Episode #77 "The Rising Sun Of Death"

[ViceFanMan]

Ehh...it's okay, but still nothing that memorable or special. It's like every other 80's karate/martial arts action movie. The "action" is good...but other than that there's really not much acting, or that in-depth or captivating of a plot. Just Japanese gang people slicin'-n-dicin' with their swords. This is one that I can have playing while doing something else and still not really miss out on much. I still give it a 6.

[Remington]

I didn't like this one when I first saw it back in 2012. Now I really enjoy it.

It's good to see Castillo with a larger role. That happens a lot in S4.

Love the opening with Flesh For Fantasy playing. Big Billy Idol fan.

The main thing I like about this episode is its atmosphere and cinematography. Especially during the night scenes. Love Crockett checking out his car after the shootout.

Always liked R. Lee Ermy.

However, the sword fight at the end is pretty mediocre. Honestly, I think it does kind of run out of steam towards the end.

8/10

[Rattlehead]

This was a good episode. Excellent music and shots, I am a sucker for overt blues during night-time!

[Bren10]

Miami Vice's Yakuza episode.  A rather uneven ep.  Some random thoughts:  James Hong is always good.  Lee Ermey could have played more sleazeballs quite effectively if he wasn't so typecast.  As a Smiths fan, this is one of the weirdest uses of one of their songs, but it works here.  C & T disappear for the last third of the ep.  We get to see Shang Tsung as a cop.  If you've seen Sugar Hill you'll notice Leon Ichaso's style in this.  Good use of red lighting at the end too.  The climactic swordfight is often criticized, but the point wasn't to have a dynamic fight scene so much as to be dramatic and tell a story through stylized violence.  Castillo gets to shine a bit in this ep, demonstrating his Asian knowledge again.  Sato from Karate Kid 2 is also here which is fun.       

[Robbie C.]

One of the solid Castillo episodes in my view. I always appreciated how EJO kept Castillo's background focused and on-point (not always easy in MV it seems). Keep in mind, too, that at this point the karate cliche was still pretty new, especially on television (the Sho Kosugi Ninja movies didn't start until 1981 and were staggered every couple of years...and American Ninja didn't hit until 1985 or so). And Ermey hadn't been fully typecast yet. That really took Full Metal Jacket to establish. It's important to remember how groundbreaking Vice was in many areas on television at the time it was made.

Edited January 23, 2019 by Robbie C.

[Bren10]

This ep was post Full Metal Jacket at the end of 87.  FMJ was mid 87.  But what I'm saying is that every role after this was typically an authoritarian figure with wisecracks and he never really got a chance to show more of a range.  I saw FMJ in the theater in 87 and I can tell you Ermey's notoriety happened virtually overnight and he would never escape it once people saw that movie.  In fact, the only person that movie made a star of was Ermey at the time.  It's actually kind of sad seeing his potential here that would never be fully fleshed out.

[Robbie C.]

I saw FMJ in the theater in '87 as well, so I know how he took off as quickly as he did. He'd popped up a time or two prior to that, and I agree it's a shame he never got to do other things. Heck, he wasn't even supposed to be in the movie originally.

[RedDragon86]

"Ivory San!!!"

James Hong was too much of an Asian stereotype, he's not even Japanese 

[Bren10]

Again!

 

 

[IzzyFan99]

8.5/10.

Love the look of this one. I'm also happy they used a song by one of my personal favourite bands The Smiths. There are a couple of decent Yello songs in there, too.

 

 

Edited June 8, 2020 by IzzyFan99

[AndrewRemington]

Great episode here! Many good songs! Billy Idol, The Smiths and Yello! The Smiths were my favorite band in high school. I still really like them, but they longer my top favorite. “Flesh For Fantasy” is a superb song and perfect for the scene with the dancers/strippers. Gave me goosebumps hearing that song in the episode. “Last Night I Dreamt...” is an amazing song but a real tearjerker! Perfect for the person who thinks they’ll be alone their entire life.

R. Lee Ermey is great. I love “Full Metal Jacket”. That was one of my dad’s favorite movies. He said that was the most realistic depiction of basic training. My dad served in the Air Force, though.

