Action drama starring Jackie Chan. A Chinese worker known as Steelhead illegally enters Japan to find work and search for his sweetheart, Xiu Xiu. But Steelhead discovers that Xiu Xiu has become involved with a mob boss and soon finds himself dragged into a world of crime and gang warfare.
An impressive Jackie Chan has sadness etched into his face in this gritty but convoluted tale of inter-racial gang rivalry in 1990s Japan. Playing a more dramatic role than usual, he stars as an idealistic Chinese worker who arrives illegally in Tokyo to seek a better future and his missing fiancée, only to be caught up in the city's criminal underworld. The episodic, rise-and-fall narrative is part thought-provoking social commentary, part sweeping, GoodFellas-style epic, and mixes scenes of immigrant exploitation, strong violence and mobster politics with earnest, if heavy-handed, moral messages and clichéd characterisations. Yet while veteran Hong Kong director Derek Yee deserves credit for his ambition and visual flair, his film unfortunately gets drowned in detail. Events become increasingly messy and confusing, seriously diluting their emotional impact as they spiral downwards to a big fight climax and tragic aftermath.
| role | name |
|---|---|
| Steelhead | Jackie Chan |
| Xiu Xiu | Xu Jinglei |
| Jie | Daniel Wu |
| Eguchi | Masaya Kato |
| Inspector Kitano | Naoto Takenaka |
| Gao | Jack Kao |
| role | name |
|---|---|
| Director | Derek Yee |
