Bullet Points: Red Sun Rising
It has been said that politics makes for strange bedfellows. If you ask me, the same can be said for action movies.
Take 1994’s Red Sun Rising for instance. The movie features a cop from Japan who is not fond of Americans, teaming with a cop from America who is not fond of the Japanese. The Japanese cop is portrayed by the greatest kickboxer of all-time, Don “The Dragon” Wilson. The American cop is portrayed by Terry Farrell or as I will always know her Valerie Desmond, the love interest of Jason Melon in the 1980’s classic Back to School.
- Prologue: We see our hero Thomas Hoshino (Don “The Dragon” Wilson, Cyber Tracker) and his partner Yuji (Yuji Okumoto, Hard Justice) on stakeout in Kyoto, Japan. Hoshino and Yuji are trying to bust a notorious character named Yamata (Soon-Tek Oh, Death Wish 4) as he visits a known member of the Yakuza. But Hoshino instead finds himself in the middle of a bad guy blade battle and then running up against Yamata’s buzzsaw of a bodyguard Jaho (James Lew, Mission of Justice). Jaho has some freaky death touch powers and gets the better of Hoshino, but before Jaho can finish the job Yuji shows up and saves Hoshino’s ass… but not himself. Yuji ends up dead and Hoshino instantly wants to avenge his partner’s death.
- City of Angels: Skipping ahead four months and Yamata and Jaho are now in Los Angeles stirring up trouble between two rival gangs, The Molitos and The Icemen. Yamata’s diabolical plan is to escalate the bad blood between the gangs so he can then unload some military grade weaponry to both sides in the gang war and make a huge profit. Yamata and Jaho’s presence in L.A. brings our hero Hoshino to the States, with orders that he needs to bring Yamata back to Japan. This is where Hoshino first meets Detective Karen Ryder (Terry Farrell, Hellraiser III). Hoshino and Karen get off to a rough start including Karen making some racially insensitive remarks towards Hoshino. We eventually learn Karen has no love for the Japanese because she blames the Japanese automakers for her father losing his job making cars in Michigan. Hoshino (who is half Japanese/half American) does not like Americans because when his American mother’s parents found out she was marrying a Japanese man, they disowned her. But if you think all of that is going to prevent Hoshino and Karen from eventually hooking up, you have never seen a movie before in your life.
- Uh-Oh Better Get Mako: During their reluctant partnership phase, Hoshino and Karen infiltrate a known hangout of The Icemen and that is where we get our second round of Hoshino vs. Jaho and much like their first encounter in Kyoto, Hoshino gets his ass kicked by the super charged Jaho and is fortunate to survive. It is obvious Hoshino is going to need something more if he hopes to avenge his friend Yuji’s death and he gets that something more in the form of Yuji’s uncle and the man who first trained Hoshino in the martial arts, Buntoro Iga (Mako, Midnight Man). Buntoro pushes Hoshino to the limit and then a little more… he also teaches Hoshino that he is as powerful as Jaho and has the light version of Jaho’s dark powers. A couple of well placed montages help with Hoshino’s progression and you just know the next time that we see Hoshino vs. Jaho, things are going to be very different.
Red Sun Rising is nothing special in terms of story, but the cast is what really elevates this movie to above average levels in my eyes. The sides of good and evil are perfectly balanced with the legit martial arts champion Don “The Dragon” Wilson and the legendary Mako on one side and the always sinister Soon-Tek Oh and legit badass James Lew on the other. Terry Farrell was completely unexpected but comes off strong as the female cop trying to stop a full scale gang war and a cop with a chip on her shoulder trying to prove to the boys that anything they can do, she can do better… and she is definitely better than the dirty cops that start popping up as the movie goes on.
And this is about the point of one of my reviews where the Bonus Bullet Points pop up…
- If You Ever: …wanted to see Mako wearing a t-shirt with a cartoon banana on the front and “I Am The Big Banana” written on the back, then this is the movie for you.
- Disturbing Question: “You wanna show me your penis Ray?” – Karen
- Familiar Faces: A bearded Michael Ironside (Starship Troopers) plays Captain Meisler, the stereotypical police captain who suspends Karen for a month when she goes all maverick cop on him and hates the feds sticking their nose in his business… Edward Albert (The Rescue) plays the fed sticking his nose into the LAPD’s business… Stoney Jackson (Angel 4: Undercover) plays Gamal, leader of The Icemen…. And Jacqueline Obradors (Soldier Boyz) plays Rita, the girlfriend of the head of The Molitos.
- Words of Wisdom: The movie opens up with a quote from Miyamoto Musashi, “Today is victory over yourself of yesterday.”
- Introducing?: James Lew gets the “Introducing James Lew” credit, which I found strange because by 1994 James Lew had been in a ton of movies and television shows, including some pretty substantial roles in movies like Best of the Best and Showdown.
