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Black Rain [DVD] [1990]
 
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Black Rain [DVD] [1990]

DVD ~ Michael Douglas
4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
RRP: £12.99
Price: £2.98 & eligible for Free UK delivery on orders over £5 with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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Customers buy this item with Rising Sun [DVD] [1993] DVD ~ Sean Connery

Black Rain [DVD] [1990] + Rising Sun [DVD] [1993]
Price For Both: £7.86

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  • This item: Black Rain [DVD] [1990] DVD ~ Michael Douglas

    In stock.
    Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
    Eligible for FREE UK delivery on orders over £5 with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions

  • Rising Sun [DVD] [1993] DVD ~ Sean Connery

    In stock.
    Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
    Eligible for FREE UK delivery on orders over £5 with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions

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Black Rain [DVD] [1990]
95% buy the item featured on this page:
Black Rain [DVD] [1990] 4.0 out of 5 stars (7)
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Product details

  • Actors: Michael Douglas, Andy Garcia, Ken Takakura, Kate Capshaw, Yusaku Matsuda
  • Directors: Ridley Scott
  • Writers: Craig Bolotin, Warren Lewis
  • Producers: Alan Poul, Craig Bolotin, Julie Kirkham, Sherry Lansing, Stanley R. Jaffe
  • Format: PAL, Widescreen
  • Language English, Japanese
  • Region: Region 2 (This DVD may not be viewable outside Europe. Read more about DVD formats.)
  • Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
  • Number of discs: 1
  • Classification: 18
  • Studio: Paramount Home Entertainment
  • DVD Release Date: 4 Sep 2000
  • Run Time: 120 minutes
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
  • ASIN: B00004UEXM
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 3,701 in DVD (See Bestsellers in DVD)

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Reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review
A guilty pleasure if ever there was one, Black Rain is a ridiculously entertaining thriller by Ridley Scott (Alien), starring Michael Douglas as a tough New York cop who--along with his partner (Andy Garcia)--goes to Japan to deliver a local mobster. When the latter escapes, Douglas's brand of gonzo crime fighting rubs his Japanese hosts the wrong way. Slick, mechanistic, and absurd, the film is all surface action and attitude (not to mention Scott's incredibly busy, trademark art direction); and one can get lost in the sheer indulgence of it. However, if you can buy Douglas as an iconoclastic lawman, you can buy anything else here, including the notion of Kate Capshaw as a blonde escort highly desired by Japanese businessmen. -- Tom Keogh, Amazon.com

Special Features
2.35 Wide Screen
English
Region 2


See all Reviews

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Customer Reviews

7 Reviews
5 star:
 (3)
4 star:
 (2)
3 star:
 (1)
2 star:
 (1)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.0 out of 5 stars (7 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars An old favorite, 24 Sep 2004
By C. J. Husing "fact275" (California United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
I was just starting my Senior year of high school when Black Rain was released. My high school friends were huge fans of Ridley Scott, solely based on his direction of Blade Runner, and they were also fans of the cyberpunk genre which Scott had furthered in that film. Of course, we all had interests in Japanese-American relations (I would go onto to study that in university) and the sordid world of the Yakuza.

Black Rain is a product of its time. In the 1980s, there was a not-so-latent fear in America that its superpower position was being eroded by the rise of Japan's economy. Black Rain plays on those fears as well as the culture clash between two nations that are more similar and more historically tied together than either would like to admit.

The movie is not subtle: in the opening scene, NYPD detective Nick Conklin on his Harley races a young upstart on a Kawasaki. We learn that Nick is under investigation by Internal Affairs for association with crooked cops. Nick represents that world weary American willing to cut corners to get the job done. His partner, Charlie, is young and idealistic--the flip side of the stereotyped American character. However, when both capture a Yakuza upstart named Sato after he perpetrates a vicious murder in New York, both detectives have to escort him back to Osaka, an alien place neither American can understand or function in effectively.

Scott, at this time, was still in love with the cyberpunk visuals of Blade Runner. Osaka is first shown in red and dark hues with black smoke rising from industrial plants. Outside on the street, it's often dark or wet. Bright lights from the city center shine.

