Black Rain

If you pull it-you better use it.

Black Rain is directed by Ridley Scott and written by Craig Bolotin and Warren Lewis. It stars Michael Douglas, Andy Garcia, Ken Takakura, Kate Capshaw, Yusaku Matsuda and Tomisaburo Wakayama. Music is by Hans Zimmer and cinematography by Jan de Bont.

After New York cops Nick Conklin (Douglas) and Charlie Vincent (Garcia) arrest a sword wielding psychopath named Sato Koji (Matsuda), they are tasked with escorting him back to Osaka in Japan. From here they are plunged into a war that is brewing in the Japanese underworld.

You see there's a war going on here and they don't take no prisoners.

Welcome to Blade Runner's younger brother, Black Rain, a Ridley Scott film I feel has never received the cr...

The fact that the words "produced in association with Michael Douglas" appear on the credits before the name of the director (Ridley Scott) tells us much of what we need to know about this crime thriller. It is a project for and about Michael Douglas and it isn't very good. He ("Conklin") is a New York cop, and a bent one at that. Together with his oppo "Charlie" (Andy Garcia) he witnesses a Yakuza killing in a restaurant. Apprehending the culprit, they are tasked with repatriating him to Japan but manage to cock up the prisoner delivery when the plane lands. Determined to track down his miscreant escapee, he now proceeds to treat the local law enforcement with an arrogant disdain that ought to have found him neatly at the end of a Samurai ...

Well made neo-noir thriller featuring great performances by Douglas, Garcia and Takakura with special mention to Yûsaku Matsuda who worked on this despite dying with bladder cancer (and he was only 40 years old). Not top shelf work compared to other Ridley Scott movies but it is shot well (courtesy also to DP Jan de Bont). 4.0/5

Black Rain is one of those cop movies that's just downright cool. Unfortunately, it became dated quite quickly, but if you can look past that it's very much worth a watch. Ridley Scott knows how to make a good movie. And Michael Douglas certainly knows how to act.

First things first: My review is detailed and long, but it contains NO MAJOR SPOILERS, you can still enjoy the plot unfolding after reading it.

I think Black Rain (BR) is almost criminally underrated within the buddy cop and dramatic noir genre.reading it.

The "underrated" moniker also applies because most of the cast and other key people involved (Sir Ridley Scott, Michael Douglas, music score by a (at the time) young and still largely unknown Hans Zimmer) may be better known today for all their later achievements.

BR feels like lost in time with a current TMDB rating of only 60+%, hidden behind all their other successes and awards.

You don't have to take my word for this. Michael Douglas himself stated in later interviews ...