Shinjuku Incident sees Jackie Chan doing as many action stars are wont, setting aside grand spectacle for something more serious, a piece designed to linger longer in the minds of those who consider mere action throwaway frippery. So from the stark opening shot of multitudinous illegal immigrants washed up upon a Tokyo shore through a first few mishaps handled not by virtuoso martial artistry but simple force or even running away, its clear that this isn't a film of swift pace and hair-raising stunt work. What it is, is pure crime drama, a simple slowly boiling affair taking all the way to its fearsome final block before really exploding. Simple, and predictable, if you've seen more than one or two of these kinds of film before you likely won't be surprised by anything here, for me there was only one plot point I didn't see coming a mile off and in retrospect I actually should have done (been a while since I last watched any Asian crime dramas you see). But despite not being too surprising Shinjuku Incident is solid stuff for fans of the genre, as written and directed by Derek Yee (a Shaw Brothers star back in the day) its a slickly compelling piece rustling up a good degree of sympathy for its characters and satisfying with its climax. The stock plot has Jackie Chan as an illegal immigrant seeking to make his fortune and find his fiancée in Tokyo, in pursuit of the former he becomes a petty criminal and in the latter he finds his fiancée now a Yakuza bride. Driven to make a good life for himself, he delves in waters beyond his control, with violent results. Chan gives a solid performance, there are plenty enough who could have brought greater depth to the role but he conveys in suitably restrained fashion the dignity, sorrow and determination needed of the role. The supporting cast is similarly decent, Daniel Wu with unreliable edges as an unfortunate friend, Naoto Takenaka noble as a sympathetic cop, Bingbing Fan a delight as a friendly bar owner and Jinglei Xu poignantly restrained as the fiancée turned native. Everyone keeps their characters afloat basically, so the film never bores despite not often sparkling, essentially a rock solid filler until the badass final showdown, a chunk of well handled violent mayhem worth the wait. So in the end Shinjuku Incident is a decent experience for genre fans who don't expect much in the way of frills, traditional story in sharply shot urban underbelly with jolts of effective violence and a fine finale. A solid 6/10 from me then.
Review of Shinjuku Incident
