The Shinjuku Incident

[Milkyway]

SHINJUKU INCIDENT Review

Shinjuku Incident has long been touted as Jackie Chan’s first foray into truly serious acting. Even though such promises were bandied around before the releases of New Police Story and The Myth, those apparently didn’t count because he still did martial arts in them. In Derek Yee’s new film, however, Jackie does not fight, even in scenes where his character probably should be fighting. Jackie also tries hard not to smile, instead wearing a forlorn hang-dog expression for much of the film to prove that he’s taking matters very seriously. As if this wasn’t enough, he appears naked at one stage (albeit from behind) to further highlight his dedication. At this particular moment I felt rather sorry for Jackie Chan. Nicole Kidman, Charlize Theron and Kate Winslet have proved in recent years that “uglying up” onscreen wins you plaudits. Jackie, however, for his big naked moment, has the misfortune of standing next to a similarly disrobed Daniel Wu. Not that standing next to Daniel Wu, even in his birthday suit, would be an unfortunate experience per se, but Jackie’s not as young or as toned as he used to be, whereas Wu is probably at his physical peak. It’s a rather unfortunate comparison the mind is forced to make when the screen suddenly fills with the two bare asses of our male leads, and poor Jackie comes out of the moment looking like a pair of saddlebags. He really is taking this role seriously!

The story is set sometime in the early 90s and Steelhead (Jackie Chan) is an illegal Chinese immigrant in Tokyo. He has come to find work but also to look for his childhood sweetheart, Xiu Xiu (Xu Jinglei). He teams up with a group of Chinese workers, including Jie (Daniel Wu), and numerous familiar faces from Hong Kong Cinema like Lam Suet and Chin Kar Lok, who help him get some manual labour. While cleaning garbage out of sewer drains, Steelhead’s group of workers are chased off by police, and during the scuffle Steelhead inadvertently saves the life of Inspector Kitano (Takenaka Naoto). Steelhead escapes but Kitano now feels indebted to the illegal immigrant. Steelhead also meets bar owner Lily (Fan Bing Bing) and a turf war is brewing in Shinjuku between rival Yakuza gangs and when Steelhead recognizes the wife of mob boss Eguchi as none other than his beloved Xiu Xiu, he can no longer resist the urge to get involved.

Derek Yee has built an excellent reputation for himself since moving behind the camera after a long career as an actor. His recent directorial outings, namely One Nite in Mong Kok and Protégé, have displayed a detailed knowledge and understanding of the day-to-day mechanics of the Hong Kong underworld. Both films also blend taut action and drama with sentimentality and moments of extreme violence. Shinjuku Incident continues this trend on all counts. The film features a number of well executed action set pieces, from Steelhead’s early flights from the police to a brutal final siege on the Chinese gang’s headquarters by vengeful yakuza. The film also includes a couple of particularly gruesome moments, to rival the severed hand or doorknob sequences in the films previously mentioned. Unfortunately for Jie, these moments invariably happen to him, despite his proclamations early on that he is not cut out for a life of crime. In fact, it is these violent acts against Jie that also lead to the more melodramatic and sentimental moments in the film. They have also got the censors sharpening their shears and Yee has opted to snip out a couple of overly graphic moments to secure a more audience-friendly IIB rating in Hong Kong. The demands of Mainland censors also persuaded Yee not to pursue releasing the film in China – a move that might cost him and his investors dearly, even if it does protect his artistic integrity.

The cast acquits itself respectably, with Jackie Chan mostly convincing in his role, even if he can’t always carry off the more theatrical moments the script demands of him. Every time a scrap breaks out it is jarring not seeming him dish out the whoopass, and actually playing up being rather ineffectual in a skirmish. Daniel Wu survives a dodgy perm, which later makes way for a frankly ridiculous wig, but his role never amounts to much more than a shit magnet as he repeatedly attracts violence and the wrath of rival gang members. Takenaka Naoto is also rather good as the schlubby cop who can’t quite decide whether to bust Steelhead or watch his back.

