Wasabi (2001)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

Gérard Krawczyk

Writer:

Luc Besson (writer)

Release Date:

31 October 2001 (Belgium)

Genre:

Action | Drama | Comedy | Crime | Thriller

Tagline:

Quite Possibly The Greatest French-Language, English-Subtitled, Japanese Action-Comedy Of All Time.

Plot:

Hubert is a French policeman with very sharp methods. After being forced to take 2 months off by his boss...

Plot Keywords:

Japan | Letter | Golf Club | Corpse | Girl

Cast

Jean Reno	...	Hubert Fiorentini
Ryoko Hirosue	...	Yumi Yoshimido
Michel Muller	...	Maurice 'Momo'
Carole Bouquet	...	Sofia
Yoshi Oida	...	Takanawa
Christian Sinniger	...	Le Squale
Alexandre Brik	...	Irène
Jean-Marc Montalto	...	Olivier (as Jean Marc Montalto)
Véronique Balme	...	Betty
Fabio Zenoni	...	Josy
Haruhiko Hirata	...	Ishibashi
Michel Scourneau	...	Van Eyck (as Mikhel Scourneau)
Jacques Bondoux	...	Del Rio
Osamu Tsuruya	...	Douanier 1
Akihiko Nishida	...	Douanier 2

Also Known As:

La petite moutarde qui monte au nez (France) (subtitle)
The Professional II (South Africa: English title) (DVD box title)
Wasabi - The Japanese Dip That Kicks Like a Mule (France)

MPAA:

Rated R for some violence.

Runtime:

94 min

Country:

France | Japan

Language:

French | Japanese

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

UK:15 | Finland:K-15 | Iceland:12 | Netherlands:16 | Argentina:13 | Canada:14A | France:U | Germany:16 | Hong Kong:IIB | Norway:15 | South Korea:15 | Spain:13 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | USA:R | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Japan

Company:

Europa Corp.

Trivia:

In the arcade, the game that all the young characters convince Hubert ('Jean Reno') to play is "Dance Dance Revolution". Before you see the DDR machine (it's a 5th Mix), many of the other music-related games that are shown are also part of the Bemani series, including Beatmania and many others. The song that the characters play is 'Dive' by BeForU, and Jean Reno's character does fail on the easiest difficulty level (Basic Mode, known in more recent generations of the game as Light Mode).

Goofs:

Continuity: Hubert fires seven shots from his magnum in the arcade. When he first loaded the gun it only held six bullets.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Taxi 3 (2003)

Soundtrack:

Voodoo People

Great and Very Funny Adventure

In France, Hubert Fiorentini (Jean Reno) is a tough, violent, but very effective detective, who has been missing the great love of his life, a Japanese woman, for nineteen years. While capturing a criminal drag-queen, Hubert hurts the son of his chief and is "licenceed" for a couple of months. Meanwhile, he is called from Tokyo by the lawyer of his former girlfriend, who died and left of her possessions to him. When he arrives in Tokyo, he meets his former partner Momo (Michel Muller) and is informed by the lawyer about his inheritance: 200 millions of Euros and a teenager daughter, Yumi Yoshimido (Ryoko Hirosue). Sooner he realizes that the Yakuza is chasing him, looking for the huge amount of money. "Wasabi" is a great and very funny adventure, recalling the confusions of "Lethal Weapon". Jean Reno is excellent, as usual, in the role of a tough but very sentimental man. Ryoko Hirosue gives charm to the story, and Michel Muller is the clumsy and quite dumb partner of Hubert. This movie made my family and I laugh a lot, being an excellent entertainment. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Wasabi"