Mark: Alright, so right off the bat I’d like to say that I was a fan of this movie. Never seen it before, which to me is upsetting because I love Ridley Scott. Will I be biased? Probably, but we’ll see. And you?
Dylan: Yea, I had never seen it either. Never even heard of it, in fact. The only Ridley Scott stuff I’ve seen are Alien and Prometheus (Was Aliens by Scott? If so, then that too.) But anyways, I think it had its pros and cons. I would definitely label it your typical 80’s actioner, with its cheesy rock music soundtrack (which was apparently Hans Zimmer) and its lame one-liners, like “I’m used to being kissed...before I get fucked” or something to that effect. I certainly wasn’t blown away by it. I kind of thought of it as a combination between Rush Hour and Lethal Weapon. There was even a karaoke scene where an Asian guy was ruining an American song. And Michael Douglas’ mullet was identical to Mel Gibson’s.
Mark: What’s the fucking point of a discussion if you’re gonna lay out so much in one post? I was going to get to a lot of those things as we went along, but no, you had to go and just talk about everything right off the bat. But I can agree with you on a lot of that. Though, I think to really just appreciate this is to take it with a handful of salt and know that you’re not going to get a refined piece of narrative or anything that deep in terms of story structure.
Dylan: An entire handful of salt? That may be hard for some people to swallow. You could even say it will leave a bad taste in your mouth. Wow! Look at how inspired I am to come up with cheesy lines like this after seeing that movie!
Mark: And speaking of the karaoke part, all i could think of was Top Gun. That’s all I’ll say to that and if you watch the movie and have seen Top Gun, you’ll know what I’m talking about. Also, side note, this was the first collaboration between Ridley Scott and Han Zimmer. Just FYI. Also, Aliens was directed by James Cameron, before he took too many drugs and thought Avatar would be his only thing.
Dylan: Anyways, it wasn’t terrible. It just wasn’t very interesting to me. And for people who like characters like Gibson in Lethal Weapon, and Cruise in Top Gun, and Kurt Russell in Escape From New York, this movie is probably pretty appealing. I was also caught off guard by the violence of it. And that reminds me, we forgot to put in a little summary of the movie. So for those of you who have read this far and are scratching your head, here you go: Michael Douglas is a badass cop in NYC, with a motorcycle. He is also in trouble for possibly stealing some money. He and his partner accidentally get caught up with some international thugs and next thing you know, they’re in Japan, being badass NYC cops. Which actually makes me think of something I liked. But I’ll hold out and give you a chance to say something first.
Mark: Jesus, aren’t you talkative. As for the violence, I wasn’t all that surprised by it, since Ridley Scott movies -- at least the R rated ones -- are fairly violent. So I didn’t think this would be all that different. I did think the action was too infrequent, which lead to a lot of dragging for the narrative. But for the action there was, I found more enjoyment in the absurd level it got to. For instance the one guy on a motorcycle who got shot, hit a truck, and then proceeded to explode. And the final 15 or so minutes, for me, were really entertaining and I thought, while very 80’s cheesy, very well done as well. Also, Scott had to be going through a motorcycle phase, because it gets ridiculous at points. If you have more to say on the 80’s nature of it or the narrative side, go on, cause I want to talk about more of the stylistic side.
Dylan: Nope. The other thing I was going to say was that I like the fact that he is sort of a dirty cop. It adds an extra dimension to his character, and I liked how it affects not so much his actions, but how his partner and the Japanese officer view him. On the flip side of that, though, Michael Douglas does not come off as a convincing badass action star at all. It felt sort of forced, and a little annoying. Like when he was throwing a tantrum, breaking shelves and tearing down laundry and stuff. Then again, I am not really too familiar with his films, so I’m not sure what he usually plays.
