IMDb user comments for
Black Rain (1989/I)

Werbung

Filter:

Best Chronological Prolific Authors Loved It Hated It Spoiler verstecken:

Seite 1 von 8:

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]

Übersicht

72 Nutzerkommentare insgesamt

---

22 out of 26 people found the following comment useful :-
A clash-of-cultures story., 16. Januar 2005

Author: Jonathon Dabell (barnabyrudge@hotmail.com) von Wakefield, England

Ridley Scott tends to give his films a very potent visual energy (see "Alien" and "Blade Runner" for further evidence), and here he takes a story that's been around since films began and dresses it up with his customary pictorial trimmings. Black Rain is another fish-out-of-water yarn in which a cop leaves his usual patch to track down a criminal in an unfamiliar place (see also Brannigan, French Connection II, No Mercy, Beverly Hills Cop, etc. for other versions of what is virtually the same story). The unoriginality of it all is a bit disappointing in all honesty, but Black Rain compensates for its over-familiarity by excelling in other areas.

Reckless New York cop Nick Conklin (Michael Douglas - looking more like his father Kirk than ever) and his partner Charlie Vincent (Andy Garcia) catch a Japanese gangster named Sato (Yasuka Matsuda) in their city. They are assigned to escort Sato back to Japan and hand him over to the Japanese police. However, almost immediately upon their arrival Sato escapes with the aid of some of his underworld friends, cunningly disguised as cops. Nick and Charlie are left with egg on their face, and endeavour to help the Japanese police to recapture their man. They join Japanese cop Masahiro (Ken Takakura), but police methods in Japan prove very different to what the Americans are accustomed to, and soon differences in approach boil over into frustration and violence.

Scott paints the night-time streets of Osaka as some kind of neon-lit, nightmarish maze. It becomes easy to relate to Nick and Charlie's bewilderment, and the viewer is left glad NOT to be sharing their experiences in the seedy, dangerous environment of this seemingly hostile city. There are some attempts to explore the different codes of honour by which the American and Japanese law enforcers measure their success. Also, the film establishes and sustains an edgy atmosphere (one scene, in which a key character is lured into a trap and beheaded, is especially tense).

Black Rain is a mix of effective and not-so-effective elements. The visuals, the atmosphere and the cultural alienation of the main character are very interesting, while the plotting and dialogue are disappointingly familiar. It's definitely a film worth catching, though it probably won't be remembered as fondly fifty years from now as some of the director's other films.

---

27 out of 38 people found the following comment useful :-
Justice Falls Like Black Rain, 21. Oktober 2003

Author: arthurclay von Italy

Black Rain is hands down the best cop movie ever made! And I'm not saying that just because I like it. The cinematography and even the costumes were phenomenal and couldn't have been any better. Whoever did the casting for this movie earned their pay and then some. You couldn't have found better actors anywhere in the world. This is Michael Douglas at his best as New York Detective Nick Conklin, a macho yet streetwise cop after a coldblooded Yakuza killer all the way from the back alleys of Manhattan to the streets of Japan. Andy Garcia also gives a tour-de-force performance as Douglas's partner Charley Vincent and gives the movie some extra humor. There some great one liners here. I even like Kate Capshaw as Conklin's friend and love interest. Sato Kogei, the bad guy, is played brilliantly and almost effortlessly by Yusako Matsuda. Why haven't I ever seen this guy in anything else? Definitely one of my top ten best villains to grace the silver screen. Also look for Ken Takakura as Masahiro Matsamodo the stubborn and by the book police officer who befriends Douglas and Garcia and helps them chase Matsuda (Takakura was also in Mr. Baseball). Sato's rival Sugai Kenyo gives a stunningly great performance as well as the old time crime boss. Anyways if you haven't seen this film go out and get it like I did and make it part of your collection. Its great viewing, timeless and worth every penny. You won't regret it.

---

12 out of 13 people found the following comment useful :-
Good, but not that good., 24. August 1999
Author: ChrisC. von Forest Row, England.

Black Rain is an absolutely gorgeous movie to look at. And for the most part it's highly entertaining and well acted - the guy playing Sato is brilliantly menacing. But occasionally, very occasionally, it descends into either complete predictability or downright cheesiness. A motorbike chase, well, that's a surprise! And that award ceremony right near the end - why? It's totally irrelevant, feel good factor nonsense - the sort of stuff you get with bog standard action movies. And this is not bog standard, and not really an action movie. Certainly underrated and deserving of a better audience than it has received, but ultimately let down by a few lapses in quality.

---

8 out of 9 people found the following comment useful :-
Ultra-moody cop fiction., 24. Februar 2007

Author: Shawn Watson (gator_macready@yahoo.com) von The Underverse

I saw this film on crappy pan and scan VHS when I was about 12 and I didn't really understand it and I wasn't really up on Ridley Scott's work. As a result, the impact of the film was somewhat lost on me. I was expecting an action film instead of a character drama with lots of police procedure. But now, older and wiser and with a brand new HD-DVD of the movie, I am finally able to appreciate how clever the film is.

