Every Ridley Scott Movie Ranked Worst To Best

18. Black Rain (1989)

After making the lower key Someone To Watch Over Me, Scott continued his first neo noir period with a focus on police corruption in a culture clash frame as Michael Douglas' New York cop is charged with taking a Yakuza suspect back to Japan, where he promptly loses him.

Putting aside the issue with logic - why would a corruption suspect be allowed to leave the country? - there are lots of issues, and this was the first time the director flirted with such nasty characters. Like its predecessor, the story is pretty thin, but it's far more enjoyable because of the way Scott portrays Osaka, taking leads from his environmental work in Blade Runner.

The story can never match up to those visual ideas, and Black Rain is very much a case of style over substance. It just helps that Michael Douglas and Andy Garcia are still so watchable with such limited material.