Jackie Chan has been on a slow but definitive death spiral for a few years now. Not literally of course, but career-wise. His American films have been mostly lacking, his Hong Kong films have been tepid, and his body is just getting too old to impress when compared to the likes of Tony Jaa or Donnie Yen. This isn’t really a criticism either… I’m still a Chan fan. It’s just a sad acknowledgment that his glory days are long behind him.

But that doesn’t have to be a bad thing. The man has charisma and charm, and he’s shown some dramatic skills in the past. (Although Crime Story is the only example that comes to mind right now…) Maybe Chan can transition slowly from pure action to pure acting. Maybe a movie with 10% action/90% emoting… a movie like Shinjuku Incident.

Chan plays a character named Steelhead in director Derek Yee’s drama about illegal Chinese immigrants working in Tokyo. The workers are living beneath the law, ignored and despised by Japanese citizens, and forced into dealings with the Yakuza. Steelhead goes to Tokyo initially to search for a lost girlfriend, but eventually comes to lead a group of immigrants in their fight for fair treatment and survival.

Chan certainly looks pretty serious in the trailer, although he also seems to have a few action scenes. Unfortunately the trailer also seems to heavily infer that Steelhead won’t be making it all the way to the end credits… Yee has made several films, most notably the excellent One Night In Mongkok. If anyone can coax a purely dramatic performance out of Chan, Yee can. Shinjuku Incident is scheduled for release this April. Where, I don’t know… Check out the film’s site for more info.

What do you think of the trailer? Do you still watch Chan’s movies? At the very least, this looks better than The Karate Kid remake…