Jackie Chan is most known for his Martial Arts comedy or light hearted action films. The guy is just downright likable. But not all his films are so squeaky clean, just most North American releases. In fact the most recent project he is working on, Shinjuku Incident is so violent that the Chinese Language film will not be released in most of China.
Hong Kong director Derek Yee said Monday that he considered toning down the violence in “Shinjuku Incident” so it could pass censorship in China, but decided not to because he thought it would hurt the integrity of the movie.
Yee said the $25 million Chinese-language movie, in which Chan plays a refugee who escapes to Japan and becomes a killer for the mob, has scenes that show characters getting a hand chopped off and pierced with knives.
Chan is insistent that this has nothing to do with political censorship or cultural boundaries, but that it is purely the violence in this film that is his motivation.
Removing the violence might have been an easy out, but Chan (who also invested in this film) and his director both agree that to cut it out would take something away from the movie. I can respect that.
So Jackie Chan fans will have to be in Hong Kong, Japan or Southeast Asia this spring to see it.
Jackie More than wonderful
I wish him greater success in professional life
If you think Jackie plays a fool in every movie then you don’t follow Hong Kong cinema. New Police Story is the best he’s ever done and the action in that movie is great. Americans aren’t ready to treat minorities as equals so that’s why they don’t use these stars correctly. Jet Li is the ultimate badass but in the U.S. he’s gotta do crap with DMX. Chow Yun Fat is a romantic lead but in the U.S. he can’t even kiss the girl in Replacement Killers.
In 1993 Jackie was filming two films back to back, and they couldnt be more different. One was City Hunter, an all out farce with that famous street fighter II spoof scene. The other was Crime Story, a dark thriller with a police corruption story line. Sorry to come across as Jackies PR man but seriously seek out Crime Story if you like New Police Story. Theres also Heart of The Dragon in which Jackie is looking after his mentally disabled brother, Sammo Hung. That ones a bit melodramatic and over acted but still fascinating to see a serious Jackie.
Didn’t anybody catch New Police Story? that was a dark role, I will buy this movie and had it sent from Hong Kong if its necesary I’ve done it before with other Jackie movies.
Awesome! I like Jackie Chan doing darker material. Very good choice for him I think.
Finally Jackie Chan leaves his comfort zone and attempts something new. He has done a lot of bashing on Hong Kong cinema the past few years about not taking chances and I could say the same for him. Its refreshing to see him not playing a bumbling buffoon.
I dont know if this movie will be a hit, but I am actually excited to see it and I haven’t said that about a Jackie Chan movie in a long, long time!
I’d love to see this. Do you have any info on it ever being released in the US?
OMG!!! I want to see this movie!! Seriously, I have never seen Chan venture into dark roles.
heres the trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-b4GZpMUEho&feature=related
jackie chan should do some serious english movies like this
nope because most american directors dont know how to use jackie or most asian actors….look at the US careers of jackie and jet li
and Chow Yun Fat ):
Shinjuku? Wasn’t that a character in Mortal Kombat Deception?
It is a region in Japan.
It’s not a religion.
The two big religions in Japan are Shinto and Buddhism.
Shinjuku is a city. ;)
I like that Jackie is doing more mature films now-
Will be fun. :)
Northpole: I don’t know that more violent equals more mature.
‘Rumble in the Bronx’ had a wood-chipper scene, and that arguably wasn’t his most mature (having said that, I do want to see Shinjuku)..
(Tony Jaa’s Ong Bak is more mature than a lot of Chan’s films — IN SPITE OF, probably — the extreme-violence-against-women and the getting-pissed-and-breaking-twenty-legs scenes.)
The two most mature Chans I’ve seen are Gorgeous and Rob-B-Hood.
more violence, more entertainment