"KEEP BUSTIN'."

No Way Back

tn_nowaybackI liked AMERICAN YAKUZA so much I figured I better investigate the other two directorial works of Mr. Frank A. Cappello. #2 of 3 is an unpredictable 1995 action movie starring Russell Crowe as an FBI agent. That’s the mystery of Cappello – the guy only directs three movies but manages to nab both Viggo Mortensen and Russell Crowe in leading roles before they became huge. I really like Crowe in this one, playing an obsessed agent and single dad. It’s actually pretty similar to his role in AMERICAN GANGSTER except he accidentally slips into the Australian accent more.

mp_nowaybackIn the NORMAL LIFE comments a while back we discussed the plight of the former 90210 stars trying to have serious careers. Well here’s Ian Ziering as a tatooed, nipple-pierced racist skinhead rich kid roughing up an Asian hooker named Seiko (Kelly Hu of X-MEN 2 and THE TOURNAMENT) while talking to his dad on the phone. What he doesn’t realize is

1. you shouldn’t do that

and

2. Seiko is undercover for Crowe. What Crowe doesn’t realize is that she has an agenda of her own (blowing Ziering’s dick off, massacring other skinheads, dropping herself out a window).

Now Crowe’s in deep shit with the higher ups, and the dead skinhead’s bigshot dad is out for revenge. Both of them determine that Seiko was working for a local Yakuza (no, not Viggo) and go after him.

One thing I liked about this movie was that the story went off in directions I didn’t expect. So use your judgment about whether or not to read this review. An element that threw me off was when he’s transporting the Yakuza, Yuji (Etsushi Toyokawa), by plane and all the sudden it starts showing the flight attendant (who I didn’t realize was SUPERGIRL Helen Slater) in a scene without Crowe. Wait a minute, this flight attendant is gonna be an important character? Then Yugi manages to get loose and hijack the plane. I didn’t know it was gonna be that kind of party.

It ends up being about the skinhead’s dad kidnapping Crowe’s son, and Crowe having to bring him Yuji for trade. But the other feds are after him and so are the dad’s men, who don’t care too much about the deal so they might just shoot somebody.

There’s a whole fathers and sons motif going on here. Seiko and Yugi kill Ziering because he killed their dad. His dad goes after them for killing his son, and he takes Crowe’s son as a bargaining chip. Meanwhile, there are questions about whether Crowe is a good father or not. The dad and Crowe’s son actually have fun fishing toegether. This guy seems disgusted when he finds out the kid normally has to do puzzles by himself instead of with his dad. In one scene he puts the last piece in and says hey, I finished that puzzle for you. He thinks he’s doing a good thing for the kid, but isn’t he really depriving the kid of the satisfaction of completing the puzzle himself? It’s good that he spends time with his kid (even talking to him on the phone right before rough hooker sex) but also you gotta figure he’s not getting the #1 Dad mug either, his son grew into a murdering skinhead. With nipple rings, if that’s not enough.

AMERICAN YAKUZA seemed like it had a little John Woo/Hong Kong cinema influence, and not just in the obvious double-fisted shootout type of way. This one has more of that – bonding between enemies, moral grey areas, flawed heroes, villains with good sides. I mean, for sure it’s got the feel of a ’90s b-movie. But a good one. I liked AMERICAN YAKUZA a little better, but both are worth checking out.

. . .

(technical note: I’m not sure if this was DTV or not. IMDb doesn’t list it as a video premiere, but also doesn’t have any box office info.)

This entry was posted on Friday, January 22nd, 2010 at 2:37 pm and is filed under Action, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

9 Responses to “No Way Back”

  1. Sounds watchable.

  2. i saw it when it came out thinking Russell Crowe will be huge after The Quick and The Dead and Virtuosity. I just have no single memory of what happens in the film even after reading your review. But i do remember liking American Yakuza over this.

  3. Vern, re: your technical note at the end: NO WAY BACK aired on HBO first in late ’96 (which is where and when I saw it). HBO had a thing going back in the 90’s where a lot of low-to-middle budget genre flicks had their premieres there before eventually going to video; AMERICAN YAKUZA 2: BACK TO BACK, DRIVE, MADE MEN, MEAN GUNS, to name a few, usually as part of their “Thursday Night Prime” series. It’s too bad they don’t do that anymore, quite a few of those movies were fun to watch and saved you a trip to the video store.

  4. My favorite of the HBO premieres of that era was FULL ECLIPSE, which was like a John Woo movie with werewolves and Mario Van Peebles in it.

  5. Is it just me or does Crowe have Princess Leia style hair buns in that top pic?

  6. He looks like such a D&D nerd with his floppy hair and backpack. Makes me want to watch the movie to see how he manages to make that look seem badass.

  7. You can’t really tell in the picture, but it’s one of those backpacks that’s shaped like Elmo, too. Or it might just be a gun holster. I can’t remember.

  8. crowe often has bad haircuts in movies. and possibly elmo backpacks, too, not sure. speaking of crowe, vern did you ever see MASTER AND COMMANDER? i couldn’t find it on your reviews list. if you haven’t yet you should rectify that immediately. i just saw it on tv again the other day (i’ve seen it several times), and it really is a fantastically enjoyable and nearly flawless movie. it’s got a great adventure feel while still seeming totally historically accurate and realistic, it’s smart and literate, and it’s got two great lead performances (crowe and paul bettany). it’s kind of a have your cake and eat it too movie because it’s got great action and adventure without sacrificing story, character, or intelligence. would love to hear what you think about it.

  9. “Is it just me or does Crowe have Princess Leia style hair buns in that top pic?”
    once you see it, you can’t unsee!

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