This week in the A-to-Z Part Deux challenge we’ve got the letter “S” and Susan V. Kalinowski (Hairstylist). The movie that Susan worked on that we’re looking at today takes us from New York City all the way to Japan. That movie is…Black Rain (1989).
Title: Black Rain
Director: Ridley Scott
Released: September 22, 1989
Runtime: 2 hours 5 minutes
Available to stream on: MGM+ and Paramount+
Nick Conklin (Michael Douglas) is an NYPD detective who is having a rough go of things. He’s behind on his alimony payments and is under the microscope of Internal Affairs. IA believes that Conklin and his former partner had sticky fingers during a drug bust where all of the money wasn’t accounted for.
Nick is out for a bite to eat with his new partner, Charlie Vincent (Andy Garcia), when they witness a Yakuza by the name of Koji Sato (Yûsaku Matsuda) walk in. After a few words with the Japanese men at a table, Sato kills them, takes a package, and takes off into the streets of New York.
Nick and Charlie are in hot pursuit and eventually apprehend Sato. While they’d both like to see Sato convicted and serve time in a United States prison before going back to Japan, unfortunately, that’s not what they get. Instead, they are to escort Sato back to Osaka, Japan by order of the Japanese Embassy.
Once they arrive in Japan, they are met by the local authorities who have Nick sign some paperwork before they take Sato into custody. Moments later, more local authorities come onboard the plane looking to take Sato into custody. Turns out that the first group weren’t police at all, they were Yakuza. That paperwork that Nick signed to turn over Sato, yeah that was nothing more than a bogus insurance policy.
Determined to bring Sato to justice, Nick and Charlie are paired with local Inspector Masahiro Matsumoto (Ken Takakura) and given strict instruction that they are there to observe, nothing more. Charlie seems to understand that while in Japan, he has to play by their rules. Nick, on the other hand, isn’t so quick to agree. Matsumoto does his best to try and get Nick to understand that his vigilante ways won’t get him far while he’s here. If he wants to see Sato brought to justice, Nick will have to play by the rules.
Can Charlie keep Nick out of too much trouble?
Will Nick fall in-line in order to bring down Sato?
Regardless, just be sure you watch your tail, cowboy.
Prior to this viewing, I had seen the title card for Black Rain (1989) when browsing but didn’t know anything about it. Honestly, I didn’t even know it was a Ridley Scott film. So, I was excited to be able to correct a Ridley Scott blind spot.
Yes, the argument could be made that Black Rain (1989) is just another ’80s buddy cop movie. I, for one, found it to be more enjoyable than most of the buddy cop offerings of the ’80s.
A big part of my enjoyment stemmed from the way that Director of Photography Jan de Bont shot this. It is vibrant in parts, uses darkness and shadows to its advantage in others, and has a gritty almost neo-noir feel to it throughout.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t buying Michael Douglas as Nick Conklin. It felt as though he was trying too hard to be the “plays by his own rules” NYPD cop. There wasn’t a natural feel to the way Conklin was portrayed and I don’t think that Douglas was the right person for that role.
Meanwhile, Andy Garcia stole the show for me. I found his portrayal as the lighthearted Charlie Vincent highly enjoyable. He provides the right amount of comic relief all while trying to get Nick and Masahiro to see eye-to-eye.
The action sequences, while nothing to write home about, serve their purpose and are still fun. We get a Hans Zimmer score that doesn’t heavily rely on percussion. And overall, Black Rain (1989) is a fun gem of an ’80s action flick that I don’t hear discussed enough.
By no means am I saying that you need to drop what you’re doing to run and go watch it. But the next time you aren’t sure what to watch, fire up Black Rain (1989).
Sometimes, you just got to go for it.
Well, those are my thoughts on Black Rain (1989), but what are yours? Let me hear what you thought of it in the comments below or on social media!
You can stay up to date on what else I’m watching by following my Letterboxd.
Next week we’ll have the letter “T”. Keep an eye on Bluesky, Threads, and Instagram this Wednesday to see who the crew member is and what movie of theirs we’ll be reviewing.