MANILA, Philippines – In his last big-screen outing (The Forbidden Kingdom), Jackie Chan played a role familiar to him: The tough action hero. But in his new movie, Jackie makes an acting turnaround by playing an underdog who takes on the Japanese underworld in Shinjuku Incident.
Set to premiere in theaters tomorrow, June 10, Shinjuku Incident may be different from Chan’s earlier films in terms of characterization, but still boasts non-stop action from the opening sequence till the last.
Also starring Naoto Takenaka, Daniel Wu, Xu Jinglei, Fan Bingbing, Masaya Kato and directed by Derek Yee (who also wrote the screenplay), Shinjuku Incident is a story of revenge, as captured in the film’s tagline, “They destroyed his life. Now he’ll destroy them all.”
Chan plays Steelhead, an honest, hardworking tractor repairman from Heilongjian in northern China. Steelhead decides to make the perilous journey to Tokyo after he loses contact with his girlfriend, who had arrived in the city earlier.
As he searches for a way to support himself, Steelhead unwittingly finds himself pitted against the Japanese Yakuza.