Today I’m covering a movie that asks, “what if we combined a ton of buddy-cop cliches, with superhuman feats of strength, Dolph Lundgren draped in a kimono wielding a samurai sword, and poured 80s action movie cheese all over it?” The result would be 1991’s Showdown in Little Tokyo. A beautifully absurd 79-minute explosion of ridiculous one-liners, flying-bodies, chopped limbs, entrancing tattoos, over-the-top villains, and an unstoppable bromance. This movie delivers a roundhouse kick to the face of subtlety and we’re diving into it from top-to-bottom in this episode of Magically Ridiculous.
What’s up guys hope you’re all fantastic out there. Welcome back to the channel. If you are new here, welcome to Movies Never Say Die. I’m Anthony Digioia and this is your one-stop-shop for retro movie content and today we’re diving into one of my lifelong favorites. I remember there was this video store I went to all the time as a kid. It was owned by a couple, probably younger than I am now. But they were super nice. The wife was a little more by-the-book. But the husband was all about that money and as long as it wasn’t a video from behind the curtain if you know what I mean, he was down to rent us whatever. I remember renting Ricochet, Freejack, and Showdown in Little Tokyo one summer afternoon and I’ve loved this movie ever since.
Sure, it’s easy to spot this movie’s flaws. I mean it opens with more than two minutes of gloriously embellished Asian themed musical scoring and slow-motion tattoo shots then shifts to Lundgren kicking the crap out of a bunch of guys at an underground fight before he literally jumps over a car in pursuit of the bad guys. All in the first 6-minutes. So…yeah. However, if you love ultra cheesy, self-indulgent, B-Action movies, then Showdown in Little Tokyo is essentially Citizen Kane with martial arts, endless macho banter, and a sprinkle of gratuitous nudity that young Anthony greatly appreciated growing up.
Now as for the plot, it’s comically by-the-book as you would expect. And really, outside of the violent killing, casual drug use, and the unprotected sex of course, this movie plays like an action movie version of a Saturday morning cartoon on a mental level. And I dig it. First though, let’s get into the major players in this delightful little action romp. Starting with Dolph Lundgren as Detective Chris Kenner. The handsome and stoic, yet imposing tower of justice. He’s a man of few words and a full set of vanity muscles. Who practices his martial-arts in his softly lit home dojo. He conveniently grew up in Japan, speaks the language, and his character comes complete with a leather jacket and a tragic backstory that will naturally tie into the focal plot. Lundgren plays this character essentially like a Nordic samurai fueled on protein shakes who falls into a flashback trance any time he sees a tattoo and apparently blows through partners like Dirty Harry.
Which leads us to Brandon Lee as Detective Johnny Murata. Kenner’s new partner and easily this movie’s MVP of hilarious one-liners. Now Lee’s character is given zero backdrop. As written, he’s just playing the comedic relief and Kenner’s sidekick. Murata is part Japanese yet knows nothing about Japanese culture which is convenient. This allows him to frequently ask questions to set up Kenner’s spots of expositional dialogue explaining the comical layers of this story. Murata is skilled in a more acrobatic style of martial arts. Loaded with finesse kicks, and punches as fast as his amazing collection of one-liners. And despite the limitations on paper, Lee easily steals this movie with his likable charm, and he injects the entire film with a much-needed dose of charisma.
But no action movie is complete without an over-the-top villain and Showdown in Little Tokyo delivers an over-the-top, over-the-top villain with the great Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa as the sadistic Yoshida. Leader of the Iron Claw Clan of the Yakuza. And man, Tagawa as Yoshida here is the chef’s kiss of action movie villains. He’s ruthless, frequently snarling, cartoonish, often smirking at his acts of violence. Yoshida is a slightly comical, and often charming psychopath who does it all. Extortion, murder, kidnapping, drug running. Yoshida even comes complete with his own shady nightclub after a hostile takeover. Which we all know is a must-have for any professional action movie villain.
So that’s the focal trio of this glorious action flick. There are a couple others we’ll get into here in a minute as we dive into the plot. Which like I said is a tracing paper thin checklist of action movie cliches that do just enough to connect the fight-sequences, the banter, and shootouts. Showdown in Little Tokyo makes no effort to hide the fact that the plot is secondary to all the action. It all kicks off with Lundgren’s Kenner infiltrating an underground fight at The Bonsai Club so before you can even dig into your popcorn Kenner’s already kicking ass and dropping clunky one-liners. Conveniently this is also when the villains make their entrance. Yoshida’s henchmen arrive in a hostile takeover attempt. Bad timing when Kenner’s on the scene who while in pursuit casually leapfrogs a car full of bad guys.
