Product Description

A raised-in-japan supercop kicks into high gear when the mobsters who killed his parents make a play for power. Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 02/03/2004 Starring: Dolph Lundgren Brandon Lee Run time: 78 minutes Rating: R Director: Mark L. Lester

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #44181 in DVD
• Brand: Warner Brothers
• Released on: 1998-11-10
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 79 minutes

Amazon.com
Showdown in Little Tokyo is a 1991 martial arts action-comedy that, in pitting Dolph Lundgren and Brandon Lee as L.A. cops against Japanese drug dealers, plays like a B-movie Tango and Cash or Lethal Weapon 2 (both released just two years before). Between career highs in Rocky IV (1985) and Universal Soldier (1992), Lundgren looked as if he might make it big at the box office, and clearly wanting to be the new Schwarzenegger he is here directed by Mark L Lester, who had earlier helmed Ah-nold's Commando (1985). In the event both actor and director headed for straight-to-video territory, while Lee (Bruce's son) went on to The Crow. The 75-minute running time suggests the studio lost confidence and seriously cut the movie though, as the space between the action is filled with nothing but cringe-inducing dialogue, thriller clichés, and Lundgren "romancing" Tia Carrere, it still makes sense. Basing its title on John Carpenter's 1986 fantasy-comedy Big Trouble in Little China and anticipating Rush Hour (1998), Showdown in Little Tokyo alternates between crude tongue-in-cheek moments and action so ludicrous it's unintentionally hilarious . A camp disaster that simply defies belief, this is so-bad-it's-good entertainment. --Gary S. Dalkin

Customer Reviews

Guilty Pleasure is Written all over this
There is a Reason Dolph Lundgren has been around and it's not because of his incredible acting skills. The reason is that he is one of the icons of cheesy action films. So when you get an action comedy such as this it makes for a fun little trip for an hour and a half.

The story here is that Dolph Lundgren is police officer on the trail of the iron claw, a group of yakuza run by a man who murdered his parents when he was a child. He teams up with a wise cracking Brandon Lee and together along with a sexy Tia Carrea they take down the Sinister Drug Lord.

What makes the movie funny is that Dolph Lundgrens character is an america who is totally into the Japanese way of the Samurai while Brandon Lee grew up an American Mall Rat and is a fish out of water at some of the places that they go to search for these criminals.

Overall this is a simple early 90's action film that appeals to those who like to spend an afternoon hooting and hollering at bad guys getting their @$$ handed to them as well as the usual gratiouse nudity and one liner moments. Leathel Weapon this is not but for a good low price, you can't go wrong.

Before The Crow, He was a Cop
This film here was the first Brandon Lee American movie. He had done some limited TV spots and a film in Hong Kong prior to Showdown in Little Tokyo though. For a low-budget film, it's sure to keep both Lee and Lundgren fans enthralled. The fight scenes are well choreographed, and the banter between Lee and Lundgren adds some humor as well. Watching Lee's budding talent, it makes you wonder what would have been had he not died on the set of The Crow. Don't expect the quality of The Crow here, but Showdown in Little Tokyo is definitely worth picking up. It would have been nice if the DVD was offered in widescreen, and if some extras had been thrown in, but the film alone is worth the price of admission.

"I just want you to know you have the biggest........"
Where do I begin? This movie is so god-awful that I LOVE it. From the blank stares on Dolph Lungrens face to the act of seppuku, action films do not get much more intense than this. The first scene says it all: Dolph, AKA "Kener" swings into a fight club on a rope with the same expressionless face he wears throughout the entire movie, takes on two bad guys and puts everyone under arrest, sort of. Then we meet his sidekick, Brandon Lee, at a restaurant after "Kener" practically destroys it with human bodies that he throws around like rag dolls. Brandon Lee and "Kener" don't like each other at first but upon listening to Kener's tragic story about how his parents were killed Lee joins Kener in a mindless game of revenge because he really "likes him". Well guess what? I like Dolph too, er I mean "Kener". He doesn't need backup, he doesn't even need a partner but we soon find out that he did need one and that's the moral of the story: We all need someone to help kill bad Japanese druglords to avenge the deaths of our loved ones.