Rain Fall (2009)

A hit man looks to protect the daughter of one of his victims against CIA assassins.

Director:

Max Mannix

Writers:

Barry Eisler (novel), Max Mannix (screenplay)

Stars:

Kippei Shiina, Gary Oldman, Kyoko Hasegawa

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Kippei Shiina	...	John Rain
Gary Oldman	...	William Holtzer
Kyoko Hasegawa	...	Midori Kawamura
Misa Shimizu	...	Yuko
Dirk Hunter	...	Thomas Perryman
Akira Emoto	...	Tatsu Ishikura
Shigemitsu Ogi	...	Osada
Toshiyuki Kitami	...	Tanaka
Takeshi Wakamatsu	...	Benny Watanabe
Takeo Nakahara	...	Yasuhiro Kawamura
Akira Hamada	...	Yamamoto
Ryôsei Tayama	...	Matsumoto (as Ryosei Tayama)
Yuko Miyamoto	...	Naoko Kawamura
Takumi Bando	...	Ken
Michael Hudson	...	Jones

Storyline

In Tokyo, a minister of public works is rumored to be taking evidence of corruption to a reporter: the CIA, the yakuza, and others want to grab the information and use it to squeeze the government. On the subway trip to meet the reporter, the official is murdered, but it looks like a heart attack. However, no one, including the murderer, can find the flash drive with the evidence. Now the CIA, gangsters, and the city police are searching. The dead official's daughters are in danger: the shadowy John Rain, ex-special forces and perhaps now in league with North Korea, tries to stay one step ahead as he looks for the flash drive and protects one of the daughters.

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Plot Keywords:

cia | subway | police | morning | zip drive | 

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for some violence and language

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese English

Release Date:

25 April 2009 (Japan)

Filming Locations:

Japan

Box Office

Budget:

$7,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Rain Fall, Rain Production, 3 Dogs and a Pony

Technical Specs

Runtime:

111 min 120 min (European Film Market)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Referenced in Bad Movie Beatdown: Scissors (2012)

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Soundtracks

"Tokyo Tears"
Performed by Shiho Takanashi
Written by Ross McLennan
Theme Song

User Reviews

It's Pretty Bad

If you're a fan of the Barry Eisler Rain novels, do yourself a favor and don't watch this. This movie is everything the novels are not: boring, full of plot holes, seriously lame fight scenes and a story line that makes little or no sense.

The movie feels patched together, like the director filmed a bunch of scenes and then tried to make them fit. They don't. The acting is fine, all of the cast give their best, but there just isn't much to work with.

The fight scenes are all super-quick-cut editing stuff, so you can't see what is actually going on. That is probably because our martial artist protagonist isn't a martial artist. I've seen better fights on the elementary school playground.

The plot is full of holes; not just little holes, but big, gaping holes that require you to do more than just suspend your disbelief. You would have to get a quick lobotomy before watching this if you don't want to be constantly aggravated by the plot holes. Characters will say something in one scene and then say the opposite in the next scene.

The editing seems to have been done by a spastic drug addict with ADHD: the cuts between scenes are missing any semblance of art or craft. There are a few times where the director blurs part of the picture or tries some other type of artistic effect that just doesn't work. In short, the direction and editing are just plain awful.

By the time you get to the cliché ending you will be bored and thinking about maybe clipping your toenails or something equally exciting. They managed to take an exciting novel about a hit man with issues and turn it into a boring movie. Buy one of the books instead of watching this.