,A CIA agent roams the streets of New York haunted by the death of the beautiful woman he fell in love with while on assignment in Jakarta. When he is kidnapped and drugged, the destination is Jakarta once again where he tries to unravel the mystery that is the city that broke him three years earlier.'
Synopsis above taken from IMDB.
Pretty cool action / adventure flick with a touch of classic film-noir to it as well. It stars Chris Noth who went on to do Law and Order as well as playing the part of Mr. Big in Sex and the City. His gorgeous female co-star here is Sue Francis Pai who was a Penthouse 'Pet of the Month' in the early 80s, but is probably best known to most of us for playing Miao Yin in Big Trouble in Little China.
Decent acting, some steamy love scenes and pretty good action scenes make for a fun b-movie. The ending with some spectacular chase scenes in which they're driving straight through the slums of Jakarta was later ripped off for a suspiciously similar scene in Hollywood blockbuster Bad Boys 2 (2003).
Written and directed by Charles Kaufman, brother of Lloyd Kaufman (head honcho of Troma), Jakarta unfortunately slipped into obscurity with no sign of getting a re-release anytime soon.
[ 16. July 2012, 06:57: Message edited by: Johnny Roarke is reckless ]
Posted by aTomiK (Member # 6575) on :
Sounds like a cool flick, i need to add this on my wanted list. Sue Francis Pai - me likes
Jakarta was released on VHS here in Finland back in the day so iīm gonna keep my eyes open if i could find a copy.
Posted by Johnny Roarke is reckless (Member # 9826) on :
Jakarta is well worth a look, but unfortunately the only way to see it is when you're lucky enough to come across one of the old rental tapes. My copy has lots and lots of good old-fashioned video distortion and 'bleeding' colours.
Some trivia about Sue Francis Pai that i accidentally came across this afternoon that i wasn't even aware of myself :
Sue Francis Pai (aka Suzee Pai) had an uncredited role in Fist Blood, but was cut from the final version. Her (topless) scene can be found in the special features on the First Blood dvd.
Ofcourse i had to check this myself.. and what d'ya know.. she was there allright !
[ 16. July 2012, 10:17: Message edited by: Johnny Roarke is reckless ]
Posted by aTomiK (Member # 6575) on :
Just watched it myself and there she was in the Saigon "Lucky" bar flashback Posted by Spreadking (Member # 7280) on :
Just got my VHS copy of Jakarta in the mail. Ordered on Monday from Amz.
I think I saw it on cable back in the day, 20 years ago, but can't remember much. Should be a treat.
Thanks for the reminder friends.
Posted by aTomiK (Member # 6575) on :
Well, i found, bought and watched Jakarta!
It was a highly entertaining movie and like you said, the action scenes are very well made. The cast did a good job and i liked the exotic scenery.
They stole the "driving throught the slums" sequence from Jackie Chanīs Police Story (1985) but itīs ok. If you want to steal, steal from the best
I also liked the score, composed by Jay Chattaway, very much.
Great stuff!
Posted by Johnny Roarke is reckless (Member # 9826) on :
You didn't only find, buy and watch.. you conquered !
I didn't realise there was a similar chase-scene in Jackie Chan's Police Story. I think i saw that movie once, but it must have been at least twenty-something years ago. A great opportunity is coming up to revisit that movie, because Shout! Factory (again) is bringing Police Story and its first sequel to new double-feature dvd and blu-ray release this april.
Although it seems very unlikely, i still wish Jakarta will turn up on dvd or blu-ray at some point.
Posted by aTomiK (Member # 6575) on :
We just canīt remember everything, can we
I have a nice Police Story dvd released by Hong Kong Legends (and the sequel too) and iīve watched it several times so i remember the movie pretty well. Both are true classics so you have to pick them up come april!
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