Customer Reviews

Shinjuku Incident

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

- It's fast-paced, tense, dark and bloody.

- To some degree, it faithfully and vividly portraits the gang lives of some Chinese illegal immigrants in Japan. For example, it shows them making money buy selling fake phone cards, stealing from gambling machine, cleaning sewers, sorting garbage in recyclable and non-recyclable stuff, etc.

- The ending is predictable.
- It gives enough time to develop some good character development.
- This is not a typical movie by Jackie Chan. There's no joke. It's not a comedy-action movie.

- It's the BEST drama-acting of Jackie Chan so far. All his previous attempts at this are bad jokes. It's Definitely Worth Watching..

I became a Jackie Chan fan almost 30 years ago (while living in Japan). I've collected probably over seventy of his movies.

This is an interesting, unexpected and out-of-character film for him. No humor. No martial arts. No outtakes. Graphic violence, and (some) gore. The main character is an average guy, a Chinese illegal immigrant to Japan, driven by desperation to a life of crime.

It is stated that three years were spent researching the history of illegal immigration to some parts of Japan; and the involvement of the Yakuza (Japanese organized crime). It is a fascinating expose of the way dishonesty, cruelty, immorality and violence may develop in any group of people trying to survive in an alien environment; crime as self-defense and self-preservation.

Most interesting to me, was Jackie Chan's narrative during the "Special Features." He is, as I have always thought, a good man with an optimistic (even simplistic) world view; and he spoke from a viewpoint of innocence, even naivete. Plainly, he was shocked and dismayed by the human stories he had uncovered. He talks about his research into these areas of illegal immigration and crime; how the "bad people" (human traffickers) lie to the aspiring immigrants, telling them that another country (Japan, even America) is better than their own country, but "this is not true, stay where you are, you will at least have your friends and family around you." Without knowing the language, illegal immigrants cannot speak to anyone and must live on the underbelly of society, stealing or (at the very least) being taken advantage of, to survive. He also spoke of how the women are mistreated in such circumstances, often forced to become prostitutes; and this seemed to hurt him to his heart. Even when the illegals learn the language of their new country, they live in fear all the time.

The basic message here (as it often is, in his movies) is, "Do the RIGHT thing." I think he tried to make clear how good intentions can be subverted, and how wrong actions will lead (eventually, perhaps even inevitably) to a terrible end. In other words -- crime does NOT pay. (And -- spoiler alert -- pretty much everyone of any worth in this movie, dies.)

While (I confess) I initially missed the usual martial arts, physical comedy and his signature humor, this film kept me riveted to the very end. It was -- surprisingly, in this cynical day and age -- a movie with a moral. It was in fact the most thoughtful one I've seen this year. (And I actually liked it better than "The Karate Kid.")

Thanks, Jackie. You did good.

P.S. And although this wasn't a martial arts movie, I think I did recognize some of his old crew in the cast. OK, it wasn't Sammo Hung or Yuen Biao... but that guy who got his throat cut near the end, I'm pretty sure was a familiar face. Good to see.

There is certainly an auteuristic streak in the small amount of cinema I have seen from Derek Yee. His previous film Protégé (2007) dealt with the drug trade in a didactic manner which is similar to the approach this film takes in dealing with illegal immigrants in Japan. Both this and Protégé have a curious and sometimes overacting performance from Daniel Wu (Rob-B-Hood). They also both involve severing an arm. But it is his didactic approach that annoys me a bit in this film. I could not quite verbalize it until watching the extras in which Jackie Chan states that the message of the film was that of "be happy where you are" which is, of course, simplistic and ultimately deadly if you are living in a repressive regime. However, I could forgive a bit of lesson-oriented cinema (I did in Protégé), but there were other issues on the forefront that lessoned my enjoyment of the film.

The biggest issue I think some people will have this is that they will be expecting a "Jackie Chan" film. It is not. I admire Jackie for extending his reach into cinema to take on a decidedly un-charismatic role though this is nowhere near the first time with Crime Story or New Police Story for roles in this vein and for a true antagonistic performance you can go way back to The Killer Meteors (1976). I think his performance is good. I did not think his character, along with several others, was well thought out though.

