After I saw the trailer for this I was fixed on it. Could this really be a movie with Jackie Chan that wasn't retarded? Could this actually be a movie about Chinese-Japanese relations that didn't involve rage filled arguments about contemporary history? Yes it had all of those things and more. I guess when Jackie Chan doesn't get a shitty writer his acting can really shine. He plays a poor Chinese peasant that immigrates illegally to Japan in the 90s. The Chinese are to Japan as Mexicans are to California. Impoverished, loud, and a public nuisance, they're constantly begging for work or being harried by police.
Japanese society fosters high levels of racism to the Chinese. Both local gangs and police officials give them lots of trouble so they must band together to form their own gangs to help them survive and compete in their new environment. Above all, Jackie wants to do things honestly. His virtuosity takes him very far among the big players in Tokyo. He brings his fellow Chinese the security and prosperity they crave but upsets the established order of Yakuza and Taiwanese gangs. This is where Jackie's acting is at it's best. His character is simplistic but not stubborn, impressive but not exaggerated.
Jackie Chan is normally such a carefree guy that it's very disturbing to see him take part in this much brutality.
Rating: 100%
2 comments:
I think this has more to do with Jackie being 60 and having arthritis, then him suddenly wanting to do more serious roles.
How many times in this movie does he say to the Japanese "Prease, I don't want trouble"?
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