La vendetta del dragone

Another inspiring and meaningful movie directed by Derek Yee, he still intends to educate his audience after the success of "Protege" The story of the movie is very very good indeed. 10years of planning in pre-pro gives Derek Yee a solid script, but he tends to inject too many incidents and characters to the movie. Which is why, he didn't actually put all his effort into every scenes. I cannot really recognize his style in this movie, but of course he is still very focusing on the message of the story. No action and stunts by Jackie Chan, which is...quite weird for me....but we all gotta try to accept him...maybe give him a chance. Another fantastic performance by Daniel Wu, always maintain his own acting style while he has already possessed to his character. "Shinjuku Incident" is a movie that is worth for a watch, if you are not looking for an excellent cinematography and editing aspects.

I want to start by saying this: if you're a fan of Jackie Chan's usual slapstick acrobatics and comedy that doesn't mean you should shy away from this film. Yes, many of those movies are great but it's also nice to know he can...you know...actually act. Just think of it like Robin Williams doing One Hour Photo. Sure, you knew him as Mork, but he was absolutely perfect for his role in One Hour Photo as the insanely creepy photo lab guy. And so it goes for Jackie Chan. His bread and butter will always be goofball kung fu films but man...he can definitely act if he has to.

In terms of plot there really isn't much you haven't seen before in this film. If you've ever watched a movie about a guy crossing the Yakuza while trying to get the girl, not a whole lot will be new here. I did like the added sense of unity that most Yakuza movies lack with all of the Chinese immigrants. Also, the film touches on the often tenuous relationship that China and Japan share. That's not usually presented in a realistic manner...maybe in Jet Li's Fist Of Legend (still one of the best kung fu flicks to date in my opinion), but that's more of a period piece. And forget about all of those Men Behind The Sun films...while they may be somewhat accurate they're more like snuff films than a real historical look. This may also be (to my knowledge, anyway) Jackie's first Category III movie (for westerners who are unfamiliar, this would be the equivalent of the US's Unrated status or maybe the UK's 18 rating. And I think the Aussies have MA-18? Whatever). So it took Chan until his 50s to make a movie with enough substance to carry such a heavy rating.

I'd definitely recommend this for Jackie Chan fans...especially the ones who started to feel like they'd gotten a bit tired of seeing him doing the same "awe shucks" good guy hero thing. Don't get me wrong...Dragons Forever ranks right up there for me among kung fu films, but you can only milk that for so long, you know? Hell...even Adam Sandler moved on and, let's face it, he's not the most mature guy in the world. But Chan succeeds where Sandler failed...he proved he can be counted on in a dead serious role and deliver as good as ever.

The stronger message in the story here, is how easily the Chinese get taken advantage of. As the adage goes, united we stand and divided we fall. It's very obvious that given the myriad of Chinese, from the Mainlanders with the different dialect groups to the Taiwanese to the Hong Kongers etc, the immigrants here are shown to exhibit solidarity when they are together, sharing whatever little spoils they have as they build their little community. But quick success would mean the opportunity for corruption to creep in, splitting up the unity established, and spawn plenty of infighting to make the community weak again and ripe for the picking by their enemies. Perhaps in not wanting to acknowledge this issue as highlighted in the film, would have resulted in making Violence an excuse for the Chinese censors to drag their feet in awarding a rating, since they put the people on the whole in some negative light.

One scene too was reminisce of Bruce Lee's Fist of Fury, where Lee's character Chen Zhen rips apart a signboard that says "Sick Man of Asia". Here, lead actor Jackie Chan tears away a sign that says "No Entry to Chinese", but this is no action movie for the action star we're so used to see. In fact, if Shinjuku Incident was a typical Jackie Chan film, then we would see him kick everyone's rear with nary a scratch to himself. Here he drops his superhuman persona, wanting instead to take on a more dramatic, ordinary role as Steelhead, a simple man from Northeastern China who made his way to Tokyo in order to look for his lost love Xiu Xiu (Xu Jinglei).

He strikes an unlikely friendship with Japanese police inspector Kitano (Naoto Takenaka in a more dramatic role too, as I associate him with madcap characters he plays in zero-to-hero movies), and works his way around the new environment with the help of Daniel Wu's cowardly Jie, and with the likes of supporting characters played by Chin Kar Lok and Lam Suet. Together with his Chinese buddies, Steelhead embarks on a life of crime after seeing his lady love had already moved on in life, and a crime he committed back home meant his new one should begin in Japan, hence the desire to achieve instant results. It's almost quite an insult though to the Japanese's polite society manners that the Chinese sought to exploit for personal gains.

