Wasabi

TriStar Pictures | Release Date: September 27, 2002

6.8	USER SCORE Generally favorable reviews based on 41 Ratings

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Kai82Jan 29, 2021

A great action comedy with an interesting story, great cast and humor. French policeman Hubert Fiorentini is quite successful but also a bit maladjusted, has a short temper and causes too much ruckus with his unorthodox methods / approachesA great action comedy with an interesting story, great cast and humor. French policeman Hubert Fiorentini is quite successful but also a bit maladjusted, has a short temper and causes too much ruckus with his unorthodox methods / approaches (perfectly show in the first few minutes;-). He takes a break when he receives the message that his former love Miko Kobayashi died in Japan. Both were lovers long ago when they worked in Japan for the French secret agency. She vanished without a trace 19 years ago and he returns to Japan to close ties with his past. Here the actual story begins as he has a daughter he did not know existed with Miko and he is the caretaker of his daughter and her inheritance. This however is not everything or even the biggest surprise of the day as his former lover has an astonishing sum of 200 million dollars on her bank account and he has no clue how this could even be possible. I stop here but the idea and setup fully won me over instantly. It is a clash of cultures experience, an action movie and a comedy with great humor mixed well together. The story fully delivered for me and I say it was a pleasant surprise. It would not work without a great cast and this is another strength of the movie. Hubert Fiorentini is played by Jean Reno. He is one of the greatest (French) actors of all times and I enjoyed so many of his movies like for examples Leon The Professional (cult classic!), Crimson Rivers 1+2 or Ruby & Quentin to name a few. He nails the role of the maladjusted policemen and you will never doubt his performance. Then there is Ryoko Hirosue as Yumi Yoshimido who is Huberts daughter. She fully delivers all tropes and cliches as Japanese teenage girl in such an enjoyable performance. Michel Muller as Maurice is a great addition to the cast. He was Hubert partner and he is the yin to his yang as he dampened Huberts more harmful tendencies. I think I cant specify the antagonist because of spoilers but if you know a bit about Japan you should be able to predict them. Special praise for Kinshiro Oyama as inspector Yasumoto who has only short appearances but still delivers excellent enough that I remember him. The humor in this movie works great. Be it the introduction scenes that shows Hubert Fiorentini, the situational comedy, the clash of cultures or quirks of the characters. It was greatly entertaining. The action works well but it is not an action movie like “The Transporter” or similar category. Take that as warning not to expect an action blockbuster. Overall this was such an enjoyable and funny movie. I do not understand the dislike and low ratings. In my circle of friends it is a highlight and well remembered. Easily a must see recommendation for me.… Expand