Shinjuku Incident is a pretty decent film, but nothing more than that. There is nothing great about it that really lingers in the mind for very long after it finishes. The story isn’t boring but is never anything other than conventional. It also seems to forget about some of its characters as it busies itself staging an unnecessarily violent finale, and ends with a captioned “afterword” that juxtaposes the dramatic weight of the film’s coda by being unintentionally funny.

In short, this is no acting renaissance for Jackie Chan in the way, say, JCVD has been for Van Damme. It shouldn’t put him off taking more non-action roles in the future, but one can’t help but feel he has left it too late to truly reinvent himself.

Review by James Marsh

http://twitchfilm.net/site/view/shinjuku-incident-review/

[Milkyway]

Shinjuku Incident

Ethnic Chinese gangs stumble as they cross swords with the Japanese mafia in Jackie Chan starrer "Shinjuku Incident," an over-ambitious, narratively untidy urban crimer. Though hyped as a rare straight dramatic outing by Chan, the pic still has him displaying his action skills, if less sensationally than usual. Some extreme violence and unsavory elements will provide a challenge for Chan's wholesome fan base, but overall Asian B.O. should be robust. Following its opening-night slot in the Hong Kong fest, the film goes out locally (and in Southeast Asia) April 2, followed by Japan a month later.

The film's strong violence and Tokyo setting will play especially well with Japanese auds, with whom Chan is still popular. Business there may compensate for the loss of the China market, where the pic has been nixed by authorities due to its violence and depiction of malcontent mainlanders fleeing to Japan.

Story begins with Chinese refugees landing at Japan's Wakasa Bay and chaotically running for shelter before immigration authorities arrive. Among the illegals is Steelhead (Chan), who heads to Tokyo to find his long-lost love, Xiuxiu (mainland thesp Xu Jinglei).

Hitting Tokyo's red-light Shinjuku district, Steelhead teams up with fellow refugees, including Jie (Daniel Wu, electric) and Old Ghost (portly Johnnie To regular Lam Suet, effectively displaying his tough-guy shtick). Living off petty crime and grueling work that Japanese workers won't touch, Jie and Old Ghost show Steelhead the ropes and warn him about crossing mobsters.

Steelhead discovers Xiuxiu has adopted a Japanese name, Yuko, and is now married to rising Japanese gangster Eguchi (Masaya Kato). Meanwhile, Jie pays a steep price for inadvertently antagonizing Taiwanese mobster Gao (Jack Kao).

Plot strands featuring gang rivalries and clashes are more tangled than interwoven. However, the yarn belatedly builds momentum with an intense middle section, undercut by an extended denouement.

Pic defiantly establishes a new dramatic frontier for Chan, who's clearly the star and acquits himself admirably. However, a scene in which Steelhead visits a hooker with a heart of gold (mainland actress Fan Bingbing) is likely to be more problematic for his fans than any grisly violence.

Among several strong supporting players, Wu impresses with his ability to steer his character through major (and too sudden) transformations. On the Nipponese side, Naoto Takenaka is pitch-perfect as a cop who becomes indebted to Steelhead. Distaffers make much less impact: Fan's prostie role is so slight it should have been excised at the script stage.

Derek Yee's direction is strong within individual scenes but fails to mold the unwieldy script into a cohesive whole. As in Yee's previous "Protege," the depiction of gang life aims to explore the machinations of criminal orgs in depth. Drama and characterization both suffer as a result, leaving the pic far short of the "Election" or "Godfather"-like heights to which it aspires. Tech credits are solid, though Peter Kam's score is intrusive.

Version caught at the Hong Kong fest was given a Category III rating by local censors, usually reserved for sex and extreme violence. Local-release version will be slightly edited for a milder Category IIb rating.

http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117939938.html?categoryid=31&cs=1

[Milkyway]

Jackie Chan on why he's given up kung-fu films

In a career spanning three decades, he’s made a fortune kicking the chop-sockey out of all comers.

