Okay, these are not the best movies I’ve ever reviewed for this section. Still, they’re classic actioners from my favorite movie era: the glorious nineties. What they have in common is Dolph Lundgren taking on the Yakuza. Both films also feature a torture scene, and in both cases Lundgren escapes in much the same way, before giving his torturer a taste of his own medicine. In The Punisher (1989, Mark Goldblatt), based on the Marvel comic, the presumed-dead cop Frank Castle hunts down members of the Franco crime family for the murder of his own family (he’s already killed 125). The Francos, led by Giovanni Franco (Jeroen Krabbé), are under pressure as well from a ruthless Yakuza clan eager to take over their territory. In Showdown in Little Tokyo, Lundgren’s cop is likewise driven by revenge for the murder of his parents. This time he teams up with L.A. cop Brandon Lee of the Asian Task Force, and together they take on a Yakuza faction known as Tetsu No Tsume, or the Iron Claw. Frankly, Lundgren and Lee were B-choice action stars of this period, and these films are unmistakably B-style entertainment. That said, the villains are very well done. Lady Kanaka (Kim Miyori) in The Punisher especially leaves a strong impression. Furthermore, the non-stop action and violence are delivered in generous doses. In the end, this Double Bill may not be prestige cinema, but it’s a solid blast of grimy, old-school ’90s action that knows exactly what it is and never pretends otherwise.