Black Rain

Michael Douglas, lots of black leather, aviator shades and some really cool motorcycles star in this compulsively watchable piece of pop ephemera that reteamed the star with Fatal Attraction uber-producers Sherry Lansing and Stanley Jaffe. When NYC cop Nick Conklin (Douglas) and his partner (Andy Garcia) witness a Yakuza-ordered hit and arrest the perpetrator, they must then accompany the suspect as he is extradited to Japan–whereupon he promptly escapes. Stripped of their weapons–and any official authority–Douglas and Garcia find their lone allies in a soft-spoken Osaka cop Matsumoto (the legendary Ken Takakura) and an expat nightclub hostess (Kate Capshaw) as they track the wanted man and navigate the perilous East-West divide. And yes, there will be motorcycle chases!

“It's risky making an action picture that breaks its violent stride to emphasize the difficulties of living up to preconceived ideas of masculinity. But it's that risk that makes Black Rain distinctive. By refusing to beat its Eastern and Western protagonists into comic-book pulp, the movie pays them, and the audience, a rare compliment.”
 —Peter Travers, Rolling Stone