Both are stylish, gritty, crime action thrillers about an embittered New York City cop who find himself in an increasingly personal war with an upstart Asian gangster - YEAR OF THE DRAGON concerns the Chinese mob and BLACK RAIN concerns the Japanese Yakuza. Both films were accused of racism and xenophobia.
Which is better?
Great post idea! These are two very similar movies, both are trying very hard to be great honest movies, but both are so flawed they almost come across as comedic.
YOTD has much worse acting from the supporting cast which really hurts it, while the acting is all around great in BR, both really suffer from the complexity and mystery of the "bad guy" not really enough character development, to make us feel they are that bad.
YOTD tries to be more epic, but the plot gets lost half way, and there is just too many new characters that come and go. BR is a bit more straight forward, but still terribly unrealistic.
I would have to give the edge to BR, for it's decent acting from everyone, and it's more simplified story. YOTD is just a mess, albeit an entertaining mess.
Both are mediocre. Good violence and great final shootout in this one though.