An excellent film of survival in a foreign land. This is as realistic as anyone who crosses the border of a new place. Jackie Chan not only did not do his regular gimmicks, he didn't even have his kungfu acts to defend or fight against the yakuzas.Again, I think he portrayed a realistic character. Involves brotherhood and trust. However this is not exactly a triad film though they involves many different parties.It's like how to survive in a foreign land with nothing and at what cost will you sacrifice to obtain a better living.Excellent film that you need to watch.

Well, as an avid fan of Jackie Chan, it was with some interest that I acquired this movie, especially after having read the synopsis for the storyline. So I was quite anxious to watch this movie.And now having seen it, I must admit that this is indeed a different Jackie Chan movie, albeit it is not the best of his movies. And by that I mean that this movie is different from the traditional and usual slapstick action comedies that Jackie Chan is known for. This movie is darker and more mature - more serious in nature and its story.In "The Shinjuku Incident", Jackie Chan, plays Steelhead, an illegal immigrant from China seeking to make a life in Japan. However, as an illegal immigrant, work is scarce, and often only the work that the Japanese themselves do not want to do, is available for the Chinese immigrants. Tensions run high and gangs are striving to make a living and carve out names for themselves. The gods of luck and fortune shine their grace upon the Chinese immigrants, but is that particular line of work worth the effort?"The Shinjuku Incident" is a more raw, brutal and 'realistic' movie, standing out from Jackie Chan's usual repertoire of movies. Especially as he is not a super martial artist practitioner in this movie. And it was actually quite a nice change of pace to see him in a role and a movie like this. It is quite a radical change of movie genre and character style for Jackie Chan, but it works out quite well.There is a good handful of actors and actresses on the cast list to this movie. Xu Jinglei playing Xiu Xiu/Yuko Eguchi did a great job along side Jackie Chan. Naoto Takenaka playing Inspector Kitano also stood out with his performance. I am not overly much fan of Daniel Wu, but in some movies he does a great job, "The Shinjuku Incident" is, however, not one of those movies. His character is plain and turns to worse after having his hand chopped off. Plus his acting wasn't particularly enthusiastic here."The Shinjuku Incident" is a great addition to the Jackie Chan legacy, as well as to the DVD collection of any fans of him. It is uncompromising, different, bold and hard-hitting.

In the same vein as JCVD, this very surprising offering from Jackie Chan sees the aging kung-fu legend as a savvy mafia man leading Chinese Triads in a turf war against the Yakuza in Tokyo's Shinjuku district, based on a real life incident.'Steelhead' played by Chan, is a Chinese peasant fixing farm machinery for a pittance. When the girl he is set to marry travels to Japan and doesn't come back, he follows hundreds of other illegal immigrants across the border and learning to survive on the streets, under the radar and working illegally.With the government's stringent efforts to stop all illegal immigrants working in Japan, Steelhead and his street brothers learn how to hustle and work the black market but when Japanese crime syndicates become the bane of their existence, Steelhead leads his own people to fight them and unwittingly saves the life of highly respected Yakuza boss Eguchi, who it turns out has married his fiancée.In return, Eguchi grants Steelhead power and space to operate, providing Steelhead becomes his personal hit-man but when Steelhead's Triad syndicate starts to grow more powerful, events escalate until only war is inevitable. The only man who might stop it is Inspector Kitano, a detective whose life Steelhead selflessly saved while on the run.The Shinjuku Incident is clever in the way that it manages to be bloody and violent yet moral and sometimes sympathetic and having no kung fu fights whatsoever. Chan is brilliant as the peasant turned reluctant mafia boss, a man who turned to harmless crime to survive who was drawn to greater evils to protect those he cared about.If anything it's the moral opposite of Scarface, only it reaches much the same conclusion, that people see power corrupting ordinary men, when it's just corruption that corrupts power, which affects even the best of us.Chan doesn't go to such brave limits of acting as Van Damme did in 2008's JCVD but he acts his pants off anyway and shows what he's worth outside of the dangerous stunts he's known for. And bangs a hooker, and gets drunk, and stabs people to death, and shoots gangsters in broad daylight.It's not Infernal Affairs but it's one hell of an achievement of the world's long time favourite kung-fu action star!

Steelhead arrives in Shinjuku from China in hopes of finding the woman he loves. But his innocent world is soon tainted with crime and bloodshed as well as heartbreak.If you are expecting a Kung-Fu movie...Wrong film. This is about Jackie's acting skills, and he demonstrates that he actually is a fantastic actor who can play heart wrenching roles just as well as the Kung-Fu funny man. I honestly loved the story of Steelhead pursuit to be reunited with his lover, and when he finds out that she is with another man, he descends into the world of organised crime, threatening the Yakuza.There are flaws in the film, the second half is a let down with Daniel Wu taking on the look of a 'Rocky Horror Picture Show' character. But apart from that there is not a bad actor among the cast, everyone gives a hundred percent...Yes, there are a lot of characters, which is another flaw, but you look past that and focus on Steelhead.The last Jackie Chan movie I watched was Rush Hour 3, and I just felt that his heart was no longer in mindless fighting films..I'd seen the genius of his intellect as he combined comedy with kung-fu in his earlier films...And this has re-invented him...Good job Jackie!