First of all, I'm not a film snob. I love ridiculous action movies and I enjoy a good 80s cop movie. And yes, there is always some sexism and cultural insensitivity inherent in any older movie - it comes with the territory. Usually I just look past it or ignore it or laugh it off. But less than 30 minutes into this movie, I'm wondering why the h-e-double-hockey-sticks haven't the Japanese police force kicked those two stupid American cops out of their country!
Michael Douglas plays Nick, a thoroughly unlikeable New York detective with no apparent redeeming qualities. The film presents him as the troubled hero, with children and an ex wife and bills to pay and those pesky Internal Affairs cops dogging his steps. And yeah, he might be a little dirty but hey, he's just like you and me, right? Ha. If he has any good qualities, you forget about them as soon as he opens his mouth. He hardly says a word in this movie to friend or foe that isn't some kind of abuse, showing off his "tough guy" attitude, his "I'm a badass American cop, watch how manly and rough I am" persona. He spouts so much abuse at any character that crosses his path, I was really hoping he would get killed off. But nope! No such luck!
He and his younger, much more likable (but still kind of a jerk) partner Charlie escort Japanese criminal Sato back to Japan where they unwittingly allow him to escape. Whoops. Then they proceed to bluster their way through the local police department, insulting their hardworking counterparts left and right and generally making a nuisance of themselves. (Lots of manly posturing and whining and "hey, we're cops too, let us play...even though we don't know any of your laws, procedures, customs, language, etc...whatever, we're still better cops than you!) They mock their Japanese hosts at every opportunity and get all upset when they don't receive respect in return. They even steal evidence from a crime scene and expect to be THANKED for it.
Then Charlie, who was at least trying to be polite and friendly to the local PD, gets freaking decapitated and we're left with only Giant A-Hole Nick. Oh joy. Supposedly all of this murder and mayhem results in some kind of redemption for Nick, but by the time it happens I just couldn't care less about the man.
I've seen a lot of East Meets West movies, a lot of cop movies, a lot of action movies...but very few of them had me rooting AGAINST the main character from the very first scene. The only thing that saved this movie from being a complete wash was the cinematography and the great atmosphere. Very cool. Unfortunately, not enough to distract from how much I just hated Nick and everything he said or did. Which was, alas, most of the movie.
Michael Douglas plays Nick, a thoroughly unlikeable New York detective with no apparent redeeming qualities. The film presents him as the troubled hero, with children and an ex wife and bills to pay and those pesky Internal Affairs cops dogging his steps. And yeah, he might be a little dirty but hey, he's just like you and me, right? Ha. If he has any good qualities, you forget about them as soon as he opens his mouth. He hardly says a word in this movie to friend or foe that isn't some kind of abuse, showing off his "tough guy" attitude, his "I'm a badass American cop, watch how manly and rough I am" persona. He spouts so much abuse at any character that crosses his path, I was really hoping he would get killed off. But nope! No such luck!
He and his younger, much more likable (but still kind of a jerk) partner Charlie escort Japanese criminal Sato back to Japan where they unwittingly allow him to escape. Whoops. Then they proceed to bluster their way through the local police department, insulting their hardworking counterparts left and right and generally making a nuisance of themselves. (Lots of manly posturing and whining and "hey, we're cops too, let us play...even though we don't know any of your laws, procedures, customs, language, etc...whatever, we're still better cops than you!) They mock their Japanese hosts at every opportunity and get all upset when they don't receive respect in return. They even steal evidence from a crime scene and expect to be THANKED for it.
Then Charlie, who was at least trying to be polite and friendly to the local PD, gets freaking decapitated and we're left with only Giant A-Hole Nick. Oh joy. Supposedly all of this murder and mayhem results in some kind of redemption for Nick, but by the time it happens I just couldn't care less about the man.
I've seen a lot of East Meets West movies, a lot of cop movies, a lot of action movies...but very few of them had me rooting AGAINST the main character from the very first scene. The only thing that saved this movie from being a complete wash was the cinematography and the great atmosphere. Very cool. Unfortunately, not enough to distract from how much I just hated Nick and everything he said or did. Which was, alas, most of the movie.