Line #25 Film/Wasabi


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/b76bbbcaeaf79c0af4675f9ac1a867c1.jpg]]
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3	''Wasabi'' is a 2001 French action comedy directed by Gérard Krawczyk, written and produced by Creator/LucBesson and starring Creator/JeanReno, Michel Muller, Ryōko Hirosue and Creator/CaroleBouquet. In France it has the subtitle ''La petite moutarde qui monte au nez'' ("The little mustard that gets right up your nose").
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5	[[UsefulNotes/LesCopsSportif French police commissioner]] Hubert Fiorentini (Reno) is, in his words, an average 47-year old dude who wouldn't hurt a fly. Unless said fly is a criminal. He's a damn good, if unorthodox cop, plays golf on weekends and has an attractive woman pursuing a relationship with him. [[TheOneThatGotAway But he can't get his old flame out of his head]]. Said flame was a Japanese government agent named Miko, whom he hasn't seen in 19 years ([[RunningGag not 20]]). Everyone he knows is telling him it's time to move on.
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7	One day Hubert receives a call from Miko's lawyer informing him of her death. He's invited to UsefulNotes/{{Japan}} for the reading of her will, as he's the only one she's left anything. When he gets there, he discovers two things. [[LukeYouAreMyFather One, he has a 19-year old daughter by Miko]], the {{bratty\|TeenageDaughter}}, [[FieryRedhead fiery and independent Yumi.]] Two, Miko didn't die of natural causes. With the help of his OldFriend Momo, who still works in Japan for French Intelligence, Hubert must [[SinkOrSwimFatherhood protect his daughter]] from some nasty {{Yakuza}} gangsters while [[LinkedListClueMethodology unraveling a series of clues Miko left to help Hubert find the truth]].
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9	!!''Wasabi'' provides examples of:
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11	* TheAce: Whatever task is given to Hubert, he excells at it - even if his methods tend to leave a lot to desire.
12	* ActorAllusion: Once again, Jean Reno [[Film/TheProfessional plays a professional killer who has to protect a young girl after her loved one was murdered by crooks]].
13	* AllegedLookalikes: In theory Yumi and Hubert share a nose, but Hirosue and Reno's nose are absolutely nothing alike.
14	* ArtisticLicensePhysics: Hubert's punches are capable of sending people flying about as efficiently as those of the average incarnation of Superman.
15	* BigBad: Takanawa, called "The Zebra" due to his [[GoodScarsEvilScars facial scarring.]]
16	* BilingualBonus: When Hubert first meets Yumi she's ranting angrily at him in Japanese, complaining about being shut up in the office when she's hungry, hot and has a headache (but nothing, amusingly enough, about him spying on her through the keyhole). Then she points to Hubert and asks "Who is this trash?" When the lawyer tells her, "He's a friend of your mother's and a good person, so don't worry", she is more friendly but still a [[DeadpanSnarker snarker]]. After Hubert asks for something to drink, Yumi mockingly says in Japanese, "Why saké? I don't get it! I don't know why I was brought here. I've been locked up in here forever, hungry and hot and I feel bad. I don't get it! I don't understand at all." She repeats the latter statements in Japanese after she finally sees Hubert shooting the men in the arcade.
17	* {{BFG}}: A couple of rocket launchers are seen, but never used. The same cannot be said for Hubert's [[HandCannon massive]] {{revolver\|sAreJustBetter}}.
18	* BrickJoke: Momo brings two large cases full of various nasty guns and explosives to Hubert's hotel room. None of it actually gets used, since Hubert sticks to his magnum and the grenades all get accidentally detonated in the trunk of their car. [[spoiler:At the very end of the film when Hubert gets on the plane back to France, Japanese cops show up with those two cases and ask who their owner is.]]
19	--> [[spoiler:'''Hubert''': [[OhCrap Oh no.]]]]
20	* BriefcaseFullOfMoney: Of sorts. The money in question exists in a digital account rather than in a physical briefcase. It's a gift from Miko to her family, and the object of the {{Yakuza}}'s pursuit.
21	* ByTheBookCop: Le Squale.
22	* TheCameo: Creator/CaroleBouquet as a date of Hubert.
23	* CannotSpitItOut: Hubert initally does not tell Yumi who he really is, and keeps trying to find the right moment. It doesn't help that A. She hates cops, and B. She was made to believe that her father had raped and subsequently abandoned her mother. The former is natural teenage behavior, [[spoiler:the latter was a cover story to protect her from Miko's enemies. The right moment never does come, as [[BigBad Takanawa]] is the one to break the news to her, but by then Hubert and Yumi are on good terms anyway.]]
24	* CoolOldGuy: Not ''that'' old, but Hubert is pushing fifty.
25	* CowboyCop: Hubert's methods against criminals are quite unorthodox, to say the least.
26	* DisasterDominoes: As far as Hubert knows, his hospital visit to the prefect's son went perfectly...
27	* FauxActionGirl: Yumi acts and talks big (she apparently "knocked out a couple police officer" and almost escapes the villains at one point), but when dad starts shooting people, she freaks out. It's perfectly understandable given that until Hubert showed up she had an ordinary teenage life, with no knowledge of who her parents really were (not that she hadn't made a few educated guesses).
28	* FieryRedhead: Yumi.
29	* GenkiGirl: Yumi comes off as this, but it is implied she acts that way to hide her insecurities.
