Rugged B-movie actor Wayne Crawford directed & starred in this DTV B-movie Cop Thriller, that has a sense of humour.
Crawford is also great in another DTV B-movie flick, Headhunter (1989).
Wayne Crawford was definitely a good B-movie star, with a fairly big filmography with fun titles like: White Ghost, Snake Island, Diary of a Hitman, Headhunter, & The Evil Below. Seems Wayne was a staple of DTV B-movie cult cinema, hey i really think he was a very likeable gritty & grizzled everyman, in the same style of B-movie leading men as: Fred Ward, Tom Atkins, William Katt & Robert Ginty.
Crawford plays Elmo Lagrange, a tough, grizzled Los Angeles cop who is fed-up with how his life is going, he's split up with his wife & is living in a camper van, & is fed up of not getting anywhere within the police department,He's mainly assigned to stolen car duty .
Elmo is pushing 40 & now gets a new hotshot partner, Peter Russo (a decent, cocky & confident performance by Martin Hewitt) that is the complete opposite of himself. They argue & don't really get along, until they have to.
The two mismatched (Lethal Weapon style) cops are on the case of LA's car jacking crime wave & end up in an explosive situation.
The dangerous situation puts our two cops out of work, whilst under investigation within the police department, so the now ex-cops decide to continue their investigation by heading over to Japan.
In Japan they're way out of their depth & in over their heads, theirs a fun fish-outta-water vibe to this crazy cop thriller.
Our hero cops get mugged, lose their passports & have no guns, & are now targeted by a high-up Japanese crime syndicate. The same crime syndicate that our hero cops went up against back in Los Angeles & caused them their jobs.
I got fun, if low-budget, vibes of Classic 80's films like Black Rain (1989) for an example, & for the most part the film is fun & entertaining, mainly due to Crawford being a fun screen presence, as he's such an ordinary everyone type who just happens to be a cop. I felt vibes of Tango & Cash a little & other better cop flicks, but Crime Lords is definitely a decent little early 90's buddy-cop action thriller.
James Hong stars as a high up crime boss, its always good to see him in Japan themed films, great in Big Trouble In Little China (1986).
Yes this is a lower-budget film but i did like it, I really liked the grizzled Wayne Crawford, he's a screen presence similar to that of the late-great Fred Ward.
There's action & shootouts & humour spread out throughout this crazy cop adventure. Crawford literally becomes a homeless guy living in the wet, dank & dark back streets & alleyways of a Japanese city. I actually really felt for his character because he is so out of his comfort zone & has nothing to help himself with, no gun or cash or any friends out there.
The film actually looks really good & Japan is explored & filmed as a huge busy place full of crime & mazes of alleyways & back streets full of wacky characters. Our two mismatched & separated cops are lost in a world they don't know & up against a powerful crime lord, will they finally get their criminals or will they be EXTERMINATED.
Good late-night cop thriller fun.
Wayne Crawford was a very good B-movie actor from the glory days of Video stores.
