dir. Richard Park, Y. K. Kim
Miami Connection undeniably does its damndest to furnish its audience with everything they could possibly want in an action movie, or an eighties movie in general. Ninjas? Motorcycles? Rock bands? Drug deals? A heart-warming rekindled relationship between father and son? All of this in Florida, for some reason? The thing about Miami Connection, though, is its unbridled joy. It’s clearly not a cynical money-maker or a manipulative movie done for a movie’s sake – it’s an obvious labour of love, with everyone genuinely having masses of fun, even if they don’t really seem to know what they’re supposed to be doing most of the time. Part of why it’s become a massive cult hit in the decades following its release. Hopefully that’s some consolation to writer, producer and director Y. K. Kim, who was nearly bankrupted by the whole endeavour. Nearly.