There are signs here and there that "The Shinjuku Incident" got some inspiration from the American remake of "Scarface", with its illegal immigrant hero rising in organized crime as well as an under siege climax. However, the majority of the movie does its own thing in its own style, and ends up being a very entertaining movie. Jackie Chan doesn't do comedy or martial arts here, instead acting very seriously. And he actually does a decent job, making his character somewhat sympathetic despite breaking a lot of laws along the way. The movie also gives great insight into parts of Japanese and Chinese society you probably haven't seen in a movie before. Overall, this is a good movie provided you know what kind of movie you're going to get - this is a serious drama and not an action romp. I did have a couple of minor quibbles, however. First, quite often the cinematography is not very attractive - big sections of the movie have an unattractive yellow tinge to them. Second, the movie runs a bit too long. I'm not saying the movie ever gets boring, but I think the movie would have run better had things been tightened just a little.

I thought this was a really moving film. A man who lives in china flees to japan to look for his girlfriend who has married into a Yakuza clan. Harboring ill will towards the Japanese, Steelhead (Jackie Chan) comes to realize that in japan most economic endeavour's are made by the local gangs, and their leaders. On the street, it is anybody's game. However, in the midst of the chaos, Steelhead's brother Jie, (Daniel Wu) just could not fit into the crime scene as well as steel could. So his brother buys him a chestnut cart to further is goal of attaining his ultimate dream. Yet as with all Yakuza lords, Toshinari Euguchi, (Masaya Kato) uses the Chinese for his benefits. This places Steel in front as a called upon hit man who actually carries out his orders. Seeing as this presents itself as an opportunity to see his ex-girlfriend, steel now becomes the boss of Shinjuku district. Yet within the ranks of his new found fortunes, his so called brethren take it upon themselves to become their own opportunists behind steel's back. With the Taiwanese people as well in the middle, steel now is surrounded by betrayal, ambitious fellow countrymen, a now rebellious Jie who lost his hand by the Taiwan lord.And with the police in the mix, steel now faces a possibility that turning his life around was for nothing. Armed with information from Euguchi he makes a choice to turn it all over to the authorities once and for all before his sanity takes a plunge off of the deep end. I found this film wonderful that Jackie's acting has got a lot better than his usual comedy routine. It is a dark movie of corruption, drugs, violence, political rivalry, as well as a moralistic view on how or why people lose themselves in the gritty underworld of the Yakuza. It shows the basis of how a human being can go to such lengths to attain a certain freedom other than the daily grinds they are so used to.Being exposed to such dangerous avenues, is the reason people lose the battle of between doing the right thing, or doing it to survive. It is the loss of will, to keep one's head held high, or watch as everyone else loses to greed.I understand that at the end of the film, it showed a paragraph on why people in china immigrated to japan to escape the communistic regime, and to live without the restraints of their government. Not so long ago, the Chinese people were economically sound, but with the constant global impact of taxes, duty pay, and other forms of free trade agreements, it is no wonder money is the only moral they know now.Most if not all historic attributes to China has been abandoned. No forms of old school learning such as martial arts, or meditation is used, nor is the way of enlightening one's soul left for the young. Jackie Chan has brought a good film forward to let the public know that not all are as bound to the monetary system. Albeit for him to make this movie.Yet it is sad to see such a people lose the hopes and dreams they once held. Using old world, and archaic means to keep the people in line is what drives most to the brink. Great action, wonderful actors, brilliant adaptation to the nineties immigration pulse. Recommended for those over 18.

SHINJUKU INCIDENTI had never heard of this before I saw it advertised on the TV... but I do love Jackie Chan so had to see it.This film is about a guy from China who fixes tractors for a living. His fiancée moves to Japan to realise her dream job and to make money, but when she doesn't come back and he doesn't hear from her, he decides to immigrate to Japan to find her. When he gets there he finds that she is involved with the Japanese mafia.It is a very good story which is well written and played out. Jackie does a great job as he does in most of his films, but there are a few actors that I thought were not great.This film is not English spoken and is subtitled, but that doesn't bother me. I believe some of the best movies ever made are Japanese. I am a huge fan of Japanese horror movies. I love Ring, Battle Royale and Versus mostly. I will watch them again soon and review them for you.This film does have one thing different from other Jackie Chan movies... his fighting style was missing from this film. There were not many choreographed fighting scenes.Jackie plays the character with feeling. I felt sorry for his character. I thought he had a rough start to life in Japan and everything he wanted he couldn't get.My favourite character in the movie was a guy called Jie. I felt so bad for him through the movie... and even at the end... i felt so bad for him. This character was played by Daniel Wu. A very good actor.There were some very brutal scenes in the film which I loved. I do love a bit of violence in a film if the setting is right. There were a few scenes with some gore... and mostly it looked good. There was one scene though where this guys guts fell out and it looked so fake. The colour was not right and it looked like the guy just dropped some paint instead of guts.I will give this film 6 out of 10.I enjoyed it, but Jackie has made better movies.For more reviews, please like my Facebook page:https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ordinary-Person-Movie- Reviews/456572047728204?ref=hl

I had seen a few films Jackie Chan made before he started making Hollywood films and assumed that this would be something along the same lines; with lots of brilliant, highly choreographed action but little sense of real danger to the characters... I assumed wrong as the action here is brutal and messy.Jackie Chan plays Steelhead; a Chinese migrant who has come to Japan to look for the Xiu Xiu, woman he loved. Upon getting there he finds life hard and scrapes a living doing the sorts of unpleasant, poorly paid jobs no Japanese person would be willing to do; all the time worrying that the police will catch him and send him back to China. One day when he is working in the sewers the police arrive and he flees with the others; however when policeman Kitano slips and looks likely to drown he stops to save him.Later he spots Xiu Xiu, she is getting into a car with Yakuza boss Eguchi; it transpires that they are married and she is now going by the name of Yuko. Steelhead decides that he will do whatever it takes to become a legal resident of Japan so starts in a life of petty crime with fellow immigrants. Things don't go badly until one day his friend Jie has a run in with Gao, the head of the Taiwanese gang that controls crime in the Shinjuku district. Jie is left badly scared and loses a hand in the punishment they administer. Steelhead decides that he will make a stand so goes to deal with Gao; while waiting for the moment to strike he overhears Gao discussing the murder of Eguchi; then when Eguchi arrives Steelhead saves his life... now he has people on both sides of the law in his debt.Eguchi makes Steelhead a proposition; if he kills two Yakuza for him he will be well rewarded; Steelhead demands control of Gao's territory and legal documentation allowing him to stay in Japan. He wants to keep things legal but those around him want to make more money and it is only a matter of time before there is a full scale war between various Yakuza factions and the Chinese; a lot of people will die.This film certainly shows that Jackie Chan has what it takes to make more serious films; he does a fine job as Steelhead. The story was solid; in some ways it reminded me of Brian de Palma's 'Scarface' although here the protagonist is trying to end up on the right side of the law even if he is breaking the law to get there. The rest of the cast put in good performances too; making me care about characters; this particularly true of Naoto Takenaka who played Kitano. Director Derek Yee kept things believable; not having clichéd, heavily choreographed fights but by taking the opposite course and making the fights very scrappy so they have an unrehearsed feel to them. The fights are pretty brutal; we see two people having an arm sliced off and another's intestines spill out as he lies dying... certainly enough to earn the film its '18' certificate!