What do you do when you want to make a shoot-em up action film but you can't get Arnold Schwarzenegger? Why you get Dolph Lundgren of course. In Showdown in Little Tokyo, Lundgren plays an LAPD cop who lived in Japan as a boy and saw his parents murdered by a Yakuza assassin. Naturally, the assassin turns up on his beat years later as a Yakuza overlord, and Lundgren now has his chance to see him brought to justice. Along the way Lundgren meets up with Brandon Lee, also an LAPD officer, who becomes his partner. Lee serves as comic relief to straight-man Lundgren, and admittedly he has his moments when he's actually funny. He can't really act, but luckily for him he's paired with Lundgren, who makes him look like George C. Scott by comparison.
Tia Carrera is a singer working for the Yakuza boss, and she's also a witness to a murder he committed. She knows about his drug manufacturing operation, and because of this she's held hostage until Lundgren rescues her. Of course, they fall in love, and she ends up being used against him as Lundgren and Lee are captured by the Yakuza (yet again).
The film has many problems. The plot is tired and cliched. I can overlook that in a good action film if a few surprises and twists and maybe some half-way decent acting are thrown in. Sadly, we don't get any of that. Instead, the Same 6 bad guys punch, kick, and shoot it out with Lundgren and Lee over and over again ad nauseum. They have ample opportunities to shoot the good guys and get it over with, but of course that would be too easy, and complicated plans are concocted to bring our heroes to a slow and agonizing demise.
There are curious errors too, such as when a Yakuza traitor is being done in in a car crusher (you can see the dummy head long before they start compacting). Another scene has a thug falling into a brew kettle in a battle in a brewery. Lee throws a lighter into it and it explodes. Huh? If beer was explosive, I'd have been a rapidly expanding gas cloud a long time ago. Perhaps the kettle may have contained drug processing chemicals, but this was never explained and seems unlikely.
There is nudity in the film, something to keep in mind if you'll be watching it when the kids are around. If you have nothing better to do and this film is on HBO, it might be worth watching. I personally am glad I didn't rent or buy it. About an hour into the movie the villain, suffering another defeat at the hands of Lundgren, turns to him and shouts, "It's not over yet!" . At that point, I was disappointed that it wasn't.
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