In the Little Tokyo district of Los Angeles, California, police detective Chris Kenner disrupts an illegal kickboxing match at the Bonsai Club. Tanaka, the club owner, orders the boxers to attack Chris, who handily defeats them. Thugs draw their weapons and a gunfight ensues. After dispatching numerous yakuza, Chris follows the leaders outside and leaps over their moving car as they try to run him over. In the morning, Chris’s breakfast is interrupted as yakuza try to extort money from restaurateur Mama Yamaguchi. Chris defeats the thugs with his martial artistry and leaves the restaurant in shambles. Detective Johnny Murata arrives on the scene and assumes Chris is a criminal. Their martial arts battle is cut short by yakuza gunfire, and as they take cover, Johnny realizes that Chris is his new partner. The detectives take a suspect into custody, but he is unresponsive to their questioning. However, Chris recognizes the elaborate tattoos covering the man’s upper body, and recalls his own parents’ murder by a member of the yakuza. The gangster reveals his affiliation with a group known as the “Iron Claw,” then commits suicide by breaking his own neck. At a scrap metal yard, Yoshida, leader of the Iron Claw, watches as a compactor crushes Tanaka inside his car, ignoring the club owner’s cries for mercy. Yoshida assumes control of the Bonsai Club through his company, the Red Dragon Brewery, and invites the employees to a celebration that evening. At the party, Minako, the club’s featured singer, scolds her coworker, Angel, for smoking crack cocaine. However, Angel needs the drug to overcome her terror, as Yoshida’s lieutenant, Sato, and his henchmen approach. Sato takes Angel to Yoshida, who is aware of her close alliance with Tanaka. A video camera documents the meeting, during which Yoshida gives Angel a pipe filled with methamphetamine, then cuts off her head with a samurai sword. In the morning, coroner Nonnie Russell describes the beheading to Chris and Johnny, noting that Angel would have died either way, as she had ingested a deadly form of methamphetamine called “ice,” only available in Japan. Later, Chris is surprised when Johnny, a Japanese American, admits his ignorance of Japanese culture, despite his knowledge of martial arts. Chris, however, lived in Japan as a child and knows the language as well as the customs. The detectives force their way into the Bonsai Club and question Minako about Angel’s disappearance. Unaware of her friend’s murder, Minako offers little information. Yoshida’s men take Chris and Johnny to Yoshida, whom Chris recognizes as the man who killed his parents. Chris informs the gangsters that witnesses saw him and Johnny enter the club, and Yoshida allows them to leave. Afterward, when Chris explains his need to avenge his parents, Johnny offers assistance, provided Chris follow police procedures. They arrive at the Red Dragon brewery, where Yoshida is recruiting street gangs and outlaw motorcycle clubs to distribute “ice.” When an outlaw biker disputes Yoshida’s terms, the yakuza boss cuts off the man’s hand, inducing the others to comply. Later, Yoshida molests Minako and imprisons her in his mansion. Chris and Johnny spy on the mansion from a hilltop and discover Minako attempting to commit suicide. They come to her rescue, killing several guards along the way, and escape in Sato’s car. Outraged by the incident, Yoshida demands Chris’s head. After Minako is safely ensconced in Chris’s loft apartment, the detectives follow Yoshida and his henchmen to a bathhouse, intent on arresting him for murder and drug trafficking. The henchmen fight Chris and Johnny, allowing Yoshida to escape. Chris brings Minako and Johnny to his Japanese-style home, and after relaxing in the hot tub, Chris and Minako make love. Later that night, Iron Claw members invade the house and abduct the three occupants. Yoshida’s henchman, Hagata, subjects the detectives to electric shocks, until Chris breaks free and electrocutes his torturer. However, when he and Johnny try to escape, a forklift places their car in a grinding machine. The detectives survive the ordeal, but are presumed dead by the yakuza. Sometime later, Yoshida addresses his gangland distributors, saying “ice” is ready for shipment. Outside, Chris and Johnny commandeer a brewery truck and crash through the warehouse doors. Unwilling to endanger themselves, the street gangs abandon Yoshida, and a gunfight ensues, resulting in many dead Iron Claw members. While Yoshida escapes, using Minako as human shield, Johnny throws Sato into a vat of grain alcohol, followed by a lit cigarette lighter. The detective runs to safety as the exploding vat triggers a chain reaction. After rescuing Minako, Chris chases Yoshida through the streets during a Japanese-themed parade. Acquiring weapons from a pair of mock samurai horsemen, Chris and Yoshida engage in a sword fight in front of the astonished crowd. Chris impales Yoshida, then pins his body to a rotating wheel powered by fireworks. Yoshida screams as the wheel reaches its maximum speed before exploding. Minako and Chris embrace, while the crowd bows in admiration. Johnny and Chris find humor in having to report the incident, as the crime scene has been destroyed and all of the suspects are dead.