Shinjuku Incident

Genre: Action, Drama

Language: Mandarin

Director: Derek Yee

Cast: Jackie Chan (Rush Hour 3), Daniel Wu (Protégé 門徒), Naoto Takenaka(Twentieth Century Boys: Chapter One), Xu Jinglei (The Warlords 投名状)

Runtime: 120 min

Website / Trailer: http://shinjukuincident.emp.hk/en_main.html　

Plot:

In the early 1990s, a tractor mechanic from China nicknamed Steelhead (Jackie Chan) enters Japan illegally, in search of his girlfriend Xiu Xiu (Xu Jinglei). Steelhead and his friend, Jie (Daniel Wu) meet in the busy Shinjuku district of Tokyo and take manual labouring jobs to earn money. When Steelhead finds out that Xiu Xiu has married a Japanese Yakuza leader named Eguchi (Kato Masaya), he decides to remain in Japan. To obtain citizenship, he agrees to work for Eguchi as a killer, but quickly becomes used to the power. Soon he has become embroiled so deeply in the ways of the yakuza that there is no turning back.

Watched the movie on 3 April night @ The Grand Cathay with Sylvia & Vanessa.

The title of the movie misled me. I thought the incident was going to be or will be showing a huge gang fight at Shinjuku. Although there was the action, but not what I have expected.

Finally a movie which Jackie Chan does not fight that much. I felt that he can't always be the best fighter in a movie, as if not one will even win him. This movie seems more realistic in this aspect. Sometimes, brotherhood stuff needs more than fist and exchanging blows here and there.

There was a scene, when Daniel Wu's role as Ah Jie brought Jackie Chan (who had walked 2 days before reaching their home) to a bath at the bath-house. Both men were naked from the back and audience could see the great difference between the 2 men. One has smooth, clear skin while the other, spotted, tan skin.... Even men got give away the age through their skin.

The movie tells a story whereby immigrant struggle to survive in an unfamiliar country and got involve with the local ruffians. In fact, other than in Japanese movies, not many other language movies covers the topic of Yakuza which was quite sensitive.

ah-deng says: 4 /5 It has been a long time to see Jackie Chan in a non-Hollywood Movie, and he is not required to fight that much, what else to watch? Go find out.