Showdown in Little Tokyo

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Showdown in Little Tokyo

DVD cover of Showdown in Little Tokyo
Directed by Mark L. Lester
Written by Stephen Glantz
Calipoe Brattlestreet
Starring Dolph Lundgren
Brandon Lee
Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa
Tia Carrere
Music by David Michael Frank
Cinematography Mark Irwin
Release date(s) August 23, 1991
Running time 79 min.
Country United States
Language English
Japanese
Budget Unknown
IMDb profile

Showdown in Little Tokyo is a Mark L. Lester film released in 1991. It features Brandon Lee in his first American film role, starring alongside Dolph Lundgren. Set in Los Angeles, California, two police officers attempt to take down a new and deadly Japanese drug gang. It is an action movie with sequences of martial arts.

Contents

[edit] Plot

Los Angeles cop Chris Kenner (Dolph Lundgren) is an American who was raised in Japan. He is given a new partner, Johnny Murata (Brandon Lee), a Japanese man who was raised in America.

The two were made for each other — Kenner doesn't appreciate American culture, while Johnny doesn't much like Japanese culture. One thing they both enjoy are the martial arts, of which they are both experts.

The two are assigned to L. A.'s Little Tokyo, where they break up some criminal activity in a Japanese restaurant, and an arrest is made.

While Kenner and Johnny are questioning the suspect, Kenner loses his temper and rips the suspect's shirt, and the tattoos that Kenner sees on the suspect remind Kenner of when he was 9-years-old, a time when he witnessed his parents getting killed by a member of the Yakuza (organized crime in Japan). The tattoos are the trademark of the Yakuza's Iron Claw clan. However, before Kenner or Murata can get any information out of the suspect, he kills himself in the interrogation room by breaking his own neck.

On the other side of town, the leader of the Yakuza Iron Claw clan, Yoshida (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa), kills the owner of a popular downtown nightclub called the Bansai Club by crushing the owner, Tanaka (Philip Tan), in a car compactor.

To celebrate "gaining" ownership of the Bansai Club, Yoshida throws a party at his house with all of the club staff.

One of the girls at the party, named Angel (Renee Griffin) is revealed to have warned Tanaka about Yoshida behind his back, and this infuriates Yoshida. Yoshida questions Angel about her loyalty, and she attempts to appease Yoshida by offering her body to him. Yoshida then drugs Angel and strips off her clothes, and then fondles her from behind before beheading her.

Yoshida (Tagawa) with Angel (Griffin) fondling her before beheading her.
Yoshida (Tagawa) with Angel (Griffin) fondling her before beheading her.

When the coroner runs an analysis on Angel's body, it is revealed that she had a large amount of methamphetamines in her system (induced by Yoshida) which would've lead to her death anyway. This discovery of drugs, together with the suspect having Yakuza tattoos, cause Kenner and Johnny to go to the Bansai Club in search of information. There they meet lounge singer Minako Okeya (Tia Carrere), who was a good friend of Angel's. Before they can get any useful information out of her, they are ambushed and taken to see the nightclub's owner -- and Kenner recognizes the owner Yoshida as the man who killed his parents. Yoshida is now a drug manufacturer using a local brewery as his distribution center.

Kenner and Johnny escape from the nightclub. Later that night, Yoshida rapes and kidnaps Minako and vows to kill Kenner.

Kenner and Johnny set out for Yoshida's heavily guarded home, where they rescue Minako.

His pride wounded, Yoshida sends his men out to get Minako back. He has Kenner and Johnny captured and tortured, but Kenner and Johnny manage to escape, and they take on Yoshida and his men in a battle to the death.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Goofs

  • When Dolph supposedly jumps over the car in the opening shoot-out, you can very clearly see the springboard used to propel him into the air.
  • The Yakuza who kills himself in the interrogation room can be seen later in the film when Yoshida is "interrogating" Angel.
  • When Angel walks up to Yoshida to take his shirt off, they're both a few feet away from the table. When Yoshida turns Angel around, they're both on the table's edge, despite not moving from their original spot.

[edit] Trivia

 Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines.
The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.
  • When complimented on his house, Dolph responds by saying "I built it."
  • Tia Carrere's nude scenes were performed by body double Tera Tabrizi.

[edit] External links