San suk si gin (2009)

User Rating:

7.6/10   

Director:

Tung-Shing Yee

Writers:

Tung-Shing Yee (written by) and
Tin Nam Chun (writer)

Release Date:

2 April 2009 (Hong Kong)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Plot Keywords:

Mechanic | Stealing | Criminal Syndicate | Rescue From Drowning | Sex

Cast

Jackie Chan	...	Steelhead
Naoto Takenaka	...	Inspector Kitano
Daniel Wu	...	Jie
Jinglei Xu	...	Xiu Xiu / Yuko Eguchi
Bingbing Fan	...	Lily
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Kar Lok Chin	...	Hongkie
Paul Chun	...	Uncle De
Jack Kao	...	Gao Jie
Masaya Kato	...	Toshinari Eguchi
Yasuaki Kurata	...	Taro Watagawa
Suet Lam	...	Old Ghost
Teddy Lin	...	Tai Bao (as Andrew Lin)
Ken Lo	...	Little Tai
Randy Muscles	...	Gaijin
Hiroyuki Nagato	...	Hara Ooda
Kenya Sawada	...	Nakajima

Also Known As:

Shinjuku Incident (International: English title)
Xin Su shi jian (Hong Kong: Mandarin title)

Runtime:

120 min

Country:

Hong Kong

Language:

Cantonese | Mandarin | Japanese

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Hong Kong:IIB (cut) | Japan:R-15 | Australia:MA | Singapore:M18 | Singapore:NC-16 (edited version) | Hong Kong:III | South Korea:18 | New Zealand:R16 | China:(Banned) | Philippines:R-13 (MTRCB) (heavily cut)

Filming Locations:

China

Company:

JCE Movies

Thoughts...

I went to see this film out of the blue, wasn't hyped, didn't even know it came out yet. However I am a fan of Asian films, not hardcore as some but I've watched my fair share, also you can say I'm a fan of Daniel Wu and of course Jackie Chan.

That said, this film you can put next to Jackie Chan's more serious films, and without a doubt IS his most serious film in all his career, in my opinion.

The plot is obviously based on the Chinese people who "migrated" to Japan and their struggles and battles to establish themselves, mix in Japanese yakuza, turf war and old missing friend(s), and then to top it off depiction of human tendencies to be corrupted by power.

Analyzing the plot is time consuming and I don't get paid for it, so I wont get into it too much at all. However I do want to mention that it is a gritty film, it is violent, harsh but these things were necessary to set the tone of the film. Don't expect the usual Jackie Chan flips, martial arts, fun kung-fu action scenes.. no.. its more realistic that violence is represented by people chopping each other almost Kill Bill-esquire.

It is a serious film, well shot, well acted and the cast were well suited. Daniel Wu is good in it, although some questionable and real quick turn of character as the movie goes on. Jackie Chan is good too, the man can put on a serious face and act in a dramatic role when he needs to. I'm glad it was made for the Asian audiences, I can imagine it being only being mediocre if not bad if westernized.

If you want a film with a scar face esquire story/plot, lots of gang members fighting, a bit of drama, heaps of blood and quiet frankly a pretty darn good film... then I recommend it.

Its a 4 star movie for me...