Jackie stars as "Steelhead" an illegal immigrant in Japan who is looking for his lost love Xiu-Xiu (Xu Jing-lei: The Warlords) who has disappeared at the same time he is trying to just survive. While this is a May-December relationship (she is much younger than he is), nothing is said about this in the film. I am not sure if he was portraying a much younger man (especially due to flashbacks of them younger which would put them close to the same age) or ego was involved or there is just a strange miscasting. He befriends several immigrants like Lily (Fan Bing-bing: Flash Point), Jie (Daniel Wu) who only wants to be a chestnut vendor and Hong Kong Boy (Chin Kar-lok: Protégé) and eventually has a relationship with Lily in a vastly underused plotline that gets exploited in the end that left me vastly unsatisfied.

Meanwhile two big things happen: he saves the life of Inspector Kitano (Takenaka Naoto) who is in charge of enforcing immigration and he also saves the life of Eguchi Toshinari (Kato Masaya) who happens to have a high position in the Yakuza and coincidently is also married to his former sweetheart Xiu-Xiu. The sheer coincidence of Jackie saving several lives seemed a too fortuitous but also those scenes go completely against some of the decisions he makes later in the film. It is like Yee wanted him to do evil things to show the depths someone can go to when they are pushed to the brink, but his character remains almost ignorant of them even though he committed some heinous atrocities in the name of helping out himself (to procure a "legal" Japanese ID) and his fellow immigrants. Soon you will see a rise of Scarface proportions with Steelhead serving directly under Eguchi as well as with his Steelhead's friends most notably Jie who turns into a drug using anime looking character.

The strength of the film is in particular scenes such as the plethora of issues that are presented to the illegal immigrant from not speaking the language, locals who do not want you there, loneliness, poverty and odd jobs like cleaning the sewers that no one else wants to do. This is a familiar situation to many countries. I do wish that a bit more was spent on why they wanted to leave in the first place. The film had such promise early on that the varied contrivances of the plots and characters started to get more and more overbearing. I think part of the reason was that the director Derek Yee had been working on this for so long and wanted to put so much of what he learned about the topic in one film that a compendium of characters was shoved into Jackie Chan and others that so much seemed contrived.

If you have seen Protégé and liked it, then it is possible that you will like this as well. If you are specially looking for a stereotypical Jackie film you will most likely dislike it. The action here is presented more realistic so everything appears clumsier. There are times when you expect Jackie to break out and use weapons or handle multiple bad guys with ease, but that is not a fault of the film and is more my preconception. I have read positive reviews on this film (I disagree with them) though most do tend to talk about "plot problems" and several seem to give this a passing mark solely because of the good performance from Chan. While I was happy enough with his performance the myriad of character and plot inconsistencies for me was the biggest reason I am giving this movie a mediocre review.

The Sony R1 release of it is good. Be warned there are three different English subtitles. One for the dubbed released, one for the dubbed release added with hard-of-hearing and one for the Chinese version. It technically is not completely dubtitles, but it did not always vary that much from the English soundtrack. I easily prefer the original audio track because you get to hear the many different languages used that are lost on the English dub. There are two extras: selected scenes commentary with Jackie Chan (9m) and Say Hello to the Bad Guy (10m) which is a good extra that talks about how long Derek was working on this, the suicide of an actor (not mentioned) who was going to play the role in the film, why the film lost the Mainland China market and various tidbits that make it worth of a watch. Both are short and easily worth the watch to learn more about this film.

I already bought this Blu-ray from HKflix.com before it was even for sale on Amazon. The story line is somewhat predictable, a rag-to-riches plot with the usual backstabbing going on, while Jackie looks for his girlfriend. The video quality was very good. The acting is good also, and Jackie doesn't seem to have many lines to speak, mostly his character makes a few speeches and almost no martial arts scenes, just good old fashioned acting from Jackie from beginning to end.

Shinjuku is one of the major commercial centers of Tokyo. Jackie Chan's new film "Shinjuku Incident," set in the downtown area of the capital of Japan, is a change of pace for the star known for his death-defying actions. And the change is drastic.

In a 2009 film "Shinjuku Incident" ("San suk si gin") Jackie Chan plays a hard-working tractor repairman Steelhead living in the countryside of the mainland China. His childhood friend and sweetheart Xiu Xiu (Jinglei Xu) went to Japan more than 10 years ago, but he has lost contact with her. So Steelhead decides to immigrate illegally to Japan to know what really happened to his missing love.

