The screenplay by John Allen Nelson and Max Strom is based on a story by executive producer Takashige Ichise.
[1] American FBI agent David Brandt (Viggo Mortensen) is working undercover under the identity of Nick Davis, a former convict who died in solitary confinement, at a warehouse in Los Angeles that the Tendo crime family owns in order to infiltrate their operations.
Kazuo (Yuji Okumoto), one of Sawamoto's men, is immediately suspicious of Brandt, and comments on him being too tan for someone who allegedly spent the last year in solitary confinement.
At the FBI office, Sam and the director, Littmann (Robert Forster), discuss Brandt's role on the case.
At the warehouse, the Yakuza members enter the building while Brandt stays outside to serve as the getaway driver.
The next time Brandt returns to his new house, Yuko (Anzu Lawson) is in his living room and explains that she is his interior decorator.
Brandt mentions that he has a friend who works with Border Patrol who may be willing to assist the Yakuza in importing contraband.
Sam, who is undercover as Border Patrol agent Bill Jenkins, meets with Brandt, Sawamoto, and several Yakuza members in the middle of the desert.
Littman informs Brandt that Campanela's men are planning to exterminate the Yakuza in the area and the FBI is going to allow them to do so.
Brandt meets Sawamoto and the two attack Campanela and his men that evening as they celebrate exterminating the Yakuza.
As the FBI start to infiltrate the compound, Brandt picks up Sawamoto's body and brings it downstairs.
American Yakuza along with Blue Tiger was announced as a part of a series of co-productions between First Look Studios and Japanese company Ozla Productions.
[3] These films were part of a short lived venture by Toei Company to produce higher end V-Cinema releases under the imprint V-America with Toei partnering with international partners as to ensure their financial exposure was the same as one of their own locally produced V-Cinema projects.
[6] TV Guide wrote that director Frank Cappello did "an adequate job of weaving a relatively intricate storyline together, while delivering numerous explosive, action-packed sequences".
They concluded that overall, American Yakuza "is a surprisingly powerful portrayal of the loyalties that exist in the underworld, where violence and betrayal are a way of life.
"[7] In a review for the Movie Gazette, Anton Bitel wrote that after considering Viggo Mortensen's acting in this 1993 film and how he was mostly known as Aragorn in the Lord of the Rings films, American Yakuza "will leave viewers wondering why Mortensen's talents were not generally recognized a lot earlier."
Bitel feels that "American Yakuza is in effect 'The Godfather: the next Generation' – an immigrant saga of family, blood and assimilation that just happens to be set in the world of organized crime."
He found flaws in that parts of the film "have the look of a rock video" and overall suffers from needing a larger budget.