30	* GolfClubbing: Hubert plays golf when he's not out kicking some ass, and takes on some {{Yakuza}} goons while armed only with some clubs and golf balls.
31	* GratuitousForeignLanguage: [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded in the cover praise.]] The film is French-made, English-subtitled and set predominantly in Japan.
32	* GuileHero: Momo ends up being this, though it's not for lack of trying to shoot the bad guys. He just ends up being more help from behind the lines, such as calling in some favors with his foreign ops buddies to get Hubert some equipment. His personal crowning moment comes [[spoiler: at the end, where he impersonates a bank clerk in order to get Takanawa to unknowingly transfer the 200 million into Hubert's account instead of Takanawa's.]]
33	* GunTwirling: Taken to the extreme after Hubert takes down a whole mob of {{Yakuza}} enforcers at an arcade. [[ReactionShot Cue the aghast face]] of one of Yumi's gamer friends, who had just challenged Hubert to a light gun game.
34	* ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy: Not one good guy gets shot in this movie. Admittedly, the yakuza are hardly given a chance to shoot in the first place.
35	* ImprobableAimingSkills[=/=]ImprobableWeaponUser: While talking to DaChief and playing golf, Hubert notices a thug trying to steal the former's car. He foils the theft by hitting a golf ball across the course directly into the guy's head.
36	* InsistentTerminology: Hubert hasn't seen Miko in ''19'' years, ''not'' 20.
37	* IntentionalEngrishForFunny: Yumi has some comical troubles pronouncing French words, above all "trou" ("hole").
38	* LukeYouAreMyFather: Although in this case even Yumi isn't aware of it.
39	* MexicanStandoff: Happens twice. Once with some transvestite goons near the beginning, and again with the {{Yakuza}} at the end. Both times, Hubert [[ImprobableAimingSkills successfully]] [[BlastOut blasts out.]]
40	* NoodleIncident: Hubert and Momo had a few of it.
41	-->'''Momo:''' Do you remember that one time? We blew up the wrong building. It was ''totally'' great.
42	* OffhandBackhand: During the shopping scene, Hubert gives a member of the {{Yakuza}} a variant of this, with a stand mirror.
43	* OhCrap: "[Tropename]. The Grenade" "What, 'the grenade'?" "I pulled the pin off." Cue panicked running.
44	* OneWordTitle
45	* OverlyNarrowSuperlative: "Quite possibly the greatest French-language, English-subtitled, Japanese action-comedy of all time." Right in the movie poster.
46	* PapaWolf: Hubert is not about to let anybody near his daughter, for ''whatever'' reason.
47	* PlungerDetonator: one of the bank robbers is frantically trying and failing to operate one as Hubert approaches her.
48	* RedLightDistrict: According to Momo, the Shinjuku area in Tokyo is this.
49	* RetiredBadass: Hubert worked for foreign intelligence before he was a cop. He hasn't lost his touch, as Momo is pleased to figure this out.
50	* SecretCompartment: When Hubert arrives at the apartment of his dead lover Miko, the whole place has been ransacked. He then begins to rap the walls, explaining to his friend that he and Miko got the same training from the French Secret Service and one of the lessons was to never conceal anything important in an object that could be taken away easily. A couple of seconds later, he finds a hollow part of the wall that he smashes open, revealing the documents Miko died to acquire: bank information on the {{Yakuza}}.
51	* ShoppingMontage: Hilariously subverted. While his daughter is busy wiping out the store, Hubert is busy punching the yakuza mooks without her noticing.
52	* StandardFemaleGrabArea: Yumi has just kicked an underling right out of the car, but becomes useless the seconds that Takanawa grabs her.
53	* StrangeCopInAStrangeLand: Predictably enough.
54	* StuffBlowingUp: At one point Momo accidentally sets off an ''entire box'' of grenades, taking the car they were in the trunk of with them.
55	* TrademarkFavoriteFood: In one scene at a Japanese Restaurant [[TitleDrop from which the film draws it's name,]] Hubert [[MasochistsMeal eats an entire plate of Wasabi without so much as flinching!]] Momo watches in astonishment and proceeds to choke himself up after eating just a smidge of the stuff. In the ending, Momo hands him a box of it as a going-away present.
56	-->'''Momo:''' Y'know, for spreading on toast at breakfast...
57	* TranslationMatchmaking: Let's be honest - think about a movie with Jean Reno's character taking care of a teenage girl, and the first thing that will come to mind will probably be ''Film/TheProfessional'' (a.k.a. ''Léon: The Professional''). Luc Besson's involvement doesn't help either. In Poland, ''Wasabi'' has been given a [[TheForeignSubtitle subtitle]] ''Hubert zawodowiec'' (''Hubert the Professional''), while in South Africa the movie is known under the title ''The Professional II''.
58	* UnlimitedWardrobe: Yumi. Hubert [[ShoppingMontage takes her shopping]] and she buys loads and loads of outfits, and even puts on a fashion show for Hubert and Momo. [[spoiler:This is actually a plot point. Miko intended for the 200 million in cash to be blown by Yumi, preventing the {{Yakuza}} from ever getting their hands on it.]]
59	* {{Yakuza}}: A less threatening bunch than many other examples. Only their leader, [[BigBad Takanawa,]] seems at all competent. [[spoiler: [[BoomHeadshot Until he tries to beat Hubert to the draw.]]]]

Context Film / Wasabi