Derek Yee had fused some realism into his previous triad drama Protégé, and here he does the same in bringing on the Japanese crime lords, where their latest election of a new leader brought about unhappiness amongst the ranks. So the illegal immigrants got embroiled in the new turf war, in order to lead it to the second and very hurried act of witnessing how power could corrupt, especially when the person at the top, steelhead, decides to adopt a nepotistic approach in delegating power to friends out of pity, or out of having to repay favours, and didn't spell the out-of-bound markers clearly. All this just because of his rebound affection for Fan Bingbing's bar hostess Lily, who's severely underused here.

Surprisingly the many subplots cooked up for the film, got let down by the relatively fluffy narrative style. It had wanted to deal with multiple themes (like selfishness, unity, betrayal and doing deeds for the greater good at whatever the costs), but found itself introducing them quite haphazardly, jumping from one point to the other sometimes with disregard to time. While action sequences are very sparse and bordering on shock value with in-your-face type violence, the finale whack-fest brought to mind some Johnnie To classical stand off moments, but unfortunately was let down by the tight shots and poor lighting. And lo and behold, the guilty party in ruining the film experience is the trailer which basically spelt everything out in black and white terms, so if you haven't seen any clips of the film, don't.

Jackie Chan had limited success in taking on a more dramatic role, and a morally ambiguous character who's prime motivation may have seemed like a mechiavellian one masked by a very simple exterior, and looked clearly uncomfortable in not being able to unleash his usual repertoire of stunts when surrounded by thugs. Deniel Wu however upstaged Chan with ease with his Jie role, despite having to suffer bad hair days throughout the film with a ridiculous perm, and a Joker-esquire makeup in the latter half. And following the Jackie Chan trend, female characters are little to show for, and here both Xu Jinglei and Fan Bingbing's characters do nothing more than looking good and offer translator services.

Shinjuku Incident is a good effort, but nowhere near the ranks of Derek Yee's better films. This is not to say that this film is no good, but it could have been much better. A pity too that it had to end with a whimper.

Jackie Chan has been known to audiences worldwide for his spectacular, comedic and stunt-filled martial arts. Well, now in this movie, Chan gets to show off acting chops as well, with a few kicks and punches thrown in as well.

The setting and story are surprisingly solid and well done. The movie paces along in a brisk pace (courtesy of director Derek Yee), and is gripping throughout. The cinematography is beautiful at times and gritty at others, showing Tokyo as a whole. And it's fun to see Japanese and Chinese spoken a lot in this film, really pulls you into the film further.

While the level of violence is the highest than any other Jackie Chan movie (there is graphic brutal violence in some action scenes), the total amount of violence is surprisingly little, with the majority of the film dealing with the characters' trials and tribulations. There are some fight sequences, but don't expect Chan to do his usual thing; at times he's down to earth and makes us genuinely feel for his character, at times he is directly brutal. This film is NOT for the easily disturbed.

The acting is above average. Chan delivers a standout performance, an illegal worker who tries to protect his kinsman by gaining respect by and protecting themselves from the Yakuza. Another great performance comes by Daniel Wu, a fellow immigrant who gets his innocence lost... the hard way. The two love interests and the detective also get props too.

For those of you expecting another Chan romp ala Rush Hour and Supercop, you may find yourself refreshed at Chan's sudden change of pace. For those who like crime dramas such as City of God, give this one a shot. This is definitely one of Chan's highest marks, and I hope to see more of the new, dramatic Chan in the future.

Overall rating: 8/10

Jackie Chan's darkest film yet is a quality piece of drama exploring life within Japan's Yakuza gangs. It's a very atypical film for the star, better known these days for his kid-friendly fare in American family films. For fans of Asian thrillers, the gangster elements will be largely familiar, but they're introduced in a novel and interesting way; it's the first film I've seen detailing the plight of Chinese refugee immigrants in Japan.

The twisty-turny plot offers up many twists that are difficult to predict, and the on-screen action is never less than interesting. Jackie gets the opportunity to focus on his acting rather than his martial arts for a change, and he shines as the conflicted farmhand-turned-gangster. Although this isn't an action film per se, there are many memorable set-pieces, not least a large-scale climax that makes for riveting entertainment.

The film's well-shot, if a little dark, and features decent turns from actors in supporting roles (Japanese actors Naoto Takenaka and Masaya Kato are both excellent). Daniel Wu's character in the film undergoes a particularly frightening and believable transformation. The scenes of violence and torture may not be for every viewer's taste, but THE SHINJUKU INCIDENT is a rewarding experience for those viewers exploring Jackie's progression as an actor.