung fu, and a very good film with Brandon Lee, SHOWDOWN is exceptional. Oh, speaking of Brandon, here's another of his humorous lines ("Kenner, just in case we get killed, I wanted to tell you, you have the biggest
---- Iv'e ever seen.")

This film here was the first Brandon Lee American movie. He had done some limited TV spots and a film in Hong Kong prior to Showdown in Little Tokyo though. For a low-budget film, it's sure to keep both Lee and Lundgren fans enthralled. The fight scenes are well choreographed, and the banter between Lee and Lundgren adds some humor as well. Watching Lee's budding talent, it makes you wonder what would have been had he not died on the set of The Crow. Don't expect the quality of The Crow here, but Showdown in Little Tokyo is definitely worth picking up. It would have been nice if the DVD was offered in widescreen, and if some extras had been thrown in, but the film alone is worth the price of admission.

With Dolph Lundgren and Brandon Lee as the heroes and Tia Carrere as the love interest, nothing can go wrong. The plot is standard, the bad guy killed the hero's parents. The hero grew up became a cop and found the bad guy. But the movie is quite entertaining and you can watch it over and over again. The DVD is in full screen only and the picture is a bit grainy but quite clear and bright. The Dolby Surround sound is OK, nothing fancy typical of Warner's ... budget DVD series. Since a special edition (this year is the 10th anniversary) is very unlikely, this is the only one you can get. Get this DVD if you are an action movie fans. You won't be sorry.

One last note: it is sad to see Brandon Lee career ended so early when he was up and rising after "Rapid Fire" and on the way to his fame in The Crow. There are only a few Brandon Lee's movies out there and this DVD certainly worth adding to your DVD collection even for the sentimental reason.

Talk about a culture-clash. A white American male raised in the samurai ways in Japan, and an adopted Japanese-American male trained in the Californian ways are matched up in the LAPD to bring down the source of a new and deadly drug. Forced to work together,Chris Kenner teaches Johnny Murata about the heritage he scoffs at while Johnny offers quirky remarks and comic timing. Chris soon realizes that the man who killed his parents is the man spreading the killer drug, and both set out on revenge.

Showdown in Little Tokyo is one of those rare early-90's screen gems that is so terribly scripted that, today, it makes for one of the funniest movie going experiences you can have.

Essentially it's a revenge story where Dolph Lundgren plays a cop out for revenge against the yakuza mob boss who murdered his family when he was just a wee little gaijin living in Japan.
And of course, since he was raised in Japan, he knows martial arts, how to weild a sword and even build japanese style houses by hand (I'll get to that later in the review). Seeing as how he posesses all of these great combat skills, it's no wonder that Lundgren's character ended up becoming a cop in Los Angeles.

Soon Lundgren meets up with his new partner, played by Brandon Lee in one of his first major movie roles, the son of a dentist who grew up in "the valley" who also happens to know karate so naturally he became a cop as well.

Together this dynamic duo takes on the yakuza, who all wear great stereotypical early-90's attire that makes them look like they just stepped off the set of a Phil Collins video or the Arsenio Hall Show. Some of them even wear the exact same suits in the same scenes which makes them look like updated versions of the henchmen from the old 60's Batman TV show.

Some of the most fantastically ridiculous action scenes take place from there including Lundgren lifting a car onto its side with his bare hands, a hilarious bathhouse fight scene with a fat japanese guy complete with a Wilhelm scream and of course a scene in which the two heroes fight off 50 bad guys trying to invade Lundgren's japanese style home. That's right, he built it his self, we learn that when Tia Carrere's character says "Nice house," and Lundgren says "I built it," and Tia says "Somehow I knew that."

And that brings me to my next point, the awesomely horrible and incredibly funny dialog that the stars of Showdown in Little Tokyo have to belt out is so head-scratchingly awful that you have to ask yourself questions like "what was the writer thinking? are they for real? are they TRYING to be hilarious?"

I could spout off any of the hundreds of hilarious lines from this movie, but it's so much fun watching it yourself and laughing at them that I won't. Ok, maybe just one. Brandon Lee's character actually says to Lundgren "In case we die, I want you to know that you have the biggest d*** I've ever seen on a man," to which Lundgren says: "I don't know what to say." Well neither do I guys, neither do I.

Showdown in Little Tokyo, whether it was intentional or not, stands as a comedic masterpiece in early-90's cinema. I'm not exaggerating either, it really is freaking hilarous, see for yourself.

Amazing movie! One of Dolph's greatest roles ever! Brandon Lee brings charisma and humor to his role as well.
This is a five star movie-

This is the best bad movie I think I can remember seeing. It's so silly, so predictable, and yet it's somehow holds interest. Maybe that's because we want to see if it gets any worse. Lundgren stars as the cop equivalent of Superman. He can jump over cars, defeat sumo wrestlers in hand-to-hand comment, woo Tia Carerre, lift a car on its side and then blow it up with one shot, and he can also build a house by himself. He is partnered with Brandon Lee, who is actually quite funny and entertaining, despite somewhat limited screen time. The two join together and bring down the Yakuza in a part of LA called Little Tokyo. This movie is filled with cheesy moments so bad you'll die laughing. I enjoyed this film's badness because it seemed so serious in what it was trying to produce. My favorite part was when Lundgren jumps over the convertible. He must be about eight feet in the air! Michael Jordon couldn't do such a stunt without scraping his feet on the car. "Showdown in Little Tokyo" needs to be seen to be believed. Is it tons of fun? You bet. Is is also very ridiculous? Of course.

Kung-fu's response to Plan 9 From Outer Space. Sadly, the action sequences cannot compensate for wretched dialogue, stale directing. But Lundgren and Lee do fine with what they're given. And I have this on video! Somebody PLEASE rescure Dolph from this! Did anybody pay money to see this!