James Hong is also very memorable to me as the host at the Chinese restaurant in the “Seinfeld” episode “The Chinese Restaurant”. Hilarious episode!

Edited July 26, 2020 by AndrewRemington

[ViceFanMan]

I don’t really find this episode that special or enthralling...but if you love ninjas, sword fights, martial arts, and cutting off fingers, etc... , you might really like it. But, other than that the plot, acting, colors, etc...are kind of out-there and bizarre. 

It's basically a bunch of stuff about Japanese mob guys, the Yakuza, and strange looking Japanese gang tattoos. We do get to see more of Castillo's knowledge of Asian gangs and killers...but it's just all kind of weird and in some aspects a little over-the-top.  

Crockett and Tubbs are hardly seen in this one at all, either. Some of the guest stars and a couple songs were cool though...James Hong is an amazing actor and I always have enjoyed seeing him in the tons of stuff he's been in! R. Lee Ermey and Danny Kamekona were good too. A couple more songs by Yello (Moon On Ice and Si Senor The Hairy Grill) as well as Flesh For Fantasy by Billy Idol and Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me by the Smiths were included as the soundtrack...along with Jan Hammer's usual superb songs.

But, I really am not that impressed or excited by this one. Not terrible...just not memorable or special either. I originally gave it a 6, but it might be worth bumping up to a 7 if I could.

[Jack Gretsky]

Last year, I chose this episode as my best of season 4.  Will it remain my favorite?  Stay tuned.  It is indeed quite visually stylish as I said last year, with its flamboyant use of color, design and light. (An example - the encounter and fight between Fujitsu and Agawa - the blue of the rainy exterior and the glowing red of the interior; often all in the same shot.)  It also has an intriguing and well-turned story dealing with the yakuza.  (One of my favorite "macho" movies is the 1974 The Yakuza, written by the Schrader brothers - both of them enthusiasts of the Japanese yakuza film genre.) 

R. Lee Ermey is properly intimidating as a Homicide "dick."  He was also a fearsome beast in The Kube's Full Metal Jacket from earlier in 1987 (and no doubt a terror to his would-be Marines during his D.I. days.) Gina and Trudy seem to be channeling Lana and Sha Sha from "The Home Invaders" during their job interview at the club. 

Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa (Fujitsu) would play a Hong Kong narcotics agent two years later in the Bond film, "Licence to Kill."  One of the best scenes is his with Castillo.  I always like these deep scenes with Marty - no surprise considering how much I like "Bushido."  And a lot of the double-dealing intrigue here is reminiscent of "Golden Triangle" - another superb episode. 

Best song in this episode is the one by The Smiths. 

[RedDragon86]

12 hours ago, Jack Gretsky said:

Last year, I chose this episode as my best of season 4.  Will it remain my favorite?  Stay tuned.  It is indeed quite visually stylish as I said last year, with its flamboyant use of color, design and light. (An example - the encounter and fight between Fujitsu and Agawa - the blue of the rainy exterior and the glowing red of the interior; often all in the same shot.)  It also has an intriguing and well-turned story dealing with the yakuza.  (One of my favorite "macho" movies is the 1974 The Yakuza, written by the Schrader brothers - both of them enthusiasts of the Japanese yakuza film genre.) 

R. Lee Ermey is properly intimidating as a Homicide "dick."  He was also a fearsome beast in The Kube's Full Metal Jacket from earlier in 1987 (and no doubt a terror to his would-be Marines during his D.I. days.) Gina and Trudy seem to be channeling Lana and Sha Sha from "The Home Invaders" during their job interview at the club. 

Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa (Fujitsu) would play a Hong Kong narcotics agent two years later in the Bond film, "Licence to Kill."  One of the best scenes is his with Castillo.  I always like these deep scenes with Marty - no surprise considering how much I like "Bushido."  And a lot of the double-dealing intrigue here is reminiscent of "Golden Triangle" - another superb episode. 

Best song in this episode is the one by The Smiths. 

It's certainly is one of the highlights in season 4, a very good episode which is rare for this season.

