Director: Derek Yee
Cast: Jackie Chan, Daniel Wu, Naoto Takenaka, Xu Jinglei, Fan Bingbing, Masaya Kato
"Shinjuku Incident" has been much publicised as Jackie Chan's first venture into dramatic acting. The film will not feature any of Chan’s trademark screen action/comedy but instead focuses mostly on the dramatic story.
Chan plays Steelhead, a Chinese farmer who enters Japan illegally in search of his girlfriend Xiu Xiu (Xu Jinglei). Steelhead meets up with his friend, Jie (Daniel Wu) in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo and works odd jobs to earn money. Steelhead then gets involved with a local yakuza leader, Eguchi (Masaya Kato) and rises to power to become the first Chinese to hold a position in the yakuza. This angers the other members of the criminal organisation as they despised the Chinese. In the end, they plot to bring down Eguchi and Steelhead.
"Shinjuku Incident" is a combination of immigrant drama and gangster thriller. The film shows the audience that life as an illegal immigrant in Japan isn’t easy - they are discriminated by the Japanese, struggles to earn money by working odd jobs and have to run whenever the cops show up. The film also briefly explores the world of the Japanese yakuza organisation. Overall, Derek Yee did a good job in balancing between the two genres.
So, how is Jackie Chan's performance in his first dramatic role? Well, he isn't a bad actor and although he tries very hard, he doesn't seem believable as the character Steelhead. While watching this film, it's hard for me to see him as someone who can't fight at all. There are moments in the film when Steelhead gets involved in fights and I secretly hope that he will kick some serious ass. Sadly, that never happened. Maybe it's just me but I feel that casting Jackie Chan as Steelhead is very distracting to the film itself. I wonder how the film will turn out if Steelhead is played by a different actor (Andy Lau perhaps?) instead.
In short, "Shinjuku Incident" is entertaining and sometimes violent but those who are familiar with Jackie Chan's legendary screen persona will have a hard time accepting his against-type portrayal of the film's lead character.
Score: 7.5/10
Related post:
Japanese Trailer For "Shinjuku Incident"
New Trailer For "Shinjuku Incident"
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