From Drunken Master to Police Story to Rush Hour, Jackie Chan has become the most famous martial-arts expert on the planet. But now he thinks it’s time for a change.

“The thing is, I can’t just make Rush Hour one, two and three and Drunken Master one and two and Police Story one to six. I know I have to change,” he says.

“I’ve wanted to do it for the last few years and I hope people can accept it. I want to play a good guy and a bad guy and would love to be the Asian Robert De Niro or Dustin Hoffman.

“I don’t like the Rush Hour films but the fact is they generated hundreds and hundreds of millions and they’re paying us really well.”

It’s a shocking admission from the Hong Kong-born star – and just as surprising is his new film, Shinjuku Incident, which premiered at the festival the night before.

A world away from the frenetic kung-fu movies that made his name, Chan stars as a good-natured illegal immigrant struggling to survive in some of Tokyo’s seediest neighbourhoods. Gone are the martial-arts moves of old as our star plays a mild-mannered sap who finds himself slowly drawn into a bloody gang war. Chan’s character doesn’t hit anyone and, when he does face trouble, runs from the scene in tears.

The movie’s message is also unusual for Chan, presenting an adult look at how millions of Chinese immigrants flooded into Japan looking for work in the Eighties.

“I think the film will be a big surprise for a lot of people for people who expect me only to be running around breaking people’s arms and fingers,” he says.

“Last night’s premiere was exciting but I’m still wondering if a normal audience will accept it or not because it’s a really, really big change for me.

“I knew I had to change because you can’t be an action star forever but I do realise there are certain films I have to make, at least in Hollywood.

“So when I’m making an American film I just let them do what they want because they know the market. When I’m back in Asia I control my projects and make what I want. I make American films for American audiences and Asian films for Asian audiences.”

Meeting me at a hotel by the city’s harbour, Chan, dressed in a purple tweed suit, is refreshingly honest and open. Given his frenetic schedule, and the fact he turns 55 next month, he’s also surprisingly lively.

“I had to rush over here from filming and after this I have to go to Taiwan and then Malaysia and then Singapore.

“And I’ve just come from filming! We were doing an action sequence again and again and I said, ‘Have you guys forgotten how old I am?’ I had to jump from a rock to another rock, jump into a tree and scale down it. That took seven takes. Seven takes! Everyone forgets how old I am.

“When I’m in meetings until 5am and then have to get up two hours later for filming, sometimes I ask myself ‘why?’

“I should retire but my secret is to keep working. I’ve just finished filming in America and in May I start Kung Fu Kid [a remake of The Karate Kid] and then another one after that.

“It’s non-stop but when I’m on a film set I’m full of energy, I think it keeps me young. The only thing I really like is making a movie. It’s like a holiday. You get up at dawn, work all day then go home, have a shower and have a drink, or sometimes not.”

Is there anything he doesn’t enjoy? His twinkling eyes look down at the table for a moment before he replies: “I hate interviews – but you have to do them. The whole promotional thing, flying places, checking in, checking out, coming back, and having to stay smiling the whole time. Seeing all the people, all the fake talk, ‘I love you so much!’ and then these interviews speaking about the same subjects.”

For a moment he looks almost serious, before breaking into a smile. “I only want my work to make people happy. Life is too short. My message is believe in yourself and never give up.”

http://www.mirror.co.uk/celebs/news/2009/03/23/jackie-chan-on-why-he-s-given-up-kung-fu-films-115875-21221765/

[lillippa328]

Well its gonna be the Kung Fu Kid after all! Which is a plus in my books! migh not be too bad...

film sounds ok...i wish jackie would fight tho

[Asmo]

I hope the dvd release of Shinjuku Incident will be uncut. I suppose if it plays here it will be the HK version.

[ben]

I can't wait to see this. It sounds great and I hope Jackie will do more films like this... also I want to see that uncut version come out. Hopefully it will turn up somewhere. Thanks for the posts.