TOKYO RAIDERS

CONTAINS SOME SPOILERS AND FRANKLY IT'S ABOUT TIME

Specifically, it's about time because I've had such a run of indifferent movies recently. That's putting it mildly: I've had some absolute stinkers turning up in the post over the last few months, some of them so dodgy-looking I've barely been able to put them in the player, and a few I've bailed on after a few minutes. Life's too short. That may not be a particularly professional attitude, I know, but then I'm not being paid for this.... Frankly, unless I'm getting money for these things I reserve the right to switch them off early or not bother with them in the first place.

Anyway, Tokyo Raiders came off my Action Movies list and as far as senseless fighting and chasing goes, it's a cracker. It may not have great depth of character development or psychological insight, but if you're after a hundred minutes of good looking people lamping one another, getting kicked in the head and charging around some terrific Tokyo architecture in the hunt for some incriminating spy documents relating to the CIA and the Yakuza, then grab the biscuit tin and settle down. Jilted Macy travels from Vegas to Hong Kong to find her not-quite-husband Takahashi who stood her up at the altar, and meets up with interior decorator Yung who wants payment for his work on the new marital home. Turns out he's in Tokyo and there they encounter private eye Len (Lin on the IMDb but Len in the subtitles) who's after Takahashi for his own reasons. And so is the biggest crime gang in Tokyo.

There are three nifty fight scenes in the first fifteen minutes, and many others spread through the film, in between bike and skateboard chases, a fight on a car transporter, and a surprisingly exciting climactic boat and jetski chase. It may be absurdly simplistic beat-em-up fodder and completely empty, but it works perfectly well on that level. What the hell, I enjoyed it a lot and I look forward to the sequel (Seoul Raiders). Though I suspect they'll send me a bunch of stinkers first.

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