When an op goes wrong and FBI agent Zack's partner dies, his search for the one responsible takes him to a yakuza in Japan. A mob boss wants revenge for his son's death and Zack's his target... Read allWhen an op goes wrong and FBI agent Zack's partner dies, his search for the one responsible takes him to a yakuza in Japan. A mob boss wants revenge for his son's death and Zack's his target.When an op goes wrong and FBI agent Zack's partner dies, his search for the one responsible takes him to a yakuza in Japan. A mob boss wants revenge for his son's death and Zack's his target.
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Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaIan Ziering's character, Victor Serlano, is a skinhead neo-Nazi whose body tattoo patterns are almost identical to those worn by co-star Russell Crowe when he played a skinhead neo-Nazi called Hando in the Australian movie, Romper Stomper.
- GoofsWhile broadcasting information about Yuji Kobayashi over the police radio, the police officer mispronounces his surname as "Ko - ya - bashi."
- Quotes
Mary: You know I once served a medium rare swiss steak to Patrick Stewart.
Zack Grant: Who's Patrick Stewart?
Mary: Patrick Stewart, Picard, The greatest starship captain that ever lived.
Zack Grant: What about Kirk? Captain James T. Kirk?
Mary: Old news.
Zack Grant: What? What? You're shunning the guy who went first where no man had ever been before?
Mary: He was a D-Type. Sub-A.
Zack Grant: Hey, he kicked Klingon ass, baby.
Mary: He was always breaking the prime directive, Picard never breaks the prime directive.
Zack Grant: That's because he's an old bald guy from Liverpool, he couldn't break a date.
Mary: Oh! For Pete's sake, grow up!
Zack Grant: Grow up, I don't believe you sometimes...
Mary: How about you, Yuji? Who do you think was best?
Zack Grant: Oh yeah right, ask him...
Yuji: Sulu.
Mary, Zack Grant: Sulu?
Yuji: He should have been Captain.
- ConnectionsReferences Star Trek (1966)
I watched this film on the strength of Crowe being in the lead even though I knew that it was made before he `made it' so the quality may not be that great. The plot is a mix of bad guys and good guys all trying to get Grant and Yuji, with Grant just trying to save his son. It isn't a very innovative idea but it is good enough for a video thriller such as this. The set pieces are all reasonably exciting and most are directed with style and energy that belies the standard of the plotting.
While it may not be brilliant it is certainly a lot better than most of the video thrillers you'll find on a lonely Saturday night. A big part of this is due to Crowe being in the lead. Years before Gladiator he'd already had some powerful Australian roles and was a commanding lead actor. Here he rises above the material and makes it better during the action scenes etc he is faultless, it is only his interactions with women and children where he comes across as wanting. Tokokawa's Yuji is a good character never morally clear until the end and charming and deadly with it. Slater is a bum note but happily she doesn't spoil things too much. Her bubbly comedy sidekick is irritating and the film could have easily done without this part of the video thriller formula.
Overall I enjoyed this film much more than I suspected I would. Without Crowe this film still has higher values that I thought it would and is polished and entertaining despite a formulaic plot. With Crowe in the lead the film is raised a notch and he is commanding in an ordinary role that many would have failed to liven up.
- bob the moo
- Feb 20, 2003
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Details
- Runtime1 hour 31 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1