Black Rain (1989/I)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Director:

Ridley Scott

Writers (WGA):

Craig Bolotin (written by) &
Warren Lewis (written by)

Release Date:

22 September 1989 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Drama

Tagline:

An American Cop in Japan. Their country. Their laws. Their game. His rules.

Plot:

Two New York cops get involved in a gang war between members of the Yakuza, the Japanese Mafia. They...

Plot Keywords:

Mafia | Japan | Yakuza | New York | Shootout

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 1 nomination

Cast

Michael Douglas	...	Nick
Andy Garcia	...	Charlie
Ken Takakura	...	Masahiro
Kate Capshaw	...	Joyce
Yusaku Matsuda	...	Sato
Shigeru Kôyama	...	Ohashi (as Shigeru Koyama)
John Spencer	...	Oliver
Guts Ishimatsu	...	Katayama
Yuya Uchida	...	Nashida
Tomisaburo Wakayama	...	Sugai
Miyuki Ono	...	Miyuki
Luis Guzmán	...	Frankie (as Luis Guzman)
John Costelloe	...	The Kid (as John A. Costelloe)
Stephen Root	...	Berg
Richard Riehle	...	Crown

Also Known As:

Black Rain (Canada: French title) (France) [fr]
Lluvia negra (Argentina) (Spain) [es]
Black Rain (Spain) [es]
Black Rain (Spain: Catalan title) [ca]
Black Rain - pioggia sporca (Italy) [it]
Chuva Negra (Portugal) [pt]
Crna kisa (Serbia) [sr]
Czarny deszcz (Poland) [pl]
Fekete esö (Hungary) [hu]
Geshem Shahor (Israel: Hebrew title) [iw]
Kafti vrohi (Greece) [el]
Kara yagmur (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
Must vihm (Estonia) [et]
Musta sade (Finland) [fi]

Runtime:

125 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Japanese

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) | Dolby SR (35 mm prints)

Certification:

Netherlands:16 | Brazil:14 | New Zealand:M | Australia:M | Argentina:18 | Chile:18 | Finland:K-16 | France:U | Norway:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:R | West Germany:16 | Singapore:M18 | Iceland:16

Filming Locations:

1000 N. Crescent Drive, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

The character at the end of the film reads "kan", meaning "the end".

Goofs:

Continuity: The orientation of the shotgun after Sugai's bodyguard tosses it to Nick.

Quotes:

Joyce: Because you could get me killed. You see, there's a war going on here, and they don't take prisoners.
Nick Conklin: What are you talking about?
Joyce: It's between Sato and an old crime boss named Sugai.
Nick Conklin: Who else knows about this war?
Joyce: Counting you and me?
[beat]
Joyce: Eleven million.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Black Rain: Post-Production (2006) (V)

Uneven and clichéd

I have never been able to warm up to BLACK RAIN, a cliché-ridden 80s cop thriller. Michael Douglas, who by 1989 was a big Hollywood star with a mullet, plays a crooked cop who escorts a Yakuza home to Japan after witnessing the guy kill two people. His partner Andy Garcia is along for the ride. As soon as they touch down in Tokyo, they lose the killer and the chase is on. Soon enough, they are teamed up with a by-the-book Japanese detective, played by the doleful Ken Takakura. The problem with the movie is, it is shot MTV-style and we are all over the place with this one, rarely sitting still long enough to catch our collective breath. You'd think Tony, not Ridley, shot this one. Douglas is fine and basically carries the movie, and Garcia is believable as a naive, fresh-faced youngster who lacks Douglas' street smarts. The bad guys are stock characters and just not that interesting. In the end, too much chasing around without much of a payoff will have worn most viewers out long before the final scene.