Shinjuku Incident

	Rating: 3 out of 5 Original Title: San suk si gin Release Date: 2009 Director: Tung-Shing Yee Netflix Link IMDb Link

I don’t know why I expected anything good from Jackie Chan after he jumped the shark with that babysitting spy movie (which released in the US first). I figured since this was an HK movie instead of pure Hollywood tripe, it might be alright. I figured wrong. With the exception of Daniel Wu in a silver wig (for no apparent reason), there is not a damn thing in this movie I haven’t seen elsewhere a billion times.

Since there are no martial arts scenes, Shinjuku Incident relies heavily on the plot which is its major failing. When it bothers to make sense, it’s clichéd, but most of the time it doesn’t even do that. The character motivations are nonsensical and the transformations they make over the course of the film are not only unbelievable; they’re ridiculous. The only really interesting thing about it is the portrayal of Japanese xenophobia, but even that has been done better elsewhere. Shinjuku Incident takes an interesting, promising premise and runs it into the ground. It’s also overly long, it drags; it has no martial arts, little violence and not enough gushing blood. Boooo. 3 meh stars.

Protégé

	Rating: 4 out of 5 Original Title: Moon To Release Date: 2007 Director: Tung-Shing Yee Netflix Link IMDb Link

I watched this one because it stars Daniel Wu, Andy Lau and Louis Koo. What more could you as for? Well, how about a plot I haven’t seen a million times before? To be fair, it does throw in some fairly unique scenes involving Daniel Wu trying to save a junkie and how drugs are really bad for you. Wait, nope, I’ve seen that before. Actually, I’ve seen that before in another Daniel Wu film even. Hmm, OK then. Protégé is also overly long at nearly two hours. A lot of the scenes don’t really go anywhere. Do we really need to go traipsing through poppy fields throwing candy to children while riding an elephant? Oh, I guess we do.

Anyway, Andy Lau is brilliant, as usual, and Daniel Wu, while he’s an excellent actor, furthers the notion that he doesn’t actually have any teeth since he never once smiles. I barely recognized Louis Koo at all. Protégé is not highly recommended, but it’s worth a watch I suppose. I’ve rounded up to 4 stars since it was better than mediocre. It’s slightly better than meh, but not good enough to be good.

No. 3

	Rating: 3 out of 5 Release Date: 1997 Director: Neung-han Song Netflix Link IMDb Link

If you've been paying attention, you know that I'm quite taken with a lot of the Korean crime dramas I've seen lately. The problem with No. 3 is that there's nothing "lately" about it. It is yet another curious example of a late 90's film looking and feeling like a late 80's film. Matters are not helped any by the magical mullet sported by the lead actor (it's on the cover). Instead of a tense, edge of your seat thriller, it ends up being just another Korean gangster dramazzzzzzzzz. This film probably came out before they knew what the hell they were doing. Min-Sik Choi, who's one of my favorite Korean actors and most likely the reason I bothered watching this in the first place, has a relatively small part. For what it's worth, it's been about a week since I saw this one, and already, I've pretty much forgotten the plot. There are a lot of good Korean gangster dramas out there, but this is not necessarily one of them.  I wouldn't really recommend it unless you're really desperate for something to watch. No. 3 gets my ho-hum rating of 3 stars. In fact, to cleanse my Min-sik Choi pallet, after watching this, I watched Thirst again.

Green Fish

	Rating: 3 out of 5 Original Title: Chorok mulkogi Release Date: 1997 Director: Chang-dong Lee Netflix Link IMDb Link

Green Fish flips back and forth from gangster film to family drama, from deadly dull to fairly interesting. It looks older than it is – like it was made in the late 80′s rather than the late 90′s. The story is implausible, the acting is fair, and the direction is nothing special. This movie is billed as a thriller, which I would say is a bit of a stretch. A thriller implies some sort of thrills, of which there are few, if any, on display in Green Fish. In fact, the synopsis is actually way more interesting than the film. The dvd cover seems confused as well since, judging by it’s appearance, it looks like some sort of a romance. I wouldn’t say Green Fish is unwatchable, but there are far better Korean thrillers/gangster movies/family dramas out there.

