A very thought provoking serious film that presents itself well through an entertainment medium. I commend this film highly.
If you're looking for the usual US Jackie Chan fare of comedy or acrobatic martial arts and downright dangerous stunt work, you won't find it here. Instead, you will find a wealth of dramatic ability from some of Asia's finest actors and actresses. For Jackie Chan, this is something some of us have known about for years, but found woven in his older serious action films not normally released in the US except by DVD. Even in those, the stellar action and stunt work tends to overshadow the dramatic parts, as good as they are.
This is a serious drama about finding a girl friend from China who illegally entered Japan and the entanglements that ensue. Chan's character, Steelhead, after losing contact with a girl friend shortly after her illegal immigration to Japan, makes the perilous journey to Japan, and becomes an illegal immigrant himself to find her.
From that point on, it becomes a film noir dramatic exploration of the legal entanglements, dangers, victimization and abuse that befall illegal immigrants regardless of location and nationality. While this story is built from a montage of real events that occurred amongst Chinese illegals in the Tokyo Shinjuku district in the 1990s, the issues explored typify issues surrounding illegal immigrants in any urban location in the world.
Well crafted, well directed and well acted. Daniel Wu and Naoto Takenaka provide outstanding performances. Daniel Wu's character, as outrageously dressed and behaved as it may seem in the latter half of the film, is an accurate portrayal of dress and behavior in that place, time and circumstance. Naoto Takenaka delivers a very credible performance of a law enforcement official caught between struggling humanity, victimization, vicious criminals and the rule of law.
There is some action, brief, graphic and violent but it is not gratuitous and not the focus of the film. It serves a pivotal role in the story and the portrayal of circumstances illegals face in a foreign country. It is a clear unfettered look into the violence that Triad and Yakuza use to enforce their territories and will. If anything, current realities between the US, Mexico and the drug cartels have a level of violence this film never reaches.
Jacky Chan rises admirably to the type of character who sets out to save his fellow nationals from their circumstances but not without a heavy price to be paid and not without serious misjudgments along the way. The scenery, characterizations, dress and actions all portray the situation of illegal Chinese, Triads and Yakuza in Tokyo's Shinjuku district in the 1990s as accurately as any dramatic presentation will ever be able to do.
If you're looking for the usual US Jackie Chan fare of comedy or acrobatic martial arts and downright dangerous stunt work, you won't find it here. Instead, you will find a wealth of dramatic ability from some of Asia's finest actors and actresses. For Jackie Chan, this is something some of us have known about for years, but found woven in his older serious action films not normally released in the US except by DVD. Even in those, the stellar action and stunt work tends to overshadow the dramatic parts, as good as they are.
This is a serious drama about finding a girl friend from China who illegally entered Japan and the entanglements that ensue. Chan's character, Steelhead, after losing contact with a girl friend shortly after her illegal immigration to Japan, makes the perilous journey to Japan, and becomes an illegal immigrant himself to find her.
From that point on, it becomes a film noir dramatic exploration of the legal entanglements, dangers, victimization and abuse that befall illegal immigrants regardless of location and nationality. While this story is built from a montage of real events that occurred amongst Chinese illegals in the Tokyo Shinjuku district in the 1990s, the issues explored typify issues surrounding illegal immigrants in any urban location in the world.
Well crafted, well directed and well acted. Daniel Wu and Naoto Takenaka provide outstanding performances. Daniel Wu's character, as outrageously dressed and behaved as it may seem in the latter half of the film, is an accurate portrayal of dress and behavior in that place, time and circumstance. Naoto Takenaka delivers a very credible performance of a law enforcement official caught between struggling humanity, victimization, vicious criminals and the rule of law.
There is some action, brief, graphic and violent but it is not gratuitous and not the focus of the film. It serves a pivotal role in the story and the portrayal of circumstances illegals face in a foreign country. It is a clear unfettered look into the violence that Triad and Yakuza use to enforce their territories and will. If anything, current realities between the US, Mexico and the drug cartels have a level of violence this film never reaches.
Jacky Chan rises admirably to the type of character who sets out to save his fellow nationals from their circumstances but not without a heavy price to be paid and not without serious misjudgments along the way. The scenery, characterizations, dress and actions all portray the situation of illegal Chinese, Triads and Yakuza in Tokyo's Shinjuku district in the 1990s as accurately as any dramatic presentation will ever be able to do.
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