Rapid Fire (1992)

Rapid Fire (1992)- * * *1\2

Directed by: Dwight H. Little

Starring: Brandon Lee, Powers Boothe, Nick Mancuso, Raymond J. Barry, and Al Leong



 "Unarmed and Extremely Dangerous..."







Jake Lo (Lee) is a sensitive art student who exorcises his demons from his father dying in the Tiananmen Square massacre by drawing nude women with imaginary dragons floating behind them. All seems well for Jake until he witnesses arch-baddie Antonio Serrano (Mancuso) killing some of his rivals at an art opening. Soon, the Italian mob and the Chinese triads are both after Jake's head. 

Thankfully, with the same hands he uses to paint and draw, he can also use to pain and draw blood from the baddies! When he's shipped temporarily from his native L.A. to Chicago to help badass cop Mace Ryan (Boothe) fight the drug lords, at first he's reluctant, but, Lo and behold, he eventually throws himself into the role of hero. Will Jake Lo come out of this mob war alive? Find out today!

Rapid Fire is classic 90's-style action all the way, and thank God. It's movies like this that keep us energized and coming back for more. The more Rapid Fire-like movies we see, the more we grow to despise the quick-cut/CGI garbage being churned out today. This is all Lee, baby! 

His fight scene with Al Leong is a killer, as are Lee's other beat-em-up scenes, which feature awesome stuntwork and ace Martial Arts. Looking at the credits, a veritable town of people worked as the stunt crew, and as far as we can tell, they all acquitted themselves admirably. The whole outing has a glossy, theater-quality look and feel that reminds you of the good old days when winners of action movies like this came to the theater, were big hits on video and cable, and leave you wanting more. So many movies are agonizing slogs - with Rapid Fire, the time melts away. Why can't it be the other way around? Why can't it be that movies you enjoy seem to last a long time and the bad ones go quickly? Ah well, such is life.

It even starts with an old-school opening that they just don't do anymore. It's the main hero, in this case Brandon Lee, executing his moves against a black screen, in an independently-shot sequence that has nothing to do with the plot, it's just a cool visual exercise to get us ready for the proceedings. 

It has a perfectly simple plot that never flags, and the humble charm of Brandon Lee carries a lot of what we see, and he's counterbalanced by the grizzled Powers Boothe as the awesomely-named Mace Ryan. You'd think a Chicago cop named Mace Ryan would be worthy of his own movie. Sadly, it never materialized. But in a weird coincidence, Boothe co-stars with Raymond J. Barry, and the two were both in Sudden Death (1995) together. It truly is a small action movie world.

Brandon Lee, as Jake, is a classic 90's coolguy: with his motorcycle and leather jacket/vest, we called him Mr. Awesome throughout most of the film. Nick Mancuso is always great, and he plays the stark-raving baddie with aplomb, executing some classic lighthearted racism you just can't do anymore. 

Add some time-honored sax on the soundtrack, as well as some songs by the band Hardline (they get TWO songs, one of which appears in the trailer. You'd think this dedication to Hardline would have given them better visibility, even back then), and you have an unqualified winner. Director Little also did Getting Even (1986) of 'Tag Taggar' fame. Too bad he didn't do more movies like these. But we should be happy with what we have. And Rapid Fire has become a staple movie from the golden age of modern-day action. Now that it's available as an inexpensive DVD, there's no excuse not to own it.

Comeuppance Review by: Ty and Brett 

Showdown In Little Tokyo (1991)

Showdown In Little Tokyo (1991)-* * * *

Directed by: Mark L. Lester

Starring: Dolph Lundgren, Brandon Lee, Tia Carrere, Renee Allman, Simon Rhee, and Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa

Kenner (Lundgren) is a cool L.A. cop working the Little Tokyo district of town. He grew up in Japan and is familiar with its culture. When he was a kid, his parents were killed by a member of the Iron Claw gang, Yoshida (Tagawa). Now that the Iron Claw is in America and ready to step up their criminal empire using a brewery as a front to distribute the drug Ice (more deadly than “Rock”, so we’re told), it’s up to Kenner and his enthusiastic new partner Johnny Murata (Lee) to stop them. Also Tia Carrere is on hand as  Minako, a performer in an Iron Claw-controlled club that Kenner wins over, as is Death Match’s (1994) Renee Allman in a small role as Minako’s friend.

What we have here is classic Dolph from start to finish. Which, incidentally, doesn’t take very long, as the movie is 78 fast-paced minutes, and that includes the opening and closing credits, so it’s probably closer to 70 minutes or so. But in that brief time, we’re treated to nonstop action and all the other trademarks of movies like this - constant wisecracks and one-liners, the obligatory torture and training sequences, flashbacks, fight scenes, nudity, blow-ups and the like. It distills the action movie down to its barest elements and is incredibly entertaining and fun for doing so. This is a film that knows its audience.

Showdown in Little Tokyo is incredibly juvenile, but in the best possible way. It seems like the movie was written by a team of middle school-aged boys who simply wanted to get their adolescent fantasies on the screen. Just bring on the action and girls and let subtleties, complexities or consequences be damned. You gotta love it. We should all be glad the parents never came home while they were making this movie. It would be far less of a gem. 

Dolph has a great entrance too. He swoops in on a rope and interrupts a punchfighting match! As he and  Johnny are members of the “Asian Task Force”, they are able to bond through that. They start off as “the original odd couple” - Kenner speaks fluent Japanese, lives in a Japanese-style house he “built himself” and knows everything about their culture, and he’s the whitest thing on the planet since Wonder Bread. Johnny Murata is supposed to be Japanese, but was raised in America and knows nothing about his own culture. As you can tell, I’m reaching to find some subtext here (!) But it is interesting how the Yakuza gangs all love big, classic American cars. Oh, and Tagawa plays yet another heavy, and he and Dolph would square off again eight years later for Bridge of Dragons (1999).