The City of Violence

	Rating: 4 out of 5 Original Title: Jjakpae Release Date: 2006 Director: Seung-wan Ryoo Netflix Link IMDb Link

The City of Violence is a nicely composed gangland drama with a surprising amount of martial arts, knife fights and even nods to Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill and The Warriors with some Baseball Furies look-alikes, etc. The fight scenes are really well done and the evil guy is evil; you want him dead, right now. While the story isn’t all that original, The City Of Violence presents it in a fresh way making it seem as if we haven’t seen a similar story a thousand times before. The City of Violence isn’t quite a straight gangster drama, nor is it a martial arts film; it’s rather an entertaining combination of both and it was much better than I expected.

Le Deuxième Souffle

	Rating: 4 out of 5 Release Date: 1966 Director: Jean-Pierre Melville Netflix Link IMDb Link

Le Deuxième Souffle (The Second Wind) is not as good as some Melville films, which still puts it far and away above the rest of its genre. The plot is meticulously detailed with a jailbreak, a police manhunt and a heist. So much so that it’s almost like several films in one. Unusual for a Melville film, the female lead does more than just get slapped around or make sandwiches. In fact, the female character is an integral part of the plot. However, the mainstay is the men and their interactions. Trust, betrayal and honor are at the core. If you are unfamiliar with Melville, this would not be the film I’d recommend to start. I’d recommend Le Cercle Rouge, Le Doulos and Le Samourai ahead of it. However, if you’re a fan of gritty French crime dramas, it’s definitely worth a watch.

A Dirty Carnival

	Rating: 4 out of 5 Original Title: Biyeolhan Geori Release Date: 2006 Director: Ha Yu Netflix Link IMDb Link

A Dirty Carnival is yet another good Korean gangster film. While they aren’t producing anything truly groundbreaking in this long-standing, cliched genre, the Koreans have proven that they can produce a film just as interesting and gritty as their international competition. The Korean underworld, as represented in cinema, has just as much honor and loyalty as Yakuza or Triad, and the stakes are just as high. The code by which the antihero characters live has its consequences. A Dirty Carnival is a well-executed tale of betrayal with fight sequences and bloody gang fights to spare.

Triad Election

	Rating: 4 out of 5 Original Title: Hak se wui yi wo wai kwai Release Date: 2006 Director: Johnnie To Netflix Link IMDb Link

Triad Election is the sequel to Johnnie To’s Election (2005). The Hong Kong title of this film is actually Triad Election 2. This film is both a continuation of the story in Election and a stand-alone film. The second film picks up 2 years after the first. This is a pretty brutal film chock full o’ violence, gunfights, backstabbing (literal and figurative) and betrayal. Only the fittest will survive and reach the top. It’s a relatively standard plot for a gangster film and for a To film, but it does have a few surprises. While it’s not quite as good as the first film, it does have merit on its own.

Brotherhood

	Rating: 4 out of 5 Release Date: 2006 Netflix Link IMDb Link

Holy crap, talk about a time sink. I was hooked on this show from the very first episode. 900 hours later, I finished all three seasons only to hear that they stupidly canceled it. Good job, Showtime. I’m not sure if it’s the violence, the tragedy, the underhanded politics and back-stabbery, but whatever it is, this is probably the best sleeper show since The Wire. To be perfectly honest, I’ve not been much impressed by what Showtime previously had to offer. It always seemed like HBO’s kid brother, trying desperately to keep up. But with Brotherhood, they manage to hold their own.

Unlucky Monkey

	Rating: 5 out of 5 Japanese: アンラッキー・モンキー Release Date: 1998 Director: Hiroyuki “Sabu” Tanaka Netflix Link IMDb Link

A well-conducted symphony of errors, coincidences and the unexpected form this oddly satisfying caper/gangster film. Setting the tone with a foreshadowing diatribe of doom, the story takes us through a seemingly unceasing, snowball effect of chance occurrences. Our unlucky monkey is like a pinball spinning out of control from one random danger to another in an almost noir-like manner. With some sadness, a lot of emotional turmoil, a sardonic, far-fetched plot, some excellent performances, especially by Shin’ichi Tsutsumi, and an ending which is left open to interpretation, Unlucky Monkey was an unexpected and welcome find.