Steelhead manages to get to Shinjuku, Tokyo, where he is welcomed by his countrymen including his old friend Jie (Daniel Wu). While looking for Xiu Xiu and ways to survive as illegal laborer, Steelhead gets entangled in a web of intrigue and violence after the run-ins with the local gangsters ruling the underworld of Shinjuku district.

[NO ORDINARY JACKIE CHAN FILM] This is a Jackie Chan film, but surely not his usual action flick. Here Jackie doesn't kick, punch, or jump from the top of a bus. Keep this in mind, he never does. Instead of playing a likable hero of justice, Jackie Chan is a very ordinary person. Though his non-action acting is quite impressive, some fans might be shocked to see his character committing some serious crimes. His fans know Jackie Chan maintains his strict control over his image on screen - his heroic characters might "defeat" villains, but not "kill," and a big no-no is sleeping with a woman. In "Shinjuku Incident" he breaks all these self-imposed rules.

"Shinjuku Incident" is directed by veteran Tung-Shing Yee from Hong Kong, whose works as director include noir-style crime thriller "One Nite in Mongkok." In fact the film is more like a Hong Kong noir. "Shinjuku Incident" has several action scenes, but they are violent, bloody and most of all brutal. Don't expect Jackie's comical kung-fu actions with clever use of props. You will never have one.

The film's slightly complicated story is engaging enough, but some characters are a bit unbelievable or even stereotyped. Several episodes about Inspector Kitano (Naoto Takenaka) are too good to be true, and some of the characters (gangsters/yakuza/politicians) are stock types derived from other gangster/yakuza films.

Again I say this is a change of pace for Jackie Chan and you may not like what you see in his latest effort. The film is flawed, but still impressive with the strong acting from the leading star.

[TRIVIA]
1) The stranded cargo boat in the opening scene is a real one. Tung-Shing Yee heard the news of this stranded Russian cargo and quickly he changed the filming schedule to use it as background before it was removed.

2) Though part of the film was really shot in Shinjuku, most of the main actions were actually shot in Kobe City, about 570 kilometers (350 miles) west of Tokyo.

Jackie Chan is better known for his mix of action/comedy movies. Shunjuku Incident is starkly different. It's about gang warfare in Japan, particularly amongst Chinese immigrants. Jackie Chan is the head of one of the Chinese gangs but is reluctant to engage in illegal activity. Despite the movie poster, it's not about Jackie Chan fighting against the world. The movie actually gets pretty violent and takes a tragic turn. Nonetheless, what makes the movie work is the relationship between the characters and how they cope with their descent into gang life. It's tragic in the most powerful sense of the word.

I was not sure what to expect when I heard through the media (Both American and Asian) that Jackie Chan was making his first debut in a drama movie. However after watching the movie, I enjoyed every bit of the movie. You can see that Chan character dilemma in the movie. Now, I have seen and read plenty of people bashing on the movie, so I must say this is not an Action movie, this is a drama. If you expect lots of martial arts, lots of gun, and explosion this is not it. I enjoy the movie very much from the story/plot, to the characters developing. Also you have to try to understand the Chans character, which I do not think that a lot of people (as well as critics) do, I think people are torn on what Chans character is trying to accomplish in the movie, as well as the ending of the movie. This movie is a great, but I know that a lot of people out there will judge this movie differently depending on their bias views. The only reason why I gave this 4 out of 5 stars is because I have seen better drama movies, but this one is not as bad.

a good movie well done and enjoyable jackie did a great job on this movie

Jackie Chan finally delivers his amazing acting skills in this Shinjuku Incident I just watched an hour ago. I've been waiting for Jackie Chan to make a movie where there is no action-comedy (not to say i don't love those) and just take his acting to the next level. Great story, characterization, and energy given in this film. A new view of Jackie Chan.

Possibly for more than a decade, Jackie Chan has said that he would not do martial arts films and that he had wanted to focus on serious roles. At 57-years-old, known for one of the most versatile martial arts actors on the planet with a long resume of action films, it's hard for many people to think of Jackie Chan taking on a serious role. It's one thing to have non-fighting cameos (which the actor has done many of) but it's that one role in which he can show his versatility as an actor and for the most part, that age should not limit him to such a role.

