Review: "Black Rain" (1989)

NYC movies are a metaphorical dime-a-dozen -- but movies about displaced New Yorkers, people from the city but far from home, are an interesting sub-genre that's quickly becoming my favorite. 

Recently I saw one such movie, Black Rain from 1989, starring Michael Douglas, about an NYC cop who goes to Japan. He and his partner (played by Andy Garcia) witness a mob hit by a member of the Yakuza and, after they arrest him, are tasked to bring him home -- only to lose him as soon they arrive in Japan. What follows is a classic "cat-and-mouse" plot, lots of violence, lots of action, lots of cops and bad guys yelling at each other, lots of badassery and nonesuch. It's a noirish thriller of crime and culture clash and, while not a great movie, it's a lot of fun -- the kind of well-made pulpy movie they don't really make anymore. 

"New York is a grey area," says the Douglas character at one point, when trying to explain his hometown to his Japanese counterpart. This movie is about the constant moral grey zone all New Yorkers live in, and how we can never escape it -- even when we go to the other side of the world.

This is a great movie to see if you like noir crime movies, like NYC, like Japan, like Michael Douglas (before he was doing streaming shows about him being an old man), and just like fun movies (I also like it because they filmed part of it near where I live). You can find Black Rain on Showtime Anytime or Showtime On Demand. Check it out.