Wasabi

Rating:
Summary: uneven film with a superb Reno performance
Review: 'Wasabi' is a high-spirited French action comedy with a Japanese name. This Luc Besson production stars Jean Reno in a wonderful performance as a tough-guy French cop who is as quick to use his tongue as his overeager fists. One day, out of the blue, Detective Fiorentino discovers that he has a 19 year-old daughter by a Japanese woman who left him almost 20 years ago, breaking his heart in the process. The girl, Yumi, turns out to be an orange-haired free spirit who hates cops and has been led to believe that her father raped her mother. Much of the film is spent with Hubert and Yumi getting to know one another, as they uncover secrets about her mother's past that seem to have made the young woman the target of some rather unsavory characters.

The plot is the least of the matter in this film. As directed by Gerard Krawczyk, 'Wasabi' is really all about style. Besson's screenplay is fitfully amusing, doling out cleverness and cutesyness in roughly equal measure. Cinematographer Gerard Sterin brings out the colorful richness of the urban Japanese landscape and editor Yanne Herve doesn't linger longer on the jokes and sight gags than is absolutely necessary. These elements help to compensate for the somewhat desperate air that afflicts the screenplay from time to time.

The prime asset of 'Wasabi' is Jean Reno's performance. Reno perfectly mines the comic potential inherent in the material through the tone of weary cynicism and superiority to all around him that he conveys throughout. As an actor who has played this type of rogue-cop character many times in his career, Reno obviously relishes this opportunity for a little good-natured self-ribbing. And he does a splendid job.

'Wasabi' is little more than a piffle when all is said and done, but Reno makes it worth seeing.

Rating:
Summary: not too many "h-o-o-oles"
Review: A fun action ride with some very funny moments. Jean Reno is a wonderful actor. Momo makes for a great sidekick. Contains elements and similarities to films like The Transporter and Leon (The Professional). If you like fun, don't take too serious, in your face, action movies.......this is for you.

Rating:
Summary: French Action Satire...
Review: A tough Parisian cop, Hubert Fiorentini (Jean Reno), accidentally beats up the Police Chief's son and is asked to take some time off. In the process, his long lost love of19 years back appears to have died and has given him everything in her will. This means that he has to go to Japan and as he arrives he also finds out that he has a daughter that is now 19 years old who has developed a huge dislike for authority. In addition, there is a bank account with 200 million dollars in it and someone is trying to threaten him and his daughter in order to get it. A question remains as to where the money came from and who is after it. Wasabi is an action comedy that plays with parody as Hubert drags along his huge .44mm Magnum Smith & Wesson, however, the story gets lost in the jokes. This serves as the foundation for a cinematic experience that is neither remarkable or common.

Rating:
Summary: Sort of fun movie, but sometimes overdone
Review: About 70% of this movie is not bad, and nicely done. The only drawback is the subtitles and voice-over simply could not match. What you heard is almost 80% different from what you read on the screen and that's very bothering. The Japanese young actress playing as the estranged daughter of the French cop is sometimes too over acting, especially when think about her mother just died. All in all, this is not too bad movie.

Rating:
Summary: Spicy grooves, but short on instruction and length.
Review: Akira Jimbo is one of the most famous drummer to come out of Japan in the last 20 years. He possesses superb technique, limb independence, and a very creative approach to drumming. Midi trigger pads are incorporated into his set, allowing him to create an integrated harmonic and rhythmic presentation. I had high expectations when I ordered this DVD, and Akira's playing was up to the task: smooth, imaginative, and dynamic. The camera work, sound quality, and production values were great. However, I wasn't pleased with the overall DVD.

The main section of the Wasabi DVD runs 41 minutes!! That is nowhere near long enough. The DVD format allows for over 2 hours on a single side, so why is this so short? The material that Akira covers could easily have filled 2 hours, but the instructional approach of the entire DVD was not detailed enough. For example, when Akira demonstrates a pattern that he is going to expand on (using the Wasabi method), he plays it for a few bars, but doesn't break it down in detail so that you know exectly what he is playing. Then when he applies the Wasabi methods, you still don't know exectly what he is playing (even though it sounds great). Concepts are quickly addressed, but not analyzed deeply enough. Hand and foot techniques are touched on, along with drum tuning, and how to practice. It is shallow at best.

The Wasabi methods are applied to a chosen pattern, and are composed of changing note values, changing the instrument source, chaning the starting point, or adding another pattern. One pattern is used to demonstate these concepts, and they were very powerful.

Only 4 complete performances are included on this DVD, which I think isn't enough when compared to other instructional drumming DVDs by Steve Smith and Marco Minnemann. The instruction itself on this DVD was lacking (versus the Steve Smith DVD, which sets the standard), but if Wasabi is supposed to be about adding spice to your grooves, how about demonstrating MORE grooves in MORE detail? 41 minutes doesn't cut it.

I wish Hudson Music had produced this DVD, because it would have been exactly what I was expecting (and what it needed to be). Akira has it all, but this DVD doesn't. Maybe next time...

Rating:
Summary: Not too intense, enjoyable, funny, action-packed
Review: Essentially it's a story about a man (Jean Reno) called Hubert. He has no life other than his cop life. He has a tendency to proceed about investigations in a rather violent manner (he actually punches anyone, good guy or bad guy, who gets in the way or interupts him). The chief puts him on leave for 2 months for his violent behavious. Then he gets a phone call from a lawyer telling him that his lover, Miko, has died. The whole movie is about the mystery Miko leaves after her death. Along the way, he manages to find out that he has actually fathered a Japanese daughter (with Miko) called Yumi.