If Harrison Ford can still do action/drama films at 69-years-old, there's no doubt that Jackie Chan can do it as well, that is if there was a film that one would give him that opportunity. And this is where actor/producer and director Derek Yee ("One Night in Mongkok", "Lost in Time", "Full Throttle", "Viva Erotica") can possibly put together. Known for taking on gangster films, Jackie Chan would take on a role which would usually see talent such as Andy Lau or Leslie Cheung take on.

And in 2007, "San suk si gin" (Shinjuku Incident) began filming and in 2009, the film was released to favorable reviews (despite not being released in mainland China due to its violence) but the film was nominated for "Best Film", "Best Director", "Best Cinematography" and "Best Action Choreography" for the 29th Hong Kong Film Awards.

The film takes place in the early 1990's as Nik (played by Jackie Chan) and his fiance Xiu Xiu (played by Xu Jinglei) and his brother Joe (played by Daniel Wu) have left China by boat and with many Chinese, have entered Japan illegally.

Due to an arrival of a Japanese police officer, the Chinese all start running to different areas with many being caught except Nik who manages to find Joe (but loses Xiu Xiu) and begin living with many other Chinese who are living in Japan illegally. We see how they take on many small jobs such as a dishwasher to selling pre-paid phone cards in order to make a living and then some having to resort to theft. But for Nik, his goal is to find his fiance Xiu Xiu and have a new life in Japan.

While in Japan, Nik meets Lily (played by Fan Bingbing), a hostess bar owner who wants to help Nik and his friends learn the proper way to live in Japan. If there is one thing they are learning quickly, Japan has its share of prejudice towards Chinese and many of the Chinese are just trying to survive. Meanwhile, as Nik, Joe and their newfriends have taken odd jobs including resorting to stealing and even hacking a pachinko machine to earn products that can be sold in the black market. Meanwhile, Inspector Kitano (played by Naoto Takenaka) and the police force have been trying to find illegal Chinese and deport them. One day, when Kitano finds Nik, Joe and others, during a pursuit, Nik manages to rescue Kitano who was about to drown in the water in an underground tunnel and Kitano feels indebted to Nik for saving his life.

Meanwhile, we learn that the yakuza families have been trying to gain control of certain parts of Japan and one day at work, Nik sees Xiu Xiu who was with one of the yakuza crime bosses named Eguichi (played by Masaya Kato). Nik who was happy to see Xiu Xiu is a bit shocked that she is with another man.

But tragedy hits Nik and his fellow Chinese when Joe is tortured, maimed and loses a body part by a yakuza boss. When Nik tries to exact revenge at the boss in his own bar, while hiding, he learns that the crime boss are planning to kill Eguchi, who he finds out is the husband of Xiu Xiu. So, as Eguchi tries to work out a deal with the yakuza crime boss, they try to kill him but Nik manages to save Eguchi's life.

Because of the complications and politics within the yakuza organization, because Nik has saved the life of Eguchi, Eguchi makes him one of his men after Nik follows Eguchi's plan to eliminate various yakuza crime bosses. Eguchi even gives him control of various areas previously owned by the Taiwanese gang to Nik.

In Nik's mind, he is giving the Chinese in his area a chance to make legal income and to not worry about the yakuza and to get their legal papers to live in Japan. But Nik learns the hard way that by giving his own friends so much power, he is in effect creating his own triad whether he likes it or not.

VIDEO:

"Shinjuku Incident" is presented in 2:35:1 Anamorphic Widescreen. I have to admit that I was a bit surprised that this film was not being released on Blu-ray. It has been released in other countries in HD, and with this being a newer film, I was expecting an HD treatment for "Shinjuku Incident". But PQ-wise, the film looks very good on DVD. I didn't see any massive artifacting or blurring.

AUDIO & SUBTITLES:

"Shinjuku Incident" is presented in English and Chinese 5.1 Dolby Digital. There is an English track with actual dubbing by Jackie Chan but the English dub is good but my preference was to watch the film in its original Chinese language. The film is dialogue driven through the front and center channels and good surround usage for crowd and action-driven scenes.

