80's Movie Review: Black Rain (1989)
Вставка
- Опубліковано 2 жов 2024
- Michael Douglas makes it rain, babe, in one of the most unpredictable cop dramas ever made.
My Patreon page is live! Go to / michaelmercy
if you want to support the channel as well as receive rewards like early viewings of videos, choosing subjects for future reviews, sitting in on Cartoon Commentaries or being interviewed by yours truly for the channel!
Have more Mercy:
Twitter - / michaelmercy
Facebook - / michaelmercy
Armchair Directors - www.armchairdir...
Theme "Broke Down Automobile" & end theme "Charity Case" by seanpinchin.ca
Available on iTunes
One of my all time favourites, absolutely jewel with a masterful screenplay.
Thrilled you gave this one a thorough review. Grew up watching (and savoring the soundtrack) of Black Rain, it's a real gem from Ridley's heyday. The aesthetic and feel of Black Rain is partly what originally fueled my unending fascination with Japan. Cool to hear you enjoyed it.
Owned this on laser disk, hadn't seen it in years and just watched it again last night. It's crazy how many blade runner visual similarities I never noticed... lighting affected by fan blades and water, wet streets markets, neon and ads, the woman at the bank dressed like Rachel, Charlie's apartment looked like Deckard's and the Oyabun's mansion looked like Tyrell's
Yup, great companion piece to Blade Runner.
Great review. I grew up with this film and it is a yearly watch for me. Michael Douglas really went thru an arc with his character and it was great to see that it changed in the end for him. I was bummed when Andy Garcia got taken out but Ken "I do speak f'n English" Takakura was great. Sato was awesome as a villain and I was sad to hear about his passing after the film but he will always live on with this film. I tried growing my hair like Douglas as a kid after seeing it and I will never do that again.
Black Rain is my all time favourite Michael Douglas film and also my favourite Ridley Scott film, yes I put it above everything else he has directed, and my reason is simple, Black Rain has very deep characters and solid performances all around, Blade Runner had a great visual look but to me personally got a bit pretentious, Black Rain felt natural with its story telling and character dynamics and didn’t force excessive symbolism down our throats, and hans zimmers score for Black Rain is quite possibly the most moving and most ambitious score he has ever composed, it captured the east meets west Vibe perfectly.
Wonder how great Blade Runner would have been with Douglas as Deckard. Agreed about Black Rain, a true hidden gem.
An interesting thought, I think Douglas would've given a more intense performance, thank you for the reply :)
Just watched this movie last night. Definitely loved the Blade Runner vibes. 😁
I agree with pretty much everything here you said but man you really ripped into Michael Douglas's appearance lol. He was about 5 years away from the age of 50 here and for someone his height he stayed in relatively decent shape considering not all actors were taking performance enhancements and trying to be in the best shape ever back then. Now it's almost a prerequisite but back then time's were simpler. I think he looked good for his age in Black Rain where as in The Jewel of the Nile with all due respect he legitimately looked like he was on cocaine and a little too sucked up looking for someone his age. Just look at his eyes they were almost popping out of his skull on the pirate ship scene lol. I still had to give you a sub though since you made a 25 minute video discussing Black Rain and for that you are infinitely the man.
I watched this movie for the first time yesterday and it's pretty good. Not original. But a good action film. One thing I noticed and Oliver Harper pointed this out first is that Hans Zimmers(which the score is great!) score is great but there's a few times that sounds remarkably similar to his batman begins score
A very nice moviE!
Great review! Absolutely love this movie! 🙏👍
Thanks! :D
I really liked the atmosphere and visual side of this movie backed up with a great score.
As you mentioned it has a lot of call backs to Alien or Blade Runner.
Hoever I found the script bit frustrating.
I could forgive some stupid plot moments if the movie's flow was better, but it drags at times.
Also I could forgive that movie drags, if the script and dialogue was more tight.
But in my opinion the flick has issues with both things.
I think the first idiotic moment (fake Japanese cops) was not as ignorant towards the audience as you described it.
I think writter thought it will be a fun, comedic moment.
But I agree 100% that everything which led to Charlie's death was stupid as hell, and the moving and dramatic potential of his death scene (Nick who couldn't help him) was wasted.
Do you like Scream movies? Have you seen Scream 2?
There is a similar scene between Gale and Dewey in a soundproof room, and it is executed right.
Also I didn't like how they ended the final fight between Nick and Sato.
Nick is winning, there is that stake behind Sato, Sato looks back, sees the spike, the audience now has to think "is Nick going to be the killer now?", and than cut, happy ending at the cops' station.
That felt rushed :)
Anway, I enjoyed this movie, it was good.
Cheers man.
Would you consider reviewing Cop Land next?
Or since you don't particularly like Douglas' business roles, "The Game"?
Not really the type of movie I'd do a review for on here. Maybe someday on Armchair Directors though.
I saw The Game a long time ago and don't remember anything about it. :D Again, since it's not an 80's movie, I probably won't be talking about it here. Maybe on AD someday.
Michael Mercy ok cool