When Nick Davis (Viggo Mortensen) abandons prison after one year in solitaire , he is contracted to operate forklift at a warehouse in the harbor owned by the Japanese Yakuza patriarch Isshin Tendo . Subsequently , little by little , he infiltrates the American arm of the Yazuka , Japan's dangerous criminal underworld . He rises through the ranks and is adopted by Sawamoto (Ryo Ishibashi) into the powerful Tendo family led by chief Isshin Tendo (John Fujioka). Along the way , Nick falls in love for a beautiful Japanese girl (Cristina Lawson) and takes off the rival family led by Dino Campanela (Michael Nouri) . Nick is lured away by the Japanese Mafia--the Yakuza-- , but things go wrong.
Nail-biting ad suspenseful thriller in which a two-fisted man finds himself caught between the Yazuka , FBI and the vengeful American Mafia . In the motion picture there is thriller , emotion , pursuits, shootouts and being interesting enough. Thrilling and moving film by Frank Capello with the ordinary ingredients such as non-stop action , thrills, chills , romance , betrayalsl and crossfire . The plot of the film results to be a little routine with the typical undercover man and the ending has the usual violent confrontation with high body-count . Along with very known Viggo Mortensen here stands out an over-the-top support cast , such as : Ryo Ishibashi , Michael Nouri, Okumoto , Anzu Lawson , John Fujioka , Nicky Katt and Robert Forster.
The motion picture was regularly directed by Frank A. Cappello , who originally did not want to do the trademark "Mexican Standoff" in this film , but producers begged Cappello to include these scenes in John Woo style , such as : Better tomorrow (1988) , The Killer (1989) , Bullet in head (1990) and Hard Boiled (1992) . Cappelo is a good craftsman , he started his own film production company at 23. Special effects laden commercials were his forte and Frank worked on more then 300 spots for top agencies and companies including AMC, where he created the Midnight Movie Express Trailers that got him noticed in Hollywood. Frank's directing career started after he wrote and directed a 35mm short "The Ivory Tower" which was accepted into Academy Consideration and was screened before features at local theaters. Producers saw the short and Frank landed his first feature directing job on an indie film with rising star Viggo Mortensen in this ¨American Yakuza¨(1993). Frank would go on to direct rising star Russel Crowe in Tristar's "No Way Back" He also wrote, produced and directed the tiny indie film "He Was A Quiet Man" that starred Christian Slater and William Macy. The film won several festival awards including Best Picture and Best Director and found itself listed as one of the top 10 Indie films of the 2000's. Rating : 5.5/10 . Average but passable and acceptable . The picture will appeal to Viggo Mortensen fans.
Nail-biting ad suspenseful thriller in which a two-fisted man finds himself caught between the Yazuka , FBI and the vengeful American Mafia . In the motion picture there is thriller , emotion , pursuits, shootouts and being interesting enough. Thrilling and moving film by Frank Capello with the ordinary ingredients such as non-stop action , thrills, chills , romance , betrayalsl and crossfire . The plot of the film results to be a little routine with the typical undercover man and the ending has the usual violent confrontation with high body-count . Along with very known Viggo Mortensen here stands out an over-the-top support cast , such as : Ryo Ishibashi , Michael Nouri, Okumoto , Anzu Lawson , John Fujioka , Nicky Katt and Robert Forster.
The motion picture was regularly directed by Frank A. Cappello , who originally did not want to do the trademark "Mexican Standoff" in this film , but producers begged Cappello to include these scenes in John Woo style , such as : Better tomorrow (1988) , The Killer (1989) , Bullet in head (1990) and Hard Boiled (1992) . Cappelo is a good craftsman , he started his own film production company at 23. Special effects laden commercials were his forte and Frank worked on more then 300 spots for top agencies and companies including AMC, where he created the Midnight Movie Express Trailers that got him noticed in Hollywood. Frank's directing career started after he wrote and directed a 35mm short "The Ivory Tower" which was accepted into Academy Consideration and was screened before features at local theaters. Producers saw the short and Frank landed his first feature directing job on an indie film with rising star Viggo Mortensen in this ¨American Yakuza¨(1993). Frank would go on to direct rising star Russel Crowe in Tristar's "No Way Back" He also wrote, produced and directed the tiny indie film "He Was A Quiet Man" that starred Christian Slater and William Macy. The film won several festival awards including Best Picture and Best Director and found itself listed as one of the top 10 Indie films of the 2000's. Rating : 5.5/10 . Average but passable and acceptable . The picture will appeal to Viggo Mortensen fans.