Mark: I thought he was alright as the detective, effective for how things needed to go. But Andy Garcia, holy shit, I have never seen a weirder performance by him. Maybe I haven’t seen all his movies, but he always seems to play a more in control character who occasionally has outbursts. But here, here is the energy, the kinda kooky side character to Douglas’ gruff and tough detective. It just stood out to me a lot when he was on the screen. But Ken Takakura, who played Masahiro, I thought we was pretty good and I grew to like his character.
Dylan: Yea, I mean, he is also a little more complex than just the strange foreigner the Americans have to work with. He had his own problems, and it sort of showed him bonding with Andy Garcia. Slightly more character development than I expected.
Mark: Really, besides Masahiro, everyone else was more a character type, than character who could grow or anything. Gruff detective, more flamboyant side kick, token white woman in Japan, evil guy, other evil guys but not our evil guy. They didn’t need to grow in character all that much. They just set out to do what they set out to do. Masahiro was the only one who seemed to adapt. But enough on that, I think we beat that particular horse well beyond death. What’d you think of the way everything looked? The sense of place and whatnot. Cause that shot, as they’re landing into Japan, the red sun rising (yes, yes, I know, but it is what it is) on the smoke (can’t think of the word). Everything looks so absolutely alien and I thought it was beautifully shot.
Dylan: Well, I have to admit, I did not get too swept away by the imagery. At times, I sensed the foreign nature of it. The scene you mentioned for one. But also when Douglas and Garcia are looking for their hotel, before all the bikers surround them. I was wondering if that was a set or just an empty -- and completely neon-streaked -- Japanese street. Other than that, I felt like the camera always stayed at street level, and it kind of reminded me of Blade Runner, in that you know they are in a city but it never pans out to show the skyline or anything, so you feel trapped and lost at the bottom.
Mark: I totally agree with the Blade Runner comparison. It had that vibe every time the characters were moving through the busy streets and the lights were shining on everything. There is also that scene were Douglas is looking over the city at night, with the rain coming down, and I could have sworn it switched over to Blade Runner. But I thought that worked well for what the movie wanted; to make us see how alien of a place this was and how they’re trapped by the cultural difference as well as just the city itself.
Dylan: Which movie came first?
Mark: Blade Runner was ‘82, this is ‘89. But the last part I wanted to address in terms of setting and place, while I did like the end locations, a kinda feudal feeling with the winery when everything devolves into violence between the Yakuza clans, but the steelworks, with the molten steel and the sounds of machinery, and just the way it was shot, I thought that was great.
Dylan: I wonder if there was a point to the juxtaposition between the vineyards and the mill. Nothing comes to mind though.
Mark: I was gonna say I don’t think so, and I could probably make some kind of an analysis on how the two real major shootouts happen at a steel mill and rural winery, but I think, really, it just gives a good contrast as to what’s in Japan, and where Douglas’ character finds himself.
Dylan: I concur, doctor. So is that about it? What’s the final verdict?
Mark: Doctor? Don’t be so formal. But while the narrative of the film feels lacking at points, and down right cliche at others, the entertaining action and well directed visuals makes this something I’d recommend.
Dylan: Hm, all right. Well I kind of said already how I would rate it. If you like 80’s action movies and somehow haven’t seen this one, go for it. But otherwise, it’s nothing mindblowing.
Mark: Hey, quickie trivia, no looking. Did this go up for any oscars?
Dylan: I actually did already look by accident, when I was confirming that the American woman is none other than Indy’s girl in Temple of Doom!
Mark: That’s who she fucking is! I knew she looked familiar. And surprise, she’s working as a kinda singer in a foreign land. Now that’s some type casting. And, it received Oscar nominations for Best Sound and Sound Effects Editing.
Dylan: I find both of those surprising.
Mark: I mean, it did sound good. The guns sounded real?
Dylan: Meh.
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So there you have. Our next title is not definite yet, but it seems we are leaning toward Moon, starring Sam Rockwell and Sam Rockwell, with a cameo appearance by Sam Rockwell. And, following my motif of quoting better films by the same director: "This is Ripley, last survivor of the Nostromo, signing off. Come on, cat."
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