SHOWDOWN IN LITTLE TOKYO (Mark L. Lester, 1991)

[dolphage]

I love Showdown, but it is flawed. Very entertaining and very "eighties" (even though it came out in the nineties. It's a fun, dumb, pop corn movie.

Showdown could have been a franchise, like a cheap-o Lethal Weapon. They could still make a sequal, just get Marc Dacascos to replace Brandon Lee (a always), or playing the character's brother or something.

Bridge of dragons is more of a missed opportunity for me, I have a hard time getting in to that movie. It is, despite all it's fights, strangely boring to watch. And Florentine's style is like a fanboy hommage to Hong Kong cinema, it never quite gets there.

[Jox]

When I interviewed the producer Martin Caan he had no idea of its cult following and yet told me he was considering making not a sequel but a SHOWDOWN remake. But he hasn't produced a feature film since... PENTATHLON!

[Mosquito]

It's one of my favorite Dolph movies and I don't think it has dull moments. Dolph and Brandon where a great team, Dolph looked like a demigod, there where great cheesy one-liners delivered by Brandon and it had evil Yakuzas. Oh and a beautiful female lead. Oh and enough martial arts, a fact that I often miss in other Dolph movies. Can't write often enough what a waste it is to give him firearms. Let him (literally) kick ass instead!

[Jox]

Can't write often enough what a waste it is to give him firearms. Let him (literally) kick ass instead!

Particularly in this one, he's supposed to think himself as Japanese samurai in this one isn't he?!!! To honest though I think often (MOTU, RS, SILT) I think it's Dolph who adds more gun usage (not as much use of firearms in the script if I remember correctly)...

[Mosquito]

Can't write often enough what a waste it is to give him firearms. Let him (literally) kick ass instead!

Particularly in this one, he's supposed to think himself as Japanese samurai in this one isn't he?!!!

Yes, I meant to say that SILT is a great example that Dolph is awesome when he uses his martial arts skills as opposed to using firearms. I mean, Silent Trigger was good, but for other reasons. If he kicks ass, he kicks ass. Therefor I love SILT and Bridge of Dragons.

[Jox]

Well he still could have (and the part required him to) used martial arts a lot more in SILT I think...

[Jox]

VHS cover from Argentina

[savagesketch]

Whatever happened to director Mark L. Lester? What is he doing these days? He directed two action classics in my book -- SILT and COMMANDO... Did he get disenchanted with the Hollywood machine after a couple of films, or does he just not have the clout in the business to make another film?

[leigh1975]

After SILT, i assume he lost the momentum he gained with Commando, seeing as the two films he did between 85 and 91 (Armed And Dangerous and Class of 1999) flopped too, and in those days directors suffered by the 'three strikes' rule; if three of your films in a row flop after a big hit, then you get taken off of the 'list' and good jobs dry up.

After that, he worked steadily in the middling end of DTV, working with second tier stars such as Mario Van Peebles, Mark Dacascos (in The Base; apparently Lester hated Dacascos' acting so much, he recast him for the sequel), Eric Roberts and Judd Nelson. The last film he made was Pterodactyl in 2005, one of thoes awful SyFy channel movies, and while he hasn't directed in nearly ten years, he still produces about two SyFy films a year.

The worst thing? I didn't use Wikipedia or IMDB for all this, it's all off the top of my head. Jeez, help me.

[Jox]

Lester is a business man above all and funded his company American World Pictures through which he produces and an distributes (i.e. sells the distribution rights worldwide), I don't think he cares much about directing these days. I also think his directorial successes, especially COMMANDO, were flukes and were mostly due to other people involved, not his input or skills as a director.

[Jox]

His audio commentary on COMMANDO gives you a good sense of the guy and it's kinda of hilarious in some way.

[leigh1975]

Lester is a business man above all and funded his company American World Pictures through which he produces and an distributes (i.e. sells the distribution rights worldwide), I don't think he cares much about directing these days. I also think his directorial successes, especially COMMANDO, were flukes and were mostly due to other people involved, not his input or skills as a director.

It has to be said, there is virtually no sense of style or flair in his directing... I'm not even sure he cared back then.

[leigh1975]

His audio commentary on COMMANDO gives you a good sense of the guy and it's kinda of hilarious in some way.

I still haven't seen the Director's cut of Commando

[Jox]

There's barely more than 20 seconds added, If you don't know the movie perfectly you might not even notice the additional cuts, but the it's packaged in a quite nice edition.

[leigh1975]

we didn't get that in the UK at all, I understand that there's so little added aside from the Toolshed sequence it's almost not worth calling it a director's cut. I love Commando, but not for it's script or directing.