Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
Jackie Chan | ... | Steelhead | |
Naoto Takenaka | ... | Inspector Kitano | |
Daniel Wu | ... | Jie | |
Jinglei Xu | ... | Xiu Xiu / Yuko Eguchi | |
Masaya Katô | ... | Toshinari Eguchi | |
Bingbing Fan | ... | Lily | |
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Tôru Minegishi | ... | Koichi Muranishi |
Kenya Sawada | ... | Nakajima (as Kenya) | |
Jack Kao | ... | Gao Jie | |
Paul Chun | ... | Uncle De | |
Suet Lam | ... | Old Ghost | |
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Hiroyuki Nagato | ... | Hara Ooda |
Yasuaki Kurata | ... | Taro Watagawa | |
Kar Lok Chin | ... | Hongkie | |
Ken Lo | ... | Little Tai (as Kenneth Low) |
In China, the poor worker Tietou repairs tractors and misses his sweetheart Xiu Xiu, back in Japan, she having never sent any news to her family or him. While illegally emigrating to Japan, Tietou loses his Chinese documents and so cannot return to his country. He is welcomed by his countrymen who lodge and work in Shinjuku where they also help him to find illegal work. While running from a police raid through the sewage system where Chinese are illegally working, Tietou saves Inspector Kitano from drowning in the dirty water. Later, after an incident with his cousin, Joe, and a Taiwan gang, Tietou saves the powerful Yakuza boss Toshinari Eguchi. He is the husband of Xiu Xiu, who is now called Yuko and are parents of a little daughter. The mobster offers a dirty job to Tietou; in retribution, he promises to deliver the quarter dominated by the Taiwan gang to him. Tietou becomes the boss of the Chinese illegal immigrants. But his peaceful methods make him unpopular and Tietou starts to... Written by Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
The dark world of Film Noir, with its complex plots, shades of gray and evocations of unrelenting human evil, has long been one genre where Hong Kong cinema has lagged behind Hollywood. After "Infernal Affairs", however, things have changed, and Hong Kong cinema has finally gotten to this profoundly affecting and challenging genre.
Jackie Chan stars as Iron Zhao aka Steelhead, a truck repairman from China's poor but happy Northeast who settles down as an illegal immigrant in Tokyo, and after a series of run-ins with the Yakuza, rises to power as the Don of Chinese illegal immigrants. However, things get out of control when Steelhead is foolish enough to believe in clean getaways in a world that offers none, and soon comes to seal his own fate. A superb supporting cast rounds up this tale of a man's tragic fall from Grace against an unstoppable tide of greed, corruption and evil.
Derek Yee creates a grandly atmospheric, neat piece of work evoking the grime and grit of Tokyo existing under the glittery clean streets, to bring out an immortal tale that has existed as long as there were cities: a tale of hard-luck immigrants who fight their way to the top against all odds in the world of crime, and for the pursuit of money and power, damn their souls to hell.