The best song imo was "Moon on Ice" sung by the late great Billy Mackenzie.

Nice bonus is seeing Caitlin disappear. 

[Eillio Martin Imbasciati]

15 hours ago, Jack Gretsky said:

Last year, I chose this episode as my best of season 4.  Will it remain my favorite?  Stay tuned.  It is indeed quite visually stylish as I said last year, with its flamboyant use of color, design and light. (An example - the encounter and fight between Fujitsu and Agawa - the blue of the rainy exterior and the glowing red of the interior; often all in the same shot.)  It also has an intriguing and well-turned story dealing with the yakuza.  (One of my favorite "macho" movies is the 1974 The Yakuza, written by the Schrader brothers - both of them enthusiasts of the Japanese yakuza film genre.) 

R. Lee Ermey is properly intimidating as a Homicide "dick."  He was also a fearsome beast in The Kube's Full Metal Jacket from earlier in 1987 (and no doubt a terror to his would-be Marines during his D.I. days.) Gina and Trudy seem to be channeling Lana and Sha Sha from "The Home Invaders" during their job interview at the club. 

Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa (Fujitsu) would play a Hong Kong narcotics agent two years later in the Bond film, "Licence to Kill."  One of the best scenes is his with Castillo.  I always like these deep scenes with Marty - no surprise considering how much I like "Bushido."  And a lot of the double-dealing intrigue here is reminiscent of "Golden Triangle" - another superb episode. 

Best song in this episode is the one by The Smiths. 

Yeah, I like how it was set up early that R. Lee Ermey's Ernest Haskell (The Beaver wants a word with this rogue) was checking out Trudy, and then in what I call the "Flesh for Fantasy" (love that Vice had Billy Idol; Idol is Vital, as his remix album proves!) scene that no good Haskell spots Trudy on the stage (I love Gina & Trudy's personas when applying for the dancing job at the club; hilarious to me. Ha ha Jack Gretsky, good point on Lana & Sha-Sha; I never made that connection, but yeah, it's like a version of them except more mature in presentation & attitude, and wonder why I find it funny!).

Overall I think this episode is awesome; I know Season 4 was all over the place, but I feel those dark episodes ('Death and the Lady', 'Child's Play', this, 'Mirror image', 'Honor Among Thieves, and for me, 'Love at First Sight' as well) strike a harsh blow and plunk the right kind of chords.

[Jack Gretsky]

1 hour ago, Eillio Martin Imbasciati said:

Yeah, I like how it was set up early that R. Lee Ermey's Ernest Haskell (The Beaver wants a word with this rogue) was checking out Trudy, and then in what I call the "Flesh for Fantasy" (love that Vice had Billy Idol; Idol is Vital, as his remix album proves!) scene that no good Haskell spots Trudy on the stage (I love Gina & Trudy's personas when applying for the dancing job at the club; hilarious to me. Ha ha Jack Gretsky, good point on Lana & Sha-Sha; I never made that connection, but yeah, it's like a version of them except more mature in presentation & attitude, and wonder why I find it funny!).

Overall I think this episode is awesome; I know Season 4 was all over the place, but I feel those dark episodes ('Death and the Lady', 'Child's Play', this, 'Mirror image', 'Honor Among Thieves, and for me, 'Love at First Sight' as well) strike a harsh blow and plunk the right kind of chords.

Yes, I agree with most of your choices for the better S4 episodes.  Heh, I didn't "see" the closeness of Ermey's character name and the Beav's nemesis Eddie H.!  And, yes, Vital Idol  is a terrific remix/greatest hits albums - vital, indeed! 

[Eillio Martin Imbasciati]

1 minute ago, Jack Gretsky said:

Yes, I agree with most of your choices for the better S4 episodes.  Heh, I didn't "see" the closeness of Ermey's character name and the Beav's nemesis Eddie H.!  And, yes, Vital Idol  is a terrific remix/greatest hits albums - vital, indeed! 

Ha ha, I didn't notice the similarities between Haskell & Haskell either until today, and with me mentioning 'Honor Among Thieves', that's two times the Idol in one post (my favorite Idol song is "Dancing with Myself" and my favorite Idol film is "The Wedding Singer")!