The next day Kenner is introduced to his new partner Murata. But of course, it can’t just be a simple meeting. No, no, no. Showdown delivers the classic mistaken identity meeting. Kenner and Murata fight it out while a group of Yakuza attempt to strong arm the owner of a sushi joint. But this is Kenner’s favorite spot. So instead of allowing these men to extort money from this poor lady, Kenner activates and saves the day while also destroying her small business. With the textbook, man through the window as the cherry on the sundae.
From there the plot goes through the motions. Yoshida kills a mole inside his group so there will be a case for Kenner and Murata to work while they develop their bromance. Like I said earlier Kenner is adept at Japanese culture. Murata knows nothing about it so Kenner gives him a crash course as they work the case. Fortunately for us, both are proficient in martial arts so when they work through their case on Yoshida they easily engage in quick fights and takedowns to get where they need to go. Also, as this movie shifts from Kenner and Murata on the case, to Yoshida and the Yakuza comes an amazing shift in the scoring as well.
From the moody Asian themed instrumentals to an almost playful cliche buddy cop melody. It’s subtle, but awesome and easily a frequent reminder of how magically ridiculous this movie is. Naturally Kenner learns pretty early on that Yoshida killed his parents when he was a kid…shocker. Something that only fuels his motivation to take them all down. If he can keep his cool. Luckily by this point Murata has already fallen in love with Kenner so is able to talk him down. And after dropping some classic cop wisdom to the Yakuza Murata is able to talk their way out so they can continue working the case. While searching for clues Kenner and Murata come across Minako played by Tia Carrere. A stunning lounge singer at The Bonsai Club, who, sorry Johnny, will become Kenner’s new love interest. Minako is written like a true damsel in distress and not given much to do other than feen Kenner and Murata information on the Yakuza, and to look amazing. Which she knocks out of the park.
This leads into one of the best scenes in the film where Kenner goes full-on one-man-army mode to save Minako from Yoshida house. Kenner’s taking dudes out with ease, complete with barrel roll shooting. Kenner is jumping off the rooftop with Minako in his arms and flipping a car like the bionic man and it’s as absurd as it is comical as it is fun to watch. This leads into a bit more casework, a soak in the jacuzzi, a casual sex scene, and more banter before the final act kicks in. This is where Kenner grabs his trusty assault rifle and finest kimono and along with Murata make their final strike on Yoshida and the Yakuza at the Red Dragon Brewery. It’s a spectacle-filled 15-minutes of textbook action movie gunplay and explosions as they work through the henchmen. This leads to Murata’s finale with Yoshida’s #1 Sato. Sidekick versus sidekick in a solid martial arts battle that Murata naturally comes out the victor of.
This only leads to one last battle, and this is where Showdown in Little Tokyo comes full circle and delivers what its title suggests, a showdown in the streets of Little Tokyo. It’s Kenner, suddenly oiled up and topless versus Yoshida, the man who killed his parents on his rise to the crime boss in a sword fight out on the streets with the citizens watching. It goes back and forth but there is no way Kenner loses this fight. And in true ultra gratuitous fashion Kenner sticks Yoshida to the pinwheel display and turns him into a part of the fireworks display to remind you one last time how gloriously cheesy what you just watched really was. And that’s what this silly movie is all about. It’s about watching Lundgren punching, kicking, and tossing bad guys in ways that defy both physics and common sense. All while Brandon Lee delivers quips and drops jokes like he’s working material for open mic night at the Laugh Factory.
Showdown in Little Tokyo is a movie that doesn’t believe in wasting time. If there’s a door Lundgren is busting it down. If there’s a bad guy in the way he throws him through the window with Lee right behind him to deliver a cheeky joke. And true to the action movie playbook it’s all topped off with a shirtless sword fight. This movie isn’t just a B-action movie. It’s a glorious, testosterone fueled fever dream. It’s perfectly ridiculous and undeniable over-the-top and it’s a movie that knows exactly what it is.
Anthony J. Digioia II © 2025 SilverScreen Analysis & Movies Never Say Die