This movie can be 'analysing material', but not as itself. This is because Jean Reno has this history of playing men who have fighting and shooting as their job description, e.g. The Cleaner in Luc Besson's Nikita; The Professional. So Jean Reno actually brings his screen experiences on board the show. Unless you happen to be watching him act for the first time, it is quite hard to detach yourself from his film pressence.

The French and Japanese mix is interesting enough. But Japanese culture is not really presented realistically here. Sure, the surface materialistic youth culture carries across, but no more than this. Yumi's plaintive cries for her papa are touching, but shallow. She also cries a whole lot.

The dialogue is witty. The camera angles are nice, especially when Yumi sticks her legs up in the lawyer's office. It's a great movie, not too intense, enjoyable, funny, action packed. Would I buy the DVD? Probably not. I do not think it bears rewatching.

Rating:
Summary: Unshaven Rambo
Review: Good entertainment, if you want a movie with a happy ending and a lot of dead bad guys.Since the French public prefers American movies to their own, the French now make American style movies.Fun to watch, no more......Jean Reno is great.....

Rating:
Summary: Where is the real Besson?
Review: Great movie, great cinematics, great "no-plot" and great fun... only if you literally swallow "Wasabi" down your throat just exactly as Jean Reno does by almost the end of the movie. Forget the good-ol' Reno-The-Cleaner (Nikita), do not expect any twisting, noir and all-french action-plot: just pretend your are reading a colorful comic-book with plenty of no-brainer action.
Besson should get back to deeper, more elaborated plots, with possibly less color extravaganza and much more atmosphere and acting.

Rating:
Summary: A Great Fun Action Movie with Heart!!!
Review: I am a big fan of Jean Reno, so I guess that I am a bit biased. This is one fun movie, though even if you are not a fan of Reno. This is in part due to the writing credits of Luc Besson, a long-time collaborator of Reno's, famously teaming together for the brilliant Leon aka' The Professional, my all time favorite piece of cinema! While this movie doesn't have the depth and brilliant script of Leon, it is certainly a fine piece of work from both Besson and Reno. Adding to the wonderful spicy flavor of this dish, we have Ryoko Hirosue, who is an absolute gem as Hubert's surprise daughter, and Michael Muller, Hubert's longtime partner, who is hillarious when he takes a big scoop of wasabi and puts it in his mouth, the look on his face....priceless!! We should see more of him in domestic movies, he is quite a card! The cast plays off each other very well and the scene with Hubert's past love, lying in the coffin as Reno looks at her, is very touching and sweet. Bottom line, this is a sweet fun movie, plenty of action, humor and entertains divinely!! The movie also has a wonderful soundtrack, although it is not available here in the states, but definitely worth going to the trouble to get. I highly recommend this film to anyone who enjoys a great fun movie and it will be definitely worth the time you spend to watch!!! Hai!

Rating:
Summary: For those who take their action raw.
Review: I consider myself pretty knowledgeable about films, but in purchasing Wasabi (2001), I had no prior knowledge about the movie other than it was written by Luc Besson and starred Jean Reno, who were both involved in Nikita (1990) and The Professional (1994), two wonderful films worth any action movie fan's time. Given the talent involved in Wasabi, I thought it would be a pretty worth looking into, and I wasn't disappointed.

Reno stars a Hubert, a retired secret government operative who is now a no nonsense French cop who seems to follow the guidelines within the Dirty Harry Law Enforcement Manual, that's to say his methods, while extreme, get results. The films dives headfirst into the action as we see Hubert single-handedly bust up a transvestite bank robbery ring. While Hubert is very good at what he does, his superior notes that that is all he does, as Hubert has no life. That, along with pressures from a local politician with regards to Hubert's' old school tactics, forces Hubert's boss to put him on extended vacation, with a recommendation that he basically get a life.

Soon Hubert gets word that a Japanese woman he once loved but who left him almost 20 years ago to which he still carried a torch for, has recently passed, and she has named him in her will. He travels from France to Japan to witness the reading of the will, and see his long, lost love, but gets more than he bargained for as he learns the woman had a daughter, Hubert's daughter. Not only that, but the woman has also left a mystery behind not only in why she left him in the first place, but why now the Yakuza is after the daughter. Hubert must learn his now deceased lover's involvement with the Yakuza, protect himself and his daughter, named Yumi, and deal with the fact that he's an instant father, and the complications of having to try and relate to a 19 year old girl.

Wasabi mixes a very genuine blend of action, comedy, and a pinch of drama pretty successfully. The action is pretty steady throughout, and is more of the comic book variety, like what you might see in a Jackie Chan film. The comedy comes mostly in the form of Hubert's contact in Japan, a fellow Frenchman named Momo, whom Hubert worked with many years ago when he was a government operative. Momo reminded me of a chubbier version of Rob Schneider, except a bit funnier. The drama, while present but not over done, comes in the form of Hubert and Yumi trying to come to terms with the fact that they are now all they have. While the combination of these three elements doesn't allow for a whole lot of substance within the story, that mattered little as this was just a fun, exciting ride I enjoyed all the way to the end. Certainly one who has seen the Besson/Reno film The Professional will notice similarities, but more or less these two films relate superficially. What's really interesting is how much this French-made film looks like an American actioneer.

The quality of the wide screen picture here looks great, and the audio is really excellent. Keep in mind the dialog is in French, with English subtitles available, but there is also a dubbed English track, for those of you who don't care to read while watching a film. I, myself, preferred to allow the original voices to come out, while reading the translation below. The dubbed voices sound a bit weird at times, especially since I am fairly familiar with how Jean Reno's voice sounds like, and the guy hired to dub him is way off. As far as extras go, there are some theatrical trailers available, for this film, and Formula 51 (2001), Swept Away (2002), and Trapped (2002). While Wasabi really isn't a cinematic feast, it's definitely a satisfying appetizer, and sometimes that's all you need.

Cookieman108