It’s silly, it has humor, most of the characters wear big, loud, colorful suits, and it’s all supported by a rockin’ electric guitar score. It’s hard to imagine another movie that asks so little of you and your time, yet delivers so much. Everyone should own a copy of Showdown in Little Tokyo, and the world would be a better place if action movie makers followed its example.

Comeuppance Review by: Ty and Brett

Laser Mission (1989)

Laser Mission (1989)-* * *

Directed by: BJ Davis

Starring: Brandon Lee, Ernest Borgnine, Debi Monahan, Graham Clarke, and Werner Pochath


























Look at the above picture: Ernest Borgnine is IN the diamond. End of plot synopsis.

This laughably and lovably inept movie is just out and out silly - so take that as a solid recommendation. One of our readers, Gap, suggested we review this movie, and we always try to listen to our followers. Brandon Lee is charming as the CIA agent/mercenary who is a master of disguise named Michael Gold. There is a 526-carat diamond at stake called the Verbeek (?) diamond which will enable whoever gets it to build a powerful laser to take over the world. Naturally many bad guys are after him as he tries to rescue  Professor Braun (Borgnine) who has been kidnapped. His journey takes him from Cuba to the Namibian desert, with Braun’s daughter Alissa (Monahan) in tow.

There are inane action sequences involving shooting, blow-ups, guard tower falls, evil Germans, fruit cart chases and many other cliches, all done in what seems to be an unintentional cartoonish style. The “help the daughter find the kidnapped father” is a very American Ninja-style plot, and Ernest Borgnine’s accent comes and goes. The unnamed song, which repeats many times throughout the film (plus all the nonsensical goofiness) reminded us of White Fire (1984). The song is musically very reminiscent of “There’s No Easy Way Out” and the singer sounds drunk. Apparently it was done by David Knopfler, and his husky, amazingly slurred singing makes Bob Dylan seem like someone with perfect diction.

Laser Mission was done in the golden year of 1989. It was directed by BJ Davis, who has a long history in the stunt world. It has since fallen into the public domain and thus can be found in gas stations all over the world for about a dollar. If you see it, we strongly suggest you pick it up, as it is well worth that meager investment. Sure, the quality is blurry (even the SOUND is blurry) but it will provide entertainment and laughs. And isn’t that what movies are all about?

Laser Mission is a silly great time. We’d love to find more movies like this.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

Legacy of Rage (1986)

Legacy of Rage (1986)-* * *

Directed by: Ronny Yu

Starring: Brandon Lee and Bolo Yeung











Legacy of Rage is an entertaining and interesting hybrid action/drama/prison movie and a personal favorite genre, revenge movie.

Brandon Lee plays Brandon Ma, a mild-mannered (that is, unless you push him too far) waiter with a loving and devoted girlfriend, May (Regina Kent). When Brandon's "friend" Michael, who is a gangster rising in the ranks, frames Brandon for manslaughter and sends him to jail for eight years, he thinks he can get in good with May (by attempting to rape her while she's pregnant, a great plan). In an intriguing plot development, while Brandon is in jail, May forges a relationship with an older gentleman who just wants "a companion" and offers to take her to Brazil.

Meanwhile, Brandon is rotting away, seething, in prison. He develops a friendship with an arms dealer named Hoi (Hoi Mang), nicknamed "Four Eyes" in the joint because he wears glasses. Even after Brandon gets out of a hard stretch in prison, Michael still makes Brandon's life a living hell.

Finally, enough is enough, and after a whole movie of a nice guy being stepped on over and over again, Brandon reconnects with Hoi and his huge stash of weaponry, and they go together on a violence-packed, kick-ass revenge mission against Michael's gang. Will Brandon get justice? Will he reunite with May? Will he be able to have a relationship with his estranged son?

Interestingly, the movie, at least in the English-speaking world, is called LEGACY of rage, obviously trying to link Brandon with his legendary father Bruce, as if that was really needed. Maybe it was just a marketing thing. But there IS plenty of rage! "Legacy of Rage" definitely delivers the goods. It has a good story, is well-filmed, has great action, brutal violence, a satisfying ending, and is all handled well, with energy, style and flair by director Ronny Yu.



According to author Thomas Weisser from his great book Asian Cult Cinema (Boulevard, 1997): "This is the only made-in-Hong Kong movie with Brandon Lee. Reportedly, Brandon was reluctant to make HK movies because he was afraid of critical comparison between himself and his superhero father Bruce Lee" (pg.117). I would just add that I'm glad he did, especially in the great year for action movies, 1986. The timing couldn't have been better. I wish he did more Hong Kong action movies.

I love movies where the good guy is really good (he even helps a little girl in need after her mommy gets on a bus without her!), the bad guys are really bad, and the good guy doesn't want to fight, but he has to because he's taken too much crap for too long. This D&B (not "Dave and Busters", Dickson Poon's -- no smirking -- Hong Kong production company) falls into that esteemed category!



Fan-favorite Bolo Yeung appears very briefly (one short scene) in the beginning of the film as a gangster looking for protection money from the restaurant where Brandon works. It was nice to see him, and if I have one complaint about the movie, it's that it could have used more Bolo.

But on the whole, I would heartily recommend Legacy of Rage.

Comeuppance review by: Brett