DVD Release: China
Country of Origin: China
Distributor: Joy Sales
Region: Free

Pros:

• Well done film
• A nice drama that concentrates more on the story than action
• No silly moments like those that can be found in recent Jackie Chan films
• Another strong cast
• A fine Tung-Shing Yee effort

Cons:

• Typical gangster-style plotline
• For those looking for a lot of action (because of the Jackie Chan name), this will be a disappointment

Synopsis:

Steelhead (Jackie Chan), a tractor repairman sneaks into Japan to look for his girlfriend Xiu Xiu (Jinglei Xu: The Warlords), where he joins old friend Jie (Daniel Wu: Gorgeous, The Twins Effect 2, Legend of the Black Scorpion) and a band of illegal Chinese immigrants living in the shadowy fringes of Japanese society. Forced by circumstances, Steelhead rises to become the leader of a new Shinjuku gang with the help of Eguchi (Masaya Kato: Crying Freeman, Gozu, Samurai Resurrection), a Yakuza boss. After Steelhead gets legal status to live in Japan, he retreats to settle into a quiet life with new girlfriend Lily (Fan Bingbing: The Twins Effect 2, Flashpoint, Lost In Beijing). But their peace is interrupted when policeman Kitano (Naoto Takenaka: Cyborg Girl, Shall We Dance, Gonin) tells him that his brothers are now committing serious crimes. Steelhead goes with Kitano to persuade his comrades to turn over a new leaf, but his good intentions are misunderstood.

Review:

Wow! A Jackie Chan movie without any silliness. Now this was unexpected. Not that his earlier HK made films were silly, for most of them the comedy enhanced the film more than hurt. It’s the more recent releases that were silly bordering on stupid. Since 2000, the Chan movies I liked were The Twins Effect movies and Forbidden Kingdom, while Shanghai Noon was just watchable.

The story is a simple one, but in the deft hands of director Tung-Shing Yee (One Nite in Mongkok , Full Throttle) it becomes more than just a Yakuza movie. Yes, this is a Yakuza war movie about gangs fighting over turf, but one of the things that makes this a little more (powerful? intense?) is the way the Yee digs deeper into the main characters.

Steelhead is just a normal person who through tenacity alone is able to become the head of a small gang. This gang is made up of the other illegal immigrants that Steelhead is sharing a place with. They are just a bunch of regular guys who, inspired by Steelhead’s will, become a bunch of toughies. This isn’t as action-packed as other Chan films in keeping with his being an everyday guy, and as such, Steelhead isn’t proficient at martial arts, so his fight scenes are more about using his head to get himself out of trouble than skill, which makes it a different and fun film to watch Chan in.

Eguchi is a Japanese yakuza boss who has compassion for the Chinese. The fact that he’s now married to Xiu Xiu, who now goes by the name of Yuko Eguchi, plays a large part in that but he is still Japanese. So how deep does his compassion go? And Xiu Xiu, although now married to Eguchi, still has feelings for Steelhead.

My favorite character, though, is the hard-luck Jie, as he’s the only one who never builds up enough courage to be a tough guy. Because he can’t be tough, the boys buy him a cart that he can sell chestnuts out of. Eventually, though, he gets beaten up and also loses both the cart and his right hand in seperate incidents. Talk about being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Eventually, he winds up selling drugs behind everyone’s back which is his downfall.

In spite of its lack of violence, this film was mired in controversy when first released. After its initial showing at the Hong Kong Film Festival, Chinese authorities limited its release to just a few small theaters, probably more for the intenseness of its violence than the amount of violence. Either way, Chinese authorities were none to happy with the film.

Overall, this is a good film and definitely watchable. The reason it doesn’t get a much higher rating is that it pretty much follows a typical gangster-type storyline. With the exception of a few twists are thrown in to make it a bit more interesting, it’s still a gangster movie.

This BD release is a nice one. The film is presented in a 2.35:1 aspect ratio. The PQ is really good, with colors that are vivid and nicely saturated. As expected, the daytime scenes are excellent, but it’s the night scenes that are really impressive. Again the colors are clean, and the neon signs in the city just come to life in this format.

Sound quality is also excellent. There are three audio tracks here: Cantonese DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1, Cantonese LPCM 7.1 and Cantonese Dolby TrueHD 7.1. Removable subtitiles are in English, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Bahasa (Malaysia) and Bahasa (Indonesia). Kudos to Joy Sales Films and Video Distribution for doing a fine job.

Now for a quibble. It’s a minor one, but if you don’t own or have access to an all-region DVD player it will be a problem. The special features come on a separate disc that is a Region-3 standard disc. Why wasn’t it included on the BD? Your guess is as good as mine. The special features aren’t anything special either. There’s the standard Making Of… featurette, some trailers, TV spots and three deleted scenes. There also is a nice booklet that comes with the disc that has collectible cards inserted within. The only problem with the booklet is that it is printed in Chinese, so unless you can read Chinese…

Review by forum member Samael04