later in 1991, lundgren appeared in martial arts action film "showdown in little tokyo" opposite brandon lee, cary-hiroyuki tagawa and tia carrere. lundgren plays a police sergeant named kenner working in little tokyo, los angeles who is partnered with johnny murata (lee), a japanese american who are sent to infiltrate the operations of new japanese drug gang named the iron claw manufacturing a lethal methamphetamine while using a local brewery and nightclub as a front for the operation. along the way, kenner discovers that yoshida (tagawa), the head of the drug gang, is a member of the yakuza who killed his parents in front of him as a young boy in japan and the case becomes violent and personal. the film received a mainly negative reception from critics and was criticized for its violence; vincent canby of the new york times described it as "violent, but spiritless." "variety" wrote "lundgren can hold his own with other action leads as an actor and could easily be van damme-marketable if only he'd devote as much attention to quality control as he does to pectoral development." david j. fox of the "los angeles times", however, described the film as a "class act".