DTV action legend Mark Dacascos makes his
directorial debut with this fun flick that at times feels like a spiritual
sequel to the iconic Showdown in Little Tokyo. I’m not saying that just because it has Tia
Carrere and Cary Hiroyuki-Tagawa in prominent roles either. Like Little Tokyo, the banter between the two
leads, Alexander Nevsky and Casper Van Dien is offbeat, quirky, and is often
very funny. Casper gets a lot of laughs
as the sex addict private detective and Nevsky makes for a likeable and capable
leading man. It’s nowhere near as good
as that classic, but it’s a largely entertaining DTV shoot ‘em up.
Tia watches in horror as her husband (played by Dacascos
in an extended cameo) is killed in broad daylight by the evil Hiroyuki-Tagawa. She then hires a pair of private detectives
(Nevsky and Van Dien) to find her husband’s killer. That’s easier said than done since
Hiroyuki-Tagawa is a legendary “ghost” who only shows his face when he’s about
to kill someone. Since Nevsky has a
score to settle with Hiroyuki-Tagawa, it gives him extra incentive to bring him
down.
If the film was nothing more than Nevsky and Van
Dien hunting Hiroyuki-Tagawa down, Showdown in Manila would’ve been a
blast. However, the last half hour turns
into a B-level version of The Expendables as Nevsky gets his old crew together
to track down his arch-nemesis. The team
includes such DTV luminaries as Olivier Gruner, Don “The Dragon” Wilson, and
Cynthia Rothrock! Not only that, but we
also have Matthias Hues as Hiroyuki-Tagawa’s slimy henchmen. Rothrock’s character is particularly hilarious
as she wears camouflage fatigues in the jungle, yet has her hair is dyed purple,
which you’d think would give her away to the enemy. However, she’s so badass that she probably doesn’t
care since she’s more than capable of taking care of herself.
As a director, Dacascos has a no-frills style, but there’s
lots of action, so it’s hard to really complain. Even though the pacing gets kind of pokey at
times, seeing this gang of familiar faces gathered in one place is just plain
fun. Maybe when they do the sequel, the
team can have more screen time together.
Screenwriter Craig Hamann (who collaborated with
Quentin Tarantino on the unfinished My Best Friend’s Birthday in his salad days)
also directed the Dacascos flick Boogie Boy.
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