There's a lot to recommend in this film. The climactic fight is excellent, and I enjoyed seeing James Shigeta here. And as a fan of Towne, Schrader, yakuza films, and the 1970's, I felt obligated to see it, but I strongly disliked the American casting. Maybe it's just me, but Mitchum, Edelman, and Jordan go with yakuza action like peanut butter goes with steak. The editing is also lacking, with a few sequences of repetitive cuts that are absolutely vertiginous. Good but not great.

Written by Robert Towne and Paul Schrader, starring Robert Mitchum, and set in Japan makes this an easy sell for me. There is quite a bit in the way of exposition on the "exotic" culture, but this small lack of subtlety comes off as neither exploitative or gimmicky. Mitchum is as cool as ever, once again filling in the role of a P.I.-type, but this time with an added layer of world-weary experience. Boasts a stylish neo-noir presentation and a beautiful sense of location.

An offensive barrage of cliches and shallow orientalist stereotypes. Not even the great talents of Paul Schrader and Robert Towne, who were brought in to touch-up the script, have saved it from mediocrity. Credit is due to the well-orchestrated, well-shot fighting scenes, though.

About 10 or 15 years too late for such "mysterious Orient" stuff..Still, the story itself is pretty good.

Very intense. I haven't seen every Yakuza movie out there, but even though this was an American movie, this sure was one of the better insights I've had so far into the Japanese culture in general, and the Yakuza in particular, and I have to say - the Japanese sure are complex and weird creatures.

Well shot, well plotted, and well acted; generally above average, although there's something about it that keeps it from being an all-time classic. I wouldn't say it's Orientalist - I think there are nuances Schrader knows and picks up on that keep the foreign culture from being strictly one-dimensional.

Quite good.