Subtitles are in English, French and English SDH.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

"Shinjuku Incident" comes with the following special features:

* Selected Scenes Commentary with Jackie Chan - (8:56) Jackie Chan gives commentary for a few scenes such as the Opening Sequence, Bath House, Garbage Dump, The Tunnel and Ending Sequence. Interesting to learn that Director Derek Yee had to go to Shinjuku and ask permission from the yakuza to film there.
* Say Hello to the Bad Guy: Up Close with Jackie Chan - (10:34) Jackie Chan talks about wanting to do a film without action and wants to be like Clint Eastwood and Robert DeNiro and take on a serious role. Jackie also wanted to use the film as a message for those who try to escape to another country illegally and the risks involved and to not listen to those who tell them that they can easily escape by boat.

JUDGMENT CALL:

Jackie Chan shows us his versatility as an actor in "Shinjuku Incident". Although known for martial arts and action films, this is a film that will showcase Jackie Chan in a way that people have never had seen of the actor. From emotional scenes, a sex scene, a nude scene and even watching Jackie taking on a role in which he's not this one-man powerhouse but is vulnerable. In fact, it's definitely a surreal film to see Jackie in a gangster film as one of the gangsters and even murdering people.

"Shinjuku Incident" is an exciting thriller that shows us a side of Chinese living in Japan (I have had the opportunity to visit China areas in different parts of Japan and like the film, these areas although in Japan, seem cut off from Japan and are packed with people. And there is prejudice towards Chinese (as well as other foreigners) for certain establishments in the country as well. The film was quite interesting in the yakuza culture and how a group of people resort to crime for survival but when given the power, how things can quickly become corrupted. It was a storyline that Jackie Chan learned about and wanted people to know the truth that not every foreigner who leaves their country will find a good job in another country like Japan.

Jackie Chan did a wonderful job in playing the character Nik. Chan is perfect for the role and having seen his popularity in Japan (especially a music career singing "enka"), the film manages to become a unique vehicle for him and to allow him to show his versatility as a man who is put into various emotional positions that you just don't see in his other films. Daniel Wu was wonderful in Yee's "One Night in Mongkok" and shows that he has grown as an actor in "Shinjuku Incident" and plays the part of Joe very well. As well as Naoto Takenaka was well-cast and especially since he is one of the more well-known talents in Japanese films and dramas, it was great to see him play opposite of Jackie Chan.

The film does has its share of pacing issues and for the most part, there are times that I thought it was modern-day film and then finding out the film was supposed to take place in the early '90s. There are times in which I question the direction of costume design (ie. Joe and friends in punk rock and colorful outfits), especially Joe's transformation which seemed to way out there. There are parts of the film that I wish were explained and how much time has elapsed. For example, when Nik becomes to the crime boss of his area and then flash forwarding when things have changed in that area. How much time has passed? A year, two years? And I will say that certain parts of the ending may make people look for answers online (ie. what happens to Yuko?).

But despite the pacing issues, "Shinjuku Incident" is an enjoyable film. But it all comes down to if you can accept Jackie Chan as a serious actor. There have been many people who have compared to what Jackie Chan is doing in "Shinjuku Incident" with what Jean-Claude Van Damme did on "JCVD", in that you have two action stars wanting to show that they can do serious roles. Granted, we are used to seeing Harrison Ford, Clint Eastwood and Robert DeNiro playing a variety of roles but with Jackie Chan, his long, extensive resume is primarily him as an action star. So, I can see some people who may have a hard time with this. This is not your usual Jackie Chan film and if you have seen a good number of Hong Kong or Japanese gangster films, you know that not all protagonists get a happy ending. The same can be said of this film.

I have to say that I was shocked to see Jackie in Chan in such a role but at the same time, as a fan of his work for over three decades now, I can't help but have a grin in my face and seeing that his dream of doing something different, in playing a non-action role has come true.

Overall, "Shinjuku Incident" does have some shortcomings in terms of plot but this is one film that Jackie Chan fans or Asian film fans can easily gravitate to. It's very engaging and you can't help but see how far Derek Yee and Jackie Chan would go in this film. And if this means more serious roles for Jackie Chan (hopefully all well-written), I'm all for it!