I am not giving any secrets away by telling you that Sato of course escapes and Nick and Charlie have to track him down. They are assisted by Assistant Inspector Masahiro Matsumoto of the Osaka Prefectural Police. Again, I tell you nothing you could not have figured out on your own to learn that the movie will soon center on Nick and Masahiro. Nick, the rugged American individualist willing to cut corners, confronts the duty-bound Matsumoto, who is afraid of ostracision from the group.

Though the plot can be formulaic, and fears about Japan now replaced by fears of the Islamic world, Black Rain is still an enjoyable enough police action movie. This is largely due to solid performances by Michael Douglas as Nick, Andy Garcia as Charlie, and Ken Takakura as Matsumoto. The one downside is Kate Capshaw as Joyce. Though the film won't go right out and say it, Joyce is an American madam in an Osaka club--highly unlikely in itself--who comes to Nick's aid. Perhaps she was supposed to be his love interest but the film veers away from this. American critic Roger Ebert said it best when he said her presence was another example of Hollywood being reluctant to pair a White leading man with an Asian female character. At any rate, her involvement doesn't detract from the overall story. The soundtrack, which my friend used to play ALL the time, is pretty darn good too.

In reality, a 3 star film, but I'm giving a bonus star for nostalgia's sake.

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3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Superb!!!, 24 Nov 2000
By dworczyk@polbox.com (Warsaw, Poland) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Black Rain [VHS] [1990] (VHS Tape)
Real masterpiece! Especially MR. D. and Garcia with his early spanish accent! Superb photo-work and Zimmer music. SEE IT
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0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Cheese, 22 Feb 2009
By Brendan O. Clarke "brendoclarke" (Edinburgh) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
A Tony Scott movie? Shafts of light through rotating fans and blinds; neon lights in a dripping wet environment; and steam through manholes.
No, I stand corrected. This is a Ridley Scott movie. We are missing the Tony Scott signatures here - close ups (disconnected succession of them) frequently shot through a light mist (it may be tobacco smoke) with blowing muslin draperies.

Anyhoo, Black Rain refers visually to Scott's earlier incarnation Blade Runner. Michael Douglas is in his typical 80s tough guy stance in this one, but has a great counterfoil in his Japanese co-stars - good cop Ken Takakura and villain Yusaka Matsuda - along with a few other dour Yakuza actors. Andy Garcia still looks fresh as the sidekick. All give great performances, so while the film is hackneyed in its own way - Black Rain is certainly watchable and rises convincingly above potential cliches by characterising the Japanese in a more well rounded way (- a rarity these days with Asian bad guys).

Black Rain suffers from some outrageous 80s power ballading and serenading on the soundtrack ("You're so bright you could be a candle/Hold you so tight you could be a handle/Smell so sweet you could be perfume/Swept me off your feet like you were a broom"). But if you lower expectations and aren't looking for anything too demanding it fills the spot and is certainly better than most of Scott's troubled post-Blade Runner, pre-Gladiator films. Dont forget to check out the Michael Douglas hair-style. Was he trying to out mullet Mel Gibson's Lethal Weapon?


5/10.
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Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars 5.0/10- average American 80s cop movie
Mediocre 80s actio movie whereby Michael Douglass goes head2head with a Yakuza gang boss... from the heart of New York to the suburbs of Tokyo... follow one man's quest... Read more
Published 15 months ago by David Mills

4.0 out of 5 stars Cops and Yakuza
Ridley Scott's Black Rain is a lavishly mounted but rather hollow affair, transporting all the usual cop movie clichés from New York to Japan: New York cops are mavericks who... Read more
Published 20 months ago by Trevor Willsmer

5.0 out of 5 stars Osaka's Burning
Now this one hell of a good movie. I first saw this for a brief moment, the obvious scene with Garcia, when i was about ten. Read more
Published 20 months ago by Jackie Jack-Jack

5.0 out of 5 stars a excellent action film
If you want to see a non stop action film, then this is a film you have to see, it has everything in it that a good film needs and the two main stars are good together and... Read more
Published on 16 Jun 2005 by stublac

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