American Dragons | |
---|---|
Directed by | Ralph Hemecker |
Written by | Keith W. Strandberg Erik Saltzgaber |
Produced by | Jeffrey D. Ivers Ju-Ho Jung Jennifer Muhn Brad Krevoy R.J. Murillo Steve Stabler |
Starring | Michael Biehn Park Joong-hoon Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa Don Stark |
Cinematography | Ernest Holzman |
Edited by | Alan L. Shefland |
Music by | Joel Goldsmith Alex Wilkinson |
Production companies | |
Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
Release date |
|
Running time | 120 minutes [1] |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
American Dragons (also known as Double Edge) is a 1998 action crime thriller film directed by Ralph Hemecker and starring Michael Biehn, Park Joong-hoon, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Don Stark and Byron Mann. It was written by Erik Saltzgaber and Keith W. Strandberg and produced by Brad Krevoy.
Detective Tony Luca is sent on a homicide investigation of a Yakuza leader after a bungled undercover sting to capture notorious gangster Rocco. After finding a folded origami lotus with the black lotus insignia Tony is assigned a partner, Detective Kim from Seoul, South Korea. Kim is described by Luca's captain as an expert on the league of ninja assassins known as the Black Lotus Society. Both Yakuza and Mafia gangsters are being assassinated all over town by the mysterious assassin known to Kim as "Shadow".
After squeezing information out of Yakuza businessman Nakai and Mafia informant Mike, the two detectives discover that the Black Lotus plans to ignite a mob war between the Yakuza and the Mafia and adopt their businesses. The two men responsible for the plan are Shadow and Rocco, two men who haunt the pasts of the two detectives. With the two detectives now cooperating with one another, they collect the leaders of both the Mafia and the Yakuza and inform them of the plan of the Black Lotus Society and take them both to the police holding station to prevent their deaths and prevent further mob killings.
With both mob leaders in safe keeping the two detectives hunt down the location of Shadow and Rocco. Fights ensue with Kim fighting Shadow, and Luca having a shootout with Rocco. It all comes down to an epic standoff, leaving Kim and Luca the only two left alive. Luca and Kim say their goodbyes at the airport wishing each other the best, leaving as friends. As Kim walks up the walkway to the plane a man is shown having his ticket taken by the gate. Taking his ticket stub back, this man reveals a Black Lotus tattoo on the inside of his fingers and leaves to take his flight, the same one Detective Kim is taking back to South Korea.
Writing for The Digital Fix, Anthony Nield remarked the film is "dependent on cliches" and the characters lacked depth. [2] Of the action scenes, Nield said, "without the investment in [Hemecker's] leads, or anyone else for that matter, these set pieces appear to simply lurch from one fistfight to the next". [2]
Showdown in Little Tokyo is a 1991 American buddy cop action film directed by Mark L. Lester and starring Dolph Lundgren and Brandon Lee; it was the latter's first American film role. The film was released in the United States on August 23, 1991. It gained a cult following among action fans especially for the chemistry between Lundgren and Lee.
Masahiko Tanaka is a Japanese actor and voice actor. He is known for voicing Gauron from Full Metal Panic!, Ryo Mashiba from Hajime no Ippo, and Kyoichi Sudo from Initial D.
The Punisher is a 1989 American vigilante action-thriller film directed by Mark Goldblatt, written by Boaz Yakin, and starring Dolph Lundgren, based on the Punisher character from Marvel Comics. It was shot in Sydney, co-starring Louis Gossett Jr, Jeroen Krabbé, Kim Miyori, Nancy Everhard, and Barry Otto.
Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa is a Japanese-American actor and producer.
Kkangpae (Korean: 깡패) is a romanization of the Korean word that is commonly translated to 'gangster' or 'thug'. The term is commonly used to refer to members of unorganized street gangs. By contrast, members of organized crime gangs are called geondal (건달) or jopok.
