I would imagine Jet Li being envious of Jackie Chan after he proclaimed Fearless would be his last Martial Arts adventure to concentrate on more dramatic acting. But it is Jackie Chan who has come out with a movie that Jet Li would have wanted a part of.
Overall, The Shinjuku Incident is a decent movie with strong acting, gore and violence, and also has a simple yet powerful story. Jackie Chan does a good job as Steelhead, leading a group of Chinese immigrants in dominating areas of Japan occupied by the Japanese Yakuza. Steelhead meets an entourage of immigrants, who are reliant on fraudulent activities to survive in this anti-Chinese society. Their little scams in order to gain a living lead them towards head-on clashes and come into direct conflict with the Yakuza with catastrophic consequences.
Daniel Wu plays a gentle and cowardice guy who is always at the wrong place at the wrong time. His misfortune finally bring him to meltdown after he is brutally beaten upon on a couple of occasions. From a gentle loving guy, these violent acts against him proves to be a life changing experience, turning him into a rebellious, punky drug addict whom seeks trouble and fear wherever he goes.
After these events, Steelhead vows to play a much bigger game and seek true power within the society of the Japanese Yakuza. They are eventually given territory within the Shinjuku district and the power crazy gang soon turns real ugly, and the gang end up turning against each other, in particular against Steelhead. The Chinese gang end up bringing chaos to the streets of Shinjuku, leading to the Japanese and Taiwanese working together to oust them out in the most brutal and tragic way possible.
The acting I felt were all rather solid. Even the veteran TVB actor who played the Taiwanese gang leader in the bar was superb as always. I didn't know his Mandarin was so good - better than Jackie's anyway. Jackie's Mandarin of course is fluent, but the accent - even though I am not a Chinese native - is quite awful to listen to. Jackie's first non martial art role was well done, but he is the same as any of his other films. We've seen his sentimental acting before in just about the end of all of his movies. So it was all as I expected, except his Mandarin accent let him down. Jet Li I believe would have done a more solid job, but we will not know, unfortunately.
The supporting cast members are also well played, in particular Daniel Wu who plays practically 4 different roles. First the nice caring guy, then the tragic and badly beaten, the coming to terms with his loss, and finally the crazed, power mad drug addict. He plays a major role in the developments of the gang, spurring Steelhead on to the power they achieved.
Shinjuku Incident was a good film, but I felt some discomfort afterwards. It gave me a real eerie feeling, and if a film manages to do so, then the film has done a good job in getting to the audience. It seems the morale of the story is either, if you seek power through fraud, you will not succeed, or being Hong Kongnese myself, I have a stronger feeling that the message is, the Chinese have no place in Japanese society. I found it really sad that the Chinese are depicted in this way, and of course unsurprised this will or has not got a showing in Chinese cinemas.
A good film that is worth viewing, especially to see the direction Jackie Chan is going with his movies. Mr Li, take note!
Overall, The Shinjuku Incident is a decent movie with strong acting, gore and violence, and also has a simple yet powerful story. Jackie Chan does a good job as Steelhead, leading a group of Chinese immigrants in dominating areas of Japan occupied by the Japanese Yakuza. Steelhead meets an entourage of immigrants, who are reliant on fraudulent activities to survive in this anti-Chinese society. Their little scams in order to gain a living lead them towards head-on clashes and come into direct conflict with the Yakuza with catastrophic consequences.
Daniel Wu plays a gentle and cowardice guy who is always at the wrong place at the wrong time. His misfortune finally bring him to meltdown after he is brutally beaten upon on a couple of occasions. From a gentle loving guy, these violent acts against him proves to be a life changing experience, turning him into a rebellious, punky drug addict whom seeks trouble and fear wherever he goes.
After these events, Steelhead vows to play a much bigger game and seek true power within the society of the Japanese Yakuza. They are eventually given territory within the Shinjuku district and the power crazy gang soon turns real ugly, and the gang end up turning against each other, in particular against Steelhead. The Chinese gang end up bringing chaos to the streets of Shinjuku, leading to the Japanese and Taiwanese working together to oust them out in the most brutal and tragic way possible.
The acting I felt were all rather solid. Even the veteran TVB actor who played the Taiwanese gang leader in the bar was superb as always. I didn't know his Mandarin was so good - better than Jackie's anyway. Jackie's Mandarin of course is fluent, but the accent - even though I am not a Chinese native - is quite awful to listen to. Jackie's first non martial art role was well done, but he is the same as any of his other films. We've seen his sentimental acting before in just about the end of all of his movies. So it was all as I expected, except his Mandarin accent let him down. Jet Li I believe would have done a more solid job, but we will not know, unfortunately.
The supporting cast members are also well played, in particular Daniel Wu who plays practically 4 different roles. First the nice caring guy, then the tragic and badly beaten, the coming to terms with his loss, and finally the crazed, power mad drug addict. He plays a major role in the developments of the gang, spurring Steelhead on to the power they achieved.
Shinjuku Incident was a good film, but I felt some discomfort afterwards. It gave me a real eerie feeling, and if a film manages to do so, then the film has done a good job in getting to the audience. It seems the morale of the story is either, if you seek power through fraud, you will not succeed, or being Hong Kongnese myself, I have a stronger feeling that the message is, the Chinese have no place in Japanese society. I found it really sad that the Chinese are depicted in this way, and of course unsurprised this will or has not got a showing in Chinese cinemas.
A good film that is worth viewing, especially to see the direction Jackie Chan is going with his movies. Mr Li, take note!