Yeah, maybe 'Love at First Sight' may seem like a longshot there with all the Crockett/Catlin sudsy drama, but I'm wary of a serial killer that, uh, dismembers the equipment as part of the killing ritual.

[sdiegolo78]

I re-watched this episode last night since the 90s reruns on public Italian television. I had forgotten most of the plot and finer details over the decades. And in my book this is a very good show, among the top 5 of S4. The second last season was certainly a mixed bag, ranging from awful silly (amen send the money, big thaw, missing hours, the cows of October) to great (deliver us from evil, mirror image, rising sun of death, child play, blood & roses, badge of dishonor and honor among thieves). This deserves a solid 8/10 for me.

For one, i liked to see the late Lee Ermey going from Sgt Hartman to Sgt Haskell the same year. You could tell from his first scene he was some sleazy character up to no good. That suspicion was confirmed when Trudy turned her back to avoid his advances in the hallway outside the morgue. It was nice to see character actor Roger Pretto (Sergio Celemente from definitely Miami and Morales from Kill-shot) as commissioner Vasquez running for mayor.This character was in my opinion some sort of forerunner for S5 Metro Dade commissioner Highsmith.

I liked the final sword/kung fu fight between Fujitsu and Agawa. Perhaps a bit over the top, but maybe not after seeing Castillo dropping from a ceiling to fight a bunch of goons with a Katana in Bullshido .

By the way, the Japanese ex-cop was the first guy to walk into Lt. Castillo (who knew he was there...was he actually waiting for Fujitsu to show up at some stage???) office late at night, before Edward Reese did in Borrasca. Either OCB security is really that bad or these guys are really tough "mofos" for doing that .

 

Edited January 18, 2022 by sdiegolo78

[Miami Beau]

5 hours ago, sdiegolo78 said:

I re-watched this episode last night since the 90s reruns on public Italian television. I had forgotten most of the plot and finer details over the decades. And in my book this is a very good show, among the top 5 of S4. The second last season was certainly a mixed bag, ranging from awful silly (amen send the money, big thaw, missing hours, the cows of October) to great (deliver us from evil, mirror image, rising sun of death, child play, blood & roses, badge of dishonor and honor among thieves). This deserves a solid 8/10 for me

I liked the final sword/kung fu fight between Fujitsu and Agawa. Perhaps a bit over the top, but maybe not after seeing Castillo dropping from a ceiling to fight a bunch of goons with a Katana in Bullshido .

By the way, the Japanese ex-cop was the first guy to walk into Lt. Castillo (who knew he was there...was he actually waiting for Fujitsu to show up at some stage???) office late at night, before Edward Reese did in Borrasca. Either OCB security is really that bad or these guys are really tough "mofos" for doing that .

 

Nice to hear your thoughts pal, and I agree with everything you say.
Definitely one of the more stronger episodes from Season 4. One of the more stylistic episodes in this season with the neon colours. We saw the same in Indian Wars a few episodes later. Directed by the same guy, Leon Ichaso always offered very stylish looking episodes and doesn’t get enough credit.

Anyways his style is seen again here, especially in the fight at the end. Sadly this for me went on way to long, just like the final race in Florence, Italy. 

For the final 15 minutes, Crockett and Tubbs duck out and it becomes a fully fledged Castillo episode. I think Crockett and Tubbs showing up at the house earlier would of been nice, maybe involve themselves in the fight somehow.

Credit to Jan Hammer for letting John Petersen score a new version of “Castillo’s Theme” which was nice though not used enough. 

The Caitlin house hunting intro was nice to see, always loved the personal off duty rare moments we got with Sonny. Very nice fashion on show aswell, two rare shirts (Zebra/Abstract) Crockett wears only one time in this ep. 7.5/10
 

 

[king77]

James Hong to receive Star on Hollywood Walk of Fame

https://www.einnews.com/pr_news/570018659/james-hong-to-be-honored-with-star-on-hollywood-walk-of-fame-making-history-as-the-oldest-living-star-to-receive-it