4 replies to this topic

[doublenoughtspy]

Any other Cbners fans of the 1989 film Black Rain? Watching it on AMC right now.

I'm not the biggest Michael Douglas fan, but he is really amazing in this. Fresh off his Oscar from Wall Street the year before, he fires on all cylinders.

Most reviews said it was style over substance (directed by Ridley Scott, cinematography by Jan De Bont), but I think the story is decent too.

Made for half the budget of LTK, it looks about 5 times more expensive.

I just checked out the trivia on the IMDB, the ending was filmed in Napa Valley, rather than in Japan.

[Turn]

I always liked the film. I saw it when it came out on an early date with my wife and have caught it a few times over the years. They came out with a special edition DVD recently, which I'd gladly add to my collection for the right price.

Black Rain kind of reminds me of Rising Sun in that it was made in the period when the Japanese were really making an impact in the world economy. And Japan is always a sceneic place to film with all the neon and the odd things that make it memorable, like the driving range with several tiers to it where Douglas goes for a meeting.

I thought the whole Kate Capshaw romance was sort of shoehorned in, but didn't really damage anything.

[Loomis]

I remember watching BLACK RAIN at the cinema a couple of days before my first trip to Japan. Once in Japan, and seeing both city and countryside, I marvelled at how little the country resembled Scott's preposterous, smoke machine-fuelled vision. Granted, it's a genre movie about cops and robbers, but did he really have to make Japan look like a hellish, incredibly polluted nation with no good or beautiful qualities, populated by robots and clowns? It's a film that smacks strongly of a Japan-bashing agenda.

Still, it's quite entertaining in places, although I've never found it anything to write home about. That said, I'd like to give it another go at some point, as I haven't seen it in years. Some Scott fans consider it part of a loose trilogy that also includes BLADE RUNNER and SOMEONE TO WATCH OVER ME.

As far as American-in-Japan thrillers are concerned, I remember loving (when I caught a late night TV screening, oh, about twenty years ago) John Frankenheimer's THE CHALLENGE.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083726/

And I'm told THE YAKUZA is very good, but I've never managed to see it.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073918/

[TheSaint]

I saw Black Rain when it came out in the theaters. It didn't strike me as a Japan-bashing film, as the scenes filmed in NY weren't exactly a love letter to NY. Great film! I thought I was in for more of the same when I saw Basic Instinct. Boy, was I mistaken.

[Qwerty]

I think I saw it once many, many years ago, but don't remember a thing about it. I saw that it got a new DVD release a few months ago and have been meaning to rent it to check it out once again.

Guess I'll have to add it to my list so I don't forget about it once more.