Wasabi
2001 Action / Comedy / Thriller
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Credits
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Summary
Hubert is a police inspector with a kind heart but an iron fist. Although he gets
results, not everyone appreciate his methods. It is whilst thwarting a transvestite-themed
bank robbery that he accidentally demolishes the son of his police chief. Suspended
from work, he is working out what do with his life when he receives phone call from a
Japanese lawyer. Miko, a Japanese woman Hubert hasn’t seen for nearly 20 years,
has just died and has made him her sole beneficiary. Arriving in Japan to attend
Miko’s funeral, Hubert discovers that the dead woman has a daughter, Yumi - the product
of their brief liaison. He then finds evidence that Miko was murdered, leaving
an impossibly large sum of money in her bank account…
Review
Having collaborated on Taxi
2 (2000), director Gérard Krawczyk and producer Luc Besson joined forces
once more to concoct a similar energetic spectacle of comedy action thriller. As
before, Besson provided the script – one of his better offerings, although clearly a rush
job – and Jean Reno was cast as the film’s sympathetic action hero. It’s pretty
formulaic stuff – with most of the comedy comcentrated in the spoof action stunts
– but somehow Reno’s solid presence gives the film a touch of class and humanity.
The pairing of a gun-toting loner with a naïve young girl invites similarities with
a previous Reno-Besson collaboration, the slick 1994 thriller
Léon, albeit with far less blood and
a few more laughs.
© James Travers 2006 Write a review for this film... |
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