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| Steelhead and the illegals taking the Taiwanese district |
Country of origin: Hong Kong (2009)
Starring: Jackie Chan, Naoto Takenaka, Daniel Wu
Jackie Chan's performance is definitely the saving grace of Yee's Shinjuku Incident, if there is one. Yee pushed back the production of this film for two years because he believed Chan was perfect for the part. I do agree with him there; the dark, relatively silent role of Nick Steelhead does seem to suit Chan well. Yee said in an interview that "people are too familiar with the image of a fighting Jackie Chan. It's time for him to move on to drama." While this may be true, Shinjuku may not have been the best vehicle for Chan to kick things off in. Jackie's acting is really hit or miss. It was a hit in The Karate Kid. A hit in the Rush Hour films. But in Shinjuku it was ultimately a miss. He definitely gave the role his all, but the story was too ridiculous for him to truly shine. The scenes where he had to cry were the nails in his coffin; they reeked of cheese. And after sitting through 120 minutes of Shinjuku, wouldn't you know it, there wasn't a single Jackie Chan fight scene. He didn't block a single punch or hit a single person. On the contrary, Nick Steelhead was a big pushover. He possessed courage, but everytime he stepped up, he ended up just running away. It was very disappointing.
In the last scenes of the film, the warring Yakuza gangs ended up bombarding Steelhead's apartment with stones and samurai swords....... This justly sums up the ridiculous style in which the Japanese mafia was portrayed. After seeing Kitano's masterpieces like Sonatine and Hana-bi, the Yakuza in Shinjuku Incident were laughable. They were shown more as lowlife thugs and bodyguards, and spoke slowly and simply like they had only an elementary school education. They were a bunch of cowards, and the fact that they did their bidding with samurai swords was absolutely inaccurate and borderline stereotypical. The last scene played out almost like a wuxia film, in which the yakuza, for whatever reason, decided to chuck stones at Nick's building before charging it ninja-style with Japanese steel. Shinjuku Incident was mildly entertaining in its ridiculous. It was cliched and overblown, and as much as I love Jackie Chan, not even he could save it from being another violent flop.
I was feeling a little lethargic last night an decided to sink my teeth into a more of a bottom-shelf type film, one requiring less thought or attention, and I got just that with Derek Yee's Shinjuku Incident. I'll give any film with Jackie Chan in it a chance; there's nothing like seeing one of his highly stylized martial arts fight scenes in the wee hours of the morning. But, frankly, Shinjuku was a very muddled, borderline corny film. It tells a fictional tale of a Chinese man (Nick Steelhead) who illegally immigrated to the Shinjuku district in Japan. Supposedly his goal was to move there in order to live a better life, but this motive automatically fell short after seeing how happy Nick was in his village. All the flashbacks of him in the China showed him with shelter, food, loved ones, and generally in good spirits. Why he would leave all of that for the filthy streets of Japan was beyond me. Sure, he primarily did so in order to find his loved on, Xiu Xiu, but that necessity becomes obsolete early on when he finds a new girl in Shinjuku. In general, the Shinjuku's story just takes itself way to seriously, and places that could've shined are ultimately ruined by poor acting or an overdose of melodrama. Cliche becomes a huge element in Shinjuku's demise. Instances of sudden intense violence and even a scene of graphic sexuality are really the only things that merit Shinjuku its "R" rating, all of which are completely unnecessary. The potential of its unique premise is undoubtedly squandered, and reading reviews and seeing awards it was nominated for, I found myself asking what idiots actually thought this film was great. It was entertaining, and that is an overstatement.
Jackie Chan's performance is definitely the saving grace of Yee's Shinjuku Incident, if there is one. Yee pushed back the production of this film for two years because he believed Chan was perfect for the part. I do agree with him there; the dark, relatively silent role of Nick Steelhead does seem to suit Chan well. Yee said in an interview that "people are too familiar with the image of a fighting Jackie Chan. It's time for him to move on to drama." While this may be true, Shinjuku may not have been the best vehicle for Chan to kick things off in. Jackie's acting is really hit or miss. It was a hit in The Karate Kid. A hit in the Rush Hour films. But in Shinjuku it was ultimately a miss. He definitely gave the role his all, but the story was too ridiculous for him to truly shine. The scenes where he had to cry were the nails in his coffin; they reeked of cheese. And after sitting through 120 minutes of Shinjuku, wouldn't you know it, there wasn't a single Jackie Chan fight scene. He didn't block a single punch or hit a single person. On the contrary, Nick Steelhead was a big pushover. He possessed courage, but everytime he stepped up, he ended up just running away. It was very disappointing.
In the last scenes of the film, the warring Yakuza gangs ended up bombarding Steelhead's apartment with stones and samurai swords....... This justly sums up the ridiculous style in which the Japanese mafia was portrayed. After seeing Kitano's masterpieces like Sonatine and Hana-bi, the Yakuza in Shinjuku Incident were laughable. They were shown more as lowlife thugs and bodyguards, and spoke slowly and simply like they had only an elementary school education. They were a bunch of cowards, and the fact that they did their bidding with samurai swords was absolutely inaccurate and borderline stereotypical. The last scene played out almost like a wuxia film, in which the yakuza, for whatever reason, decided to chuck stones at Nick's building before charging it ninja-style with Japanese steel. Shinjuku Incident was mildly entertaining in its ridiculous. It was cliched and overblown, and as much as I love Jackie Chan, not even he could save it from being another violent flop.
** / *****
I felt Daniel Wu's performance was the highlight of this film. I really loved his transformation. Definitely one of my favorite actors. Overall, I found the film far more entertaining than you, but you make a good point about the depiction of the yakuza. It was a little over the top in that respect.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you about Daniel Wu though, it seems to me like he could be a future superstar of Hong Kong films, or maybe he already is, I'm not sure. "Protege" looks really interesting, anything else he's in worth watching?
ReplyDeleteHe has been in a lot of films I haven't seen. If you like wuxia, he was great in The Banquet, though most people seemed to really dislike that film. He had a small role in Rob-B-Hood, which, if you haven't seen it, is a hilarious comedy that, like The Banquet, hasn't met with much praise. I need to see more of his films. I've got Overheard on my list right now. I hear Triple Trap is terrible, though I thought it sounds intriguing.
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