To me, this movie is perfection.

Excellent but underrated film

Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Except for the cursing, this could have been a TV movie. And except for the Asian angle, any episode of "Walker, Texas Ranger". The "action scenes" are just as realistic as you'd expect from any other low budget flick. And the acting slightly more so. Which is to say it's not completely unwatchable if that's what you like.That's just not what I like.Oh, and I'm really sick of movies that show guys pulling out their weapons, holding them up in front of an open vehicle window so everyone can see them, and checking the magazine and racking a round into the chamber just before they go into action. That would have been done back before they ever left their headquarters.Maybe I'm just spoiled by watching Hong Kong crime flicks.

American Yakuzua is a b-movie but it's a well done b-movie, it's got impressive action scenes, great performances, unique camera shots and good music.Some of the characters might seem a bit cliché but the movie is still enjoyable, the storyline between Nick and Shuji is where the movies power lies. The way Nick befriends him and starts to respect their customs but also becomes guilty that he's really an undercover agent who is trying to bring there organisation down is definitely interesting especially in a psychological way. The plot of the movie sees Undercover FBI agent David Brandt (Viggo Mortison) working has a dock worker under the false name of Nick Davis, when the Yakuza are attacked Nick helps them and saves second in command Shuji Sawamoto (Ryo Ishibashi). After healing his wounds Shuji thanks Nick and offers him the chance to work for them. Nick agrees and comes with him to a meeting between Shuji and the head of the Italian mafia Dino Campanela (Michael Nouri), Dino denies having anything to do with the attack but Shuji knows he's lying. Soon the Yakuza launch a attack on the Mafia wiping out several of Dino's men, this attack sparks a war between the Mafia and the Yakuza. Meanwhile Nick is getting more and more involved with the Yakuza and begins to become guilty that he's secretly betraying Shuji. Nick soon finds himself becoming romantically attached to Shuji's goddaughter and gets even further attached to the Yakuza when they make him a honorary member of their family. Eventullay Nick's boss Littman (Robert Forster) makes a deal with Dino to let them eliminate the Yakuza with any interference by the FBI or police. Nick is told he's off the case but ignores them and decides to put this war into his own hands.American Yakuza is a great blend of action, drama and romance all thrown together into one enjoyable combination. Check this film out. 10/10

And not just because of Viggo Mortensen and his growing bandwagon. "American Yakuza," readily recognized as the standard shoot-'em-up, literally "explosive," machismo fare, sub=genre gangland venue, for the legendary flick audience of 12-year-olds, is, on second viewing, sans captions for these unhearing ears, considerably more. Consider the subtexts, of which there are at least two, maybe three. Four? Whatever, the young man who was an "extra" on-set at least during the climactic "shoot," provides a fascinating glimpse into this slice of the growing Mortensen oeuvre, his on-set preparation for the elegiac conclusion of a "B" movie made for the telly. That insight jibes with everything published since about this singular American film actor, his focus, his intensities, his truths, AND his OTHER interests that include poetry and prose and even politics. Made in '93?, this film has style and substance deeper than the surface sheen, which is more than sufficiently glossy. But, even then, may I attempt to up-point several subtleties that, to me at least, deserve notation, to wit: 1: In the never-never-everland of mob and gangster pix even antedating the "godfathers," rarely has there, if ever, been sidebar comedy touches that seem authentic, like the music=tape scenes on the fateful collection rounds. 2: The even subtler stagings of the elegant "family" dinner and the formal induction of the alien soldier. 3: At least one Yankee compendium fails to even list Ryo Ishibashi in the cast whilst naming every American "name." which. to me, is like omitting EITHER Bogard OR Hepburn when "reviewing" "The African Queen" for posterity. 4: And, in that central and crucial and motivating regard lies the film's raison d'etre, which leads to . . 5: The apparent, to me at least, fact that "American Yakuza" is, at heart, more a fable about a father-son. teacher-disciple, man-boy nexus than a meditation on crime OR violence. Bottom line: As with ALL such contemplations, the homo-erotic element is not only key, it is the central fulcrum AND function. And here, I cite the climactic "love" scene of the dying "don" and the grieving "son," PLUS that stunning staircase descent with the body of the "father." I seem to recall, from that single viewing almost 60? years ago, of Olivier's "Hamlet," wherein his Horatio intones the deathless? lines of the Shakespearean iconolgy, "Good night, sweet Prince . . . " Therein, the eulogy "rises," up the flights of circular? steps, whereas, in this case, the mute eulogy DESCENDS the multiple staircase, precious cargo in arms, grief unworded, honor, AND love, struck dumb. The day hyperhormoned men, never mind the boys, begin to understand their true "loyalties" to their own sex the while they proclaim their lust for women, that will be the day when humanity finally comes to grips with both its "sexuality" AND its emotional ambivalences.

I don't normally like gangster movies, but this is definitely an exception. I saw it twelve years ago and was very impressed. And having bought it on DVD recently, it is just as good today.The quality of production is excellent considering the amount of money they spent on it. The action scenes are tense and well constructed. The scene in the van with the Japanese music is hilarious. Every scene in the movie is meaningful and progresses the story nicely.On the downside, I felt that Viggo Mortensen's character didn't have that much to say for himself, his dialogue could have been improved, for example, when he first joins the Yakuza, you would expect him to have questions.I won't spoil the ending by stating it here, suffice to say that it seemed a little unrealistic. But, a movie definitely worth watching.