It stars Jackie Chan, Naoto Takenaka, Daniel Wu, Xu Jinglei, and Fan Bingbing.

In the early 1990s, a tractor mechanic nicknamed Steelhead (Jackie Chan) illegally enters Japan from Hong Kong in search of his fiancée, Xiu-Xiu (Xu Jinglei) with the help of his "friend" Jie (Daniel Wu).

One day, while illegally working as part of a clean-up crew in the sewers, Steelhead and his Chinese comrades are spotted by the police and run for their lives.

One night, while working in a restaurant with Jie, Steelhead finds Xiu-Xiu with yakuza leader Eguchi (Masaya Kato).

Steelhead and his Chinese friends begin a money laundering operation, but Jie is left out due to his kind-hearted nature.

Unfortunately, Taiwanese triad leader Gao (Jack Kao) discovers one of his pachinko machines has been tampered with (fixed by Steelhead's group) and vows to punish the culprit.

That fateful night, Steelhead and Kitano return to the vassal HQ to warn his comrades about their impending arrest if they do not stop their operation.

After being split up from Kitano, Steelhead meets and bids a sorrowful farewell to a dying Jie, who had also escaped but did not survive the attack at the vassal HQ.

[3] Yee considered toning down or cutting the violence in order to pass censorship, but felt it would hurt the integrity of the film.

"[5] Edmund Lee of Time Out Hong Kong wrote "While the film breaks more limbs than it does new ground, Shinjuku Incident is pulsating in its dramatic intensity, and indelible in its brutal vision.

"[6] Meanwhile, Brian Miller of The Village Voice wrote "The killing and the brawling between rival Japanese and Chinese gang factions are spasmodic and unruly; there's no glamour to this mobster's rise and fall.

Despite its Hong Kong pedigree (Derek Yee directs) Shinjuku Incident forgoes flashy action scenes in favor of old fashioned moralism.

"[7] Perry Lam of Muse was unhappy with the more inclusive cast, complains that the film is an example of Hong Kong's supposed eroding cinematic identity: "OK, we get the point – mainlanders have always been the patriots, now they can be heroes in Cantonese cinema too… What will become of Hong Kong cinema, or what will be left of it, when its filmmakers stop trying to seek inspiration from the city and make heroes of its people?