"Shinjuku Incident (2010)" Topic

This interesting and long (120 minutes) movie puts Jackie Chan into an unusual role for him, as his character (an illegal Chinese immigrant in Japan) becomes the leader of a Chinese gang, fighting or allying with rival Taiwanese and Yakuza gangs.

If you are expecting a kung fu movie, there is little of Jackie's famous kung fu here. There are fight scenes, and there is violence and gore.

If you are expecting the usual Jackie Chan "feel good" movie, this is not that. This is a rather grim story with a grim ending.

Is this a realistic gangster movie? I felt the movie tried too much to make Jackie Chan's character a 'good' gangster, to the point that it seemed silly at times, and left the character's other actions unexplained.

Even at 120 minutes, it seemed they were trying to fit too much story into the movie. But it does make you feel sad for the exploited Chinese workers, it shows how good intentions don't always work out, and it has a cinematic ending.

I can only give it 4 stars out of 10.

However, from a wargaming perspective, this does provide lots of ideas for anyone wanting to wargame a Triads campaign involving Japanese rival gangsters, Taiwanese criminals, exploited illegal Chinese workers, dirty politicians, an honest cop or two, pachinko parlors and comfort houses.

I picked up the DVD in SF Chinatown some years ago. It was interesting for Chan to essentially play a "bad guy".

As with many Jackie Chan movies, I felt that the script had many good elements, but should have been developed further before they made the movie.

If you are interested in the topic I would recommend 'Battles Without Honor and Humanity' series of the movies. I think there is about 10 movies in the series. Most are filmed in the seventies, and last 2 or 3 are of newer date. I've seen few, not all of them. Dark, violent; no chivalry here. Based on the real events and on the real people.