The story unfortunately IS riddled with 80s Cop Movie clichés and goes through quite a lot of familiar motions. But if you see past that you'll appreciate the immense atmosphere and mood that Ridley Scott piles on. Simply put, Michael Douglas is Nick Conklin, a bad cop (pretty much the exact same character in Basic Instinct) who drag races on his superbike to pay alimony and pinches drug money instead of turning it in for evidence. Enjoying lunch with partner Charlie (Andy Garcia) in a steakhouse in New York's meat-packing district, they just happen to witness a Yakuza execution by wanted Japanese criminal Sato (Yusaku Matsuda, who was dying of cancer during filming and didn't tell anyone). After a quick punch-up and shoot-out they find themselves chaperoning Sato back to Osaka. But when they arrive there he manages to escape, leaving them embarrassed with lots of questions to answer.

Nick and Charlie find themselves in a very foreign and intolerant world and recapturing Sato proves to be difficult in many ways. Not the least of which is Japan's alienating culture (from an NYPD point of view) and rigid rules. Nonetheless, Nick is determined to catch Sato and restore his honor.

Like I said, the atmosphere of the film is overwhelming, which is really all the film needs. The clichés and stereotypes don't matter so much when you are involved this much. Hans Zimmer (his first film with Ridley Scott) provides a deeply emotional and very melodic score that'll be rattling around in your head for days. It's a shame it's never had a comprehensive CD release, as it's one of Zimmer's most impressive efforts.

You could call it a pretty 80s movies, but I still do feel that it holds up pretty well today. As one of Ridley Scott's more forgotten works, it's well worth checking out.

---

8 out of 10 people found the following comment useful :-
Osaka Runner, 13. Oktober 2005
Author: Rick Blaine von London

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

It's been said this is the movie Ridley thought he was going to make when he was given Blade Runner. Whether there's truth in that hardly matters: the movies share a lot, especially in terms of the stark thick imagery.

Word has it the DVD rendition is terrible, which is a shame as this movie offers so much visually.

But Black Rain is more than an aesthetic visual experience: it's a morality play, and what the morale is supposed to be might be difficult to articulate, but it's there.

The supporting cast is excellent, as is Douglas, but especially impressive are the Japanese stars Ken Takakura and the legendary Yusaku Matsuda. Takakura, a star in his home country, is eminently sympathetic, and Matsuda's way of playing his role - with a touch of smart aleck snooty adolescence - is nothing short of brilliant.

This was Douglas's project; perhaps he had something in mind. It's interesting with respect to the title, what that title means, and the fact that a documentary on the subject (and with the same name in Japanese) came out the same year.

Matsuda succumbed to bladder cancer a month after the premiere. He'd known about it for a year but didn't think it fatal. He'd been on his way to making a new film with Sean Connery. Matsuda is a legend in his home country, and was so before his illness.

The movie is largely about the Douglas and Takakura characters, but as always when Hans Zimmer has a hand in production, the music really takes off. Zimmer is perhaps the most effective film composer today if not of all time. He's done wonders with movies that might otherwise have not come to people's attention. And this is another great score. The title song with lyrics by Will Jennings is a knock-out.

And let's not forget Lady Kate Capshaw.

This one is bloody and violent, and that might not be your cup of tea and it certainly isn't mine, but just like with Leon there is a kind of quiet subtle poetry that emerges, gore or not.

Three days after seeing it again and the music and scenes are still playing in my mind. It's that strong.

And it's a definite keeper.

---

5 out of 7 people found the following comment useful :-
An awesome flick that no one ever talks about, 2. Januar 2007

Author: Hands_of_Fate von United States

This is a very overlooked character driven action film by Ridley Scott. His visuals have been discussed at great length for films like Alien, and Blade Runner. However Black Rain almost matches his prior films in terms of visual beauty. The film is given a surrealistic look, that strengthens the exotic back drop. Michael Douglas is superb at playing cops and loners, and here he demonstrates why hes a star. His character is a complete bad ass, and I'd like to see him take on a few more of these roles before he gets too old. The writing isn't masterful but its very effective for the genre. I've always loved the theme of American cops going over to a foreign land and experiencing all the culture shock, and sense of alienation.

