Wicked Game (2002)

Directors:

Koichi Sakamoto
Makoto Yokoyama

Writers:

Carlton Holder (writer)
Makoto Yokoyama (short story)

Genre:

Action

Tagline:

...High stakes robbery ...High altitude mayhem

Plot:

A pair of small time thieves bungle their biggest heist, get pulled into a scheme of deadly deceit and ultimately stumble onto a second chance to redeem themselves.

Plot Keywords:

Reference To Little Orphan Annie

Cast

Motoko Nagino	...	Kim Matsuda
Michael Hexum	...	Michael
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Johnny Yong Bosch	...	Billy Ray Leung
George Cheung	...	Christopher (as George Kee Cheung)
Luke LaFontaine	...	Ranco
Jason Narvy	...	Guile Lydon
Ed Neil	...	Husband
Koichi Sakamoto	...	Vegas Thug #2
Paul Schrier	...	Mom (as Paul L. Schrier II)
Xuyen Valdivia	...	Sam
Danny Wayne	...	Santiago (as Danny W. Stallcup)
Makoto Yokoyama	...	Vegas Thug #1

Also Known As:

Extreme Heist

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for violence.

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

USA:PG-13

Company:

ZRO Limit Productions

Trivia:

The two guys chasing Billy Ray and Guile are the movie's directors, Makoto Yokoyama and Koichi Sakamoto.

Quotes:

Guile: You tossed the diamonds? How could you have thrown the wrong box?
Billy Ray: I dropped them, Guile. Couldn't tell which was which.
Guile: You tossed the diamonds. All that surveillance, all those weeks of planning for a box of ROCKS AND DIRTY SOCKS!
Billy Ray: Get off my back, already! It was an honest mistake.
Guile: Honest? HONEST? Here's a news flash for you: WE ARE CROOKS!
Billy Ray: It was a freaking judgment call! I screwed up, let's leave it at that! It's not as if you made your share of mistakes!
Guile: All right, all right, Fine. I was just thinking of all those beautiful diamonds that YOU THREW AWAY!
Billy Ray: Look at the bright side...
Guile: Oh? Oh, you mean there's a bright side?
Billy Ray: There's always tomorrow...
[...]

Fantastic stunts, horrible everything else

Okay, let's get this out of the way early – this movie is terrible. It features horrible acting, annoying characters, a clichéd script and shoddy shot-on-video cinematography. So why on earth would I recommend this to anyone? Because of the amazing fight scenes. Co-directors Koichi Sakamoto and Makoto Yokoyama may not be immediately recognizable names to action genre enthusiasts, but chances are you have seen their work. Both supply the action choreography for the US versions of the POWER RANGERS. However, Koichi's main claim to fame is that he was the stunt coordinator on Steve Wang's THE GUYVER 2 and DRIVE. Anyone familiar with those films will know what I am talking about. With this film, both Koichi and Makoto's stunt teams (Alpha Stunt and AAC respectively) combine to create some strong stunt work.

Whereas celebrated HK veteran Yuen Woo Ping's Hollywood efforts have become increasingly airborne and unrealistic (THE MATRIX films are a perfect example), this team's style is reality based and hard-hitting. Some of the stunts in this one are absolutely amazing. Fights break out every 10 minutes or so and they are flawlessly choreographed. Major set pieces include a fight on top of moving cars, a skydiving gun/fist fight and the obligatory warehouse fight where guys bump off the equipment as if it were rubber. Lead Johnny Yong Bosch (formerly the Black Ranger on the POWER RANGERS) does a majority of his own stunts and is amazingly agile. One wishes he would get more work to showcase his martial arts talent. There are also three instances of stunts gone wrong that made it into the final film (you will know them when you see them).