Back to Back

After watching this movie, I was disappointed that they could've done better with the action with gang members using melee weapons such as Mob hit men armed with retractable cross blades and gang members performing in-your-face matrix-style fist fights on villains, making it from a shoot-em-up to a beat-em-up action adventure.

The transitions are too old-school and would be better if they were replaced by bullet holes being shot across the screen as if it was in a video game. And the action should be downright violent and extreme to make it a cutting edge film from other movies. If they were to make a sequel to American Yakuza 2, the name should be titled "B2B:Back 2 Back" (Spelled with an inverted number two) since it would give character to the story and make it more chill.

D.H. should be cast in place of Michael Rooker's role as a thug/all-girl gang leader with a lethal fighting ability who rages out when she fights using a set of glowstick-like nunchakus who later cracks heads with a Yakuza hit-man to rescue her father from the government-ruling mafia.

Also, the soundtrack would be a blast if it were replaced by a Techno/Electronica score other than Rock and Country for the action scenes because it would fit well with the movie and make it look cool. A good example of this would be the opening of the movie being replaced by JXL's remix of Elvis Presley's "A little less Conversation" followed by Squarepusher's Paistow flex out for Hideo's on-foot-journey to the strip club followed by The Orb's remix of Blue room as he enters the club, immediately following that, a track from the band Tempest titled "Deepsky" as he sits down about to die as he draws out his shades.

I Also think that it would be interesting if Danielle Harris were to put her Scream-Queen persona aside once and for all and star in a role where she finally fights back and gets downright brutal with her enemies. I'm for once, sick and tired of seeing her be a victim in all of the action movies she's in and would like to someday see her As a lead character in an action/thriller flick (No comedies or children's movies) fighting villains.

Believe it or not, this may sound like I'm trying to damage the original but If the director is reading this, I think this should be an awesome and exciting idea for a third sequel or series to this movie.

Back to Back is movie made in the same vein as the American Yakuza. Ryo Ishibashi plays role of Yakuza again. Bob Malone (Michael Rooker) is an ex-cop who has anger issues living with his daughter (Danielle Harris) in LA. There're three plots going on at the same time. One with Malone with his daughter Chelsea, and another with Yakuza Koji (Ryo Ishibashi), and Hideo (Koh Takasugi) where they are trying to make delivery of who knows what, and Leonardo (Vincent Scavelli) the gangster and police Sargent Dussecq (John Laughlin) who's actually working together.

The event that brings all of them together is the bank robbery by robber Psycho (Bob Goldswaith) that goes awry thanks to Malone bludgeoning the guy waiting in the getaway car to a pulp during the heist. Psycho gets away and ends up in a restaurant Koji and Hideo is having coffee. This restaurant is also the meeting place for Leonardo and his associates. The funny twist to the story is that no one at the restaurant knows that Koji is an Yakuza including Psycho, Leonardo's associate and the restaurant employee who all in their own way belittles Koji and Hideo and tests their patience. Psycho is the first to get the taste of Koji's violence Yakuza style when he gets his hand chopped off with a cooking knife. Police arrive at the scene and Psycho with his hand chopped off goes out firing his machine gun in a hail of fire. Flagship killing (in my opinion) of this movie happens shortly afterwards.

From there Koji, Chelsea, and Malone meet in the police station and the plot builds up to the final confrontation between Malone + Koji vs. Leonardo and Dussec. the story is well told from the view of people living in the back side of the society, with friendship, and loyalty which is an universal code between warriors of two countries. Ryo Ishibashi and Daniel Harris steals the show with their acting. A hidden gem of a movie I'm sure you'll agree if you've seen it.

Actually better that American Yakuza, even if it feature a strip club with no stripping. Sheesh!

Michael Rooker is an ex-cop trying to take care of his daughter Chelsea, played by Danielle Harris (Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead, "That's Life", "The Wild Thornberrys", Halloween 4 & 5). He joins up with Ryo Ishibashi to take out a mobster to protect her.

Lots of shooting and the opening with Bob Goldthwait was a real riot. He really blows!

Also features the late Vincent Schiavelli.

One of many Pulp Fiction knockoffs, but it really is funny.

Lots of action strung together with converging story lines. "Back to Back" has some peculiarities, some that work and some that don't. For one thing, for a movie with such over the top violence, and an "R" rating, why don't the strippers strip? Fortunately there is plenty of dark humor, and some really great character actors, Vincent Schiavelli, Fred Willard, and Bobcat Goldthwait, being the most memorable. You also get a teenager with an attitude, Danielle Harris, and Elvis even gets to play a part. The film is fast paced, has a high body count, with just enough humor to carry the film into above average territory. Definitely entertaining, and recommended of it's type. - MERK

That terrific character actor Michael Rooker stars in the poorly titled BACK TO BACK, about a perpetually angry ex-cop caught up in a feud between the Japanese and American mobs. Against his better judgment, he teams up with a Yakuza killer (Ryo Ishibashi) to take down a capo who owes money to the Yakuza. The ex-cop's teen daughter (Danielle Harris of HALLOWEEN sequels fame) is along for the ride, and some of the best parts of the movie are the constant bickering between dad and daughter. Shot locally in L.A. and filled with Hollywood types in unnecessary cameos (Tim Thomerson, Bobcat Goldthwait, Fred Willard), the film leans heavily on Rooker, and he comes through as a divorced, aging dad with extreme anger management issues. Whatever the movie may lack otherwise, like a budget and a script, is at least partially made up for in the frequent, John Woo-style shootouts and fistfights, all of which are gorgeously bloody and well-staged. Good for insomniacs, like me. All others, approach with caution.