Black Rain (1989)
Directed by Ridley Scott
Two New York cops get involved in a gang war between members of the Yakuza, the Japanese Mafia. They arrest one of their killers and are ordered to escort him back to Japan. However, in Japan he manages to escape, and as they try to track him down, they get deeper and deeper into the Japanese Mafia scene and they have to learn that they can only win by playing the game—the Japanese way.
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What critics compared Black Rain to
Chung-hoon Chung’s ( Oldboy ) neon-lit cinematography is reminiscent of Ridley Scott’s neo-noir output of the 1980s, most notably Someone to Watch Over Me and Black Rain , while production designer Marcus Rowland ( Rocketman ) melds past a present with mesmeric precision.
Aside from the slinky, skin-shedding Viper and the Iron Manga-look Silver Samurai, this takes place in a world closer to Sidney Pollack’s The Yakuza , John Frankenheimer’s The Challenge or Ridley Scott’s Black Rain (all of which feature Western tough guys confused by Japanese criminal society) than any of the other Marvel movie properties.
For a reboot, Robin Hood is distressingly like an elderly hew along the status quo--the same complaint levied with currency over every other staid, inert Scott flick from 1492 to Matchstick Men to G.I Jane to Black Rain to Body of Lies .
This film has no idea what it is or who it has been made for, and unlike previous Scott misfires like A Good Year , White Squall or Black Rain theres not a single redeeming moment that makes the dullness of the rest even slightly worthwhile.
It’s odd that people ask that question only now, more than twenty years after the dreadful Legend and comically-bad Black Rain.
“Thelma & Louise” was directed by Ridley Scott , from Britain, whose previous credits (“ Blade Runner ,” “Black Rain,” “ Legend ”) show complete technical mastery but are sometimes not very interested in psychological questions.
Written with great wit by first-time screenwriter Callie Khouri and directed as a change of pace by stylist Ridley Scott ("Alien," "Blade Runner," "Black Rain"), "Thelma & Louise" could have been a man-hating feminist thriller, a violent female variation on themes from any number of road movies that have been made about men.
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Director Ridley Scott - in his second stab at the gangster movie following the 1989 Yakuza based Black Rain - takes Steve Zaillian's rich, character driven screenplay, and weaves all of its elements very well.
He�s a stylist who happens to have lucked into a few classics without ruining them � Alien, Blade Runner, Thelma & Louise � but whose portfolio is wildly uneven (have those who call him a genius ever seen Black Rain or G.I. Jane?).
Adapting Crichton's best selling novel, screenwriters William Wisher ("Terminator 2: Judgement Day," "Judge Dredd") and Warren Lewis ("Black Rain") don't offer much in the way of a substantial plot, character development or some much needed comic relief.
Crichton also penned the novel Eaters Of The Dead, on which the film is based, but again sought aid on the final text from scriptwriters William Wisher (Terminator 2) and Warren Lewis (Black Rain).
He's the man who made "Alien," "Blade Runner," "Black Rain" "Thelma & Louise" and, of course, "Gladiator."
But he's also directed a series of clunkers ranging from simply unmemorable to so awful that Alan Smithee would hang his head: 1492: Conquest of Paradise, Black Rain, G.I. Jane, Legend, Someone to Watch Over Me, and White Squall.