Tagline: One’s a warrior. One’s a wise guy. They’re two
Curiosity: Like I said in my Punisher post, I love Dolph Lundgren.
Plot: Police veteran Chris Kenner (Lundy) has to figure out how to get along with his new partner, Johnny Murata (Brandon Lee). See, Murata is kind of a smart ass. Plus, the Yakuza, headed by Funekei Yoshida (Motha-effin’ Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa) are trying to kill him. Which makes protecting Minako Okeya (Tia Carrere), a key witness to the crime syndicate’s dirty work, difficult. Also, Yoshida totally killed
Thoughts: While his career started to cool down in the ’90s, I would still definitely love to be Dolph Lundgren. Yeah, I love his B-movies, but did you know that he has a master’s degree in chemical engineering? And that he holds a third degree black belt in karate? He won the European Buttwhoopin’ championships in 1980 and 1981. Dude even helped organize the 1996 Olympics! He is perhaps the perfect man.
Anyway, back to the film. It’s a little low budget, and the fight scenes are a little short for my taste. But, man, what a cast. You get Lundgren at his Lundiest – love that voice, and he looks wicked jacked here. And he actually knows karate! So cool! Lundy’s moves aren’t as flashy as Lee’s, but his economy of movement lends an air of believability, especially in this early scene where he takes on gang members whilst enjoying a cup of green tea (fast forward about seven minutes):
A pre-Crow Lee holds his own as well, though his character doesn’t get nearly enough screen time. Still, he gets the best one-liners. The film has a gag throughout about how the Miranda Rights don’t really matter (This is the LAPD after all). After Lundy and Lee give up on trying to compile evidence to take down the Yakuza in court and just focus on killing the bad guys, Lee gets in a mighty fine/awful zinger before blowing a villain up – “You have the right to be dead.” Watching Showdown just reminded me how much potential the guy had as an actor.
I really think Tagawa’s capacity as a villain depends solely on his ability to scrunch up his face:
That guy looks like he smells doggie doo at every turn.
As for Carerre, she plays the most well-adjusted rape victim I have ever seen.
Director Mark Lester (Commando) delivers a pretty good knockaround flick overall. At 79 minutes, Showdown doesn’t waste time on exposition or pesky character development. I could do without all the fake books, though. Thems be scarier than Tagawa on a bad day.
Reflection: The death scenes are ridiculous. Lundgren is a large man.
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