Great movie 9/10

---

6 out of 9 people found the following comment useful :-
Doesn't disappoint, 28. Januar 2003
Author: davideo-2 von Birmingham,England

STAR RATING:*****Unmissable****Very Good***Okay**You Could Go Out For A Meal Instead*Avoid At All Costs

Ridley Scott scored again with Black Rain,a stylish and engaging thriller.The movie has an absorbing visual feel to it,as well as an involving story to move things move along nicely.On the performances front,Michael Douglas makes for an even more convincing action man than I would have given him credit for and Andy Garcia brings his usual searing intensity in his screen presence to the role of the sidekick,but the real star of the show is Yusaku Matsuda,who sadly died shortly after the film was released,as the villain,bringing a creepy and sadistic undertone to his role.***

---

7 out of 11 people found the following comment useful :-
One of the Top Cop thrillers of the last century, supremely underrated., 13. Januar 2007

Author: Joyyrider von United States

Micheal Douglas has always been, at least for me, one of the better actors to portray a cop on screen. Very believable, very real, he just has a natural feel for this type of role. I think its due to the fact he starred as one on TV in "The Streets of San Francisco". Everything blends in this cop thriller. It oozes style and panache. It also has an underlying emotional core that I think gets underrated by critics. Douglas as Nick Conklin has some fine moments playing off the characters played by Andy Garcia, Kate Capshaw and especially Ken Takakura. This movie combines excellent acting, gorgeous cinematography, great atmosphere, along with some solid action set pieces...and gets it right. Director Ridley Scott brings all his cinematic guns to bear and spins these elements into a definitive police action thriller. I loved this flick when I saw it in 1989 and I still do. It may not be as audacious as when it premiered, time has seen to that(ex.action scenes have really gone virtual reality)but it's still a respectable addition to your DVD library. And of that fact there is no gray area!

---

7 out of 12 people found the following comment useful :-
Ridley Scott's Most Underrated Film, 18. Juli 2001

Author: dee.reid von United States

Black Rain (1989) Starring Michael Douglas and Andy Garcia.

Running Time: 125 min. Rated R

Black Rain stars Michael Douglas(Wall Street, Falling Down) and Andy Garcia(The Untouchables, Desperate Measures) as Detectives Nick Conklin and Charlie Vincent. One day while eating lunch at a local diner, they witness a horrific mob killing. The twist is that the killer is a dangerous gangster named Sato(Yusaku Matsuda) from Japan who is also wanted their for various other crimes. Soon after, a chase ensues and Sato is captured. The police tell Nick and Charlie that he must be returned to Japan in order to be prosecuted. When they finally get to Japan, the police there are very generous in accepting Sato, only they're not the police, they're Sato's thugs in disguise. So Nick and Charlie must go after him, but because they are foreigners, no one will help them in their investigation and they must also accept a new partner (Ken Takakura).

Filmed on location in Tokyo, Japan, Ridley Scott, who also directed Alien(1979), Blade Runner(1982) and Gladiator(2000) sets up a really dark tone for, much as he does in most of his films.

It's also surprising how low the rating is for this movie. It's a classic like so many other of Scott's films.

10/10

---

1 out of 1 people found the following comment useful :-
A high-class B-movie thriller, if that makes sense, 27. April 2008

Author: Filmjack3 von United States

Black Rain may not be one of the best films I've seen from director Ridley Scott or from Michael Douglas. Despite all the work to make it a darker effort than one might see, and more exotic with the Japanese locales, there's still the good-ol' American style to the story of "I always get my man", and it's the main thing that keeps it into the conventional and even 'safe' territory. But where it strikes its best ground, and stays fresh outside of its 80's period (and at this point it's a period piece thanks to the drastic drop in crime in NYC, if not in how the yakuza works in Japan), is in its focus as a character study, as opposed to the action which is more or less to be expected (there's even a ritualistic beheading of a character, of whom I won't reveal).

For Michael Douglas this was an attempt to deepened his persona as a star from what his two huge hits had been two years before (Wall Street and Fatal Attraction). Here he's not in a 'gray' area as a character, he's a fallen soul who curses like a sailor, is even more of a hard-ass than Harry Callahan, and will go to any length to get his man as it continues to go against the Japanese police force. It's a good character for him to play, and he has good back up with Andy Garcia as a fresh-faced young cop and Ken Takakura especially in a subtle part as the Japanese detective who's along for, whether he likes it or not, the long haul of this case against the psycho yakuza Sato (bad-ass Yukatsu Matsuda, sadly his last film). It's such a fascinating batch of characters and actors (hell, even Kate Capshaw gets her due as a noir character) that it's a shame the plot sometimes gets in the way as the yakuza prepare for a counterfeiting scam.

As luck would have it, almost in spite of the limitations of the script, Scott and DP Jan de Bont make the film cool to look at, with that touch of exotic locales and strange presences to scenes that Scott obviously loves, and with that smokey tint that was a trademark of much of the Scott brothers work (Ridley and Tony) up until the mid 90s. It's an atmospheric dip into some hard-edged pot-boiling fun and danger, just as long as you don't think too much about it amounting to a small hill of beans. 7.5/10

---

---

Seite 1 von 8:

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]

Add another comment

---

Weitere Links

Plot summary	Amazon.com Video	Nutzerbewertungen
Auszeichnungen	Newsgroup reviews	Externe Kritiken
Parents Guide	Plot keywords	Hauptübersicht
Your user comments	Your vote history