Crying Freeman is a Japanese manga series written by Kazuo Koike and illustrated by Ryoichi Ikegami. Crying Freeman follows a Japanese assassin hypnotized and trained by the Chinese mafia to serve as its agent and covered in a vast and complex dragon tattoo. A quiet but complicated killer, Freeman reflexively sheds tears after every killing as a sign of regret.
The Perfect Weapon is a 1991 American martial arts action film directed by Mark DiSalle and starring Jeff Speakman, John Dye, Mako, Mariska Hargitay, James Hong, Dante Basco and Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa. The film relates the story of a young man (Speakman), who is trained in the martial art of American Kenpo, and his fight against the Korean mafia in Los Angeles. It was released by Paramount Pictures on March 15, 1991.
Buster from Chicago was a pseudonym used for a mobster and freelance hitman of the 1930s. He is alleged to have played a key role in the Castellammarese War (1929–1931) as the assassin of Giuseppe Morello and others. Some claim that Buster was gangster Sebastiano Domingo (1910–1933), notably Bill Bonanno, the son of Bonanno crime family leader Joseph Bonanno, who participated in the War. Others charge that Buster is a character created by Joe Valachi to evade his responsibility for various killings.
William Nigh, born Emil Kreuske, was an American film director, writer, and actor. His film work sometimes lists him as either "Will Nigh" or "William Nye".
Mafia films—a version of gangster films—are a subgenre of crime films dealing with organized crime, often specifically with Mafia organizations. Especially in early mob films, there is considerable overlap with film noir. Popular regional variations of the genre include Italian Poliziotteschi, Chinese Triad films, Japanese Yakuza films, and Indian Mumbai underworld films.
Nameless Gangster: Rules of the Time is a 2012 South Korean gangster film directed by Yoon Jong-bin starring Choi Min-sik and Ha Jung-woo. The film is set in the 1980s and ’90s in Busan when corruption and crime was so rampant that the government declared war on it in 1990.
New World is a 2013 South Korean epic crime film written and directed by Park Hoon-jung. It stars Lee Jung-jae, Choi Min-sik, Hwang Jung-min, and Park Sung-woong. In the film, Lee Ja-sung (Lee) struggles to balance his role as an undercover police officer with his rise in Korea's crime syndicate.
Kim Soo-mi was a South Korean actress. She had a prolific career in film and television. She debuted in a talent contest in 1970, then shot to fame in Country Diaries. The landmark TV series aired for almost 20 years, making her one of the most popular Korean actresses of the 1980s.
The Drug King is a 2018 South Korean crime drama film written and directed by Woo Min-ho. It stars Song Kang-ho as Lee Doo-sam, an ordinary small-time narcotics dealer who becomes an infamous drug lord in Korea during the 1970s. The film also features Jo Jung-suk as a prosecutor from Seoul who is intent on taking Lee down and Bae Doona as a lobbyist who guides Lee into the upper levels of drug dealing. Other cast members include Kim Dae-myung, Kim So-jin, Lee Hee-joon, Jo Woo-jin and Yoon Je-moon. The film was released on December 19, 2018.
A gangster film or gangster movie is a film belonging to a genre that focuses on gangs and organized crime. It is a subgenre of crime film, that may involve large criminal organizations, or small gangs formed to perform a certain illegal act. The genre is differentiated from Westerns and the gangs of that genre.
Kill It is a 2019 South Korean television series starring Jang Ki-yong and Nana. It aired on OCN from March 23 to April 28, 2019. The story is about a man abandoned by the devil and a woman raised by the devil and a client who seeks revenge on them. It is a melodrama between a man who must be killed and a woman who must be caught.
Night in Paradise is a 2020 South Korean neo-noir crime film written and directed by Park Hoon-jung, starring Uhm Tae-goo, Jeon Yeo-been and Cha Seung-won. It had its world premiere on September 3, 2020, at the 77th Venice International Film Festival and was released on April 9, 2021 on Netflix.