2
(nothing substantial)
6
(a little violence, mild sexuality)
4
(not worth it unless you're a big fan already)
"City Hunter" is one of the most disappointing Jackie Chan movies I’ve seen in a while. There aren’t many of his movies I don’t like, even considering the really old Lo Wei era flicks. So when I say I don’t much care for a particular movie of his it should carry more weight than someone who only likes "Rush Hour" and "Shanghai Noon." Jackie himself has said that this is not one of his favorites.
So what makes this one not as good? Well, just about everything. The story, directing, characters, music, and action are all weak. The thing to keep in mind when watching this is that it’s intended to more or less be a live-action anime for a Japanese audience.
The hero is a bumbling klutz, a womanizer, and acts like a juvenile. I expected more of a James Bond type: suave, sophisticated, intelligent. He’s none of that. Members of the supporting cast, most notably the card player whose name I don’t know, are exhibit far more of that than Jackie's character does.
Ryu is a private detective hired to find the daughter of a wealthy businessman. You would think Ryu would do a little detection to find her… no, most of his accomplishments are through blind, dumb luck (not unlike an Inspector Gadget in that way). By pure contrived coincidence he ends up on the same cruise liner with the girl where the story shifts to terrorists hijacking the boat and looting the rich passengers. Ryu and some secret agents who have followed the terrorists must take on the villains. Ryu is feared by the terrorists even though it’s the agents that are actually their biggest threat.
Many of the scenes are very cartoony. That’s not always a bad thing, I loved "The Mask," but to me it makes "City Hunter" silly often without being funny. That may be what makes this anime series worthy of being a Jackie Chan movie for some, but part of what I love about most of Chan’s movies is the comedy so I doubt it’s just me not getting it.
One of the major parts of a good Chan movie is the unique Martial Arts action. "City Hunter" has very little of that. Chan's sequences are few and short usually having 1 or 2 flips (or something similar) and that’s it. Which is not to say it’s the worst I’ve ever seen; there are some bright spots. Jackie has a really great move or two every now and then, and in one scene he imitates Bruce Lee who is on a movie screen in the background which is pretty cool.
Another bright spot is a "Street Fighter" enactment with Jackie as the Sumo wrestler (E. Honda I think?) then in drag as Chun Li. The special effects lack, but it’s a delightfully cheesy scene. There are some good scenes without Jackie, too, with one of the female secret agents trying and failing to seduce a terrorist (one of the funniest moments) and Carrie (that’s the way her name is spelled in the subtitles although I think it’s supposed to be closer to Kaori) beating up another terrorist while making him think he’s being seduced. A lot of pseudo-seduction goes on around here. It makes for good comedy.
Though it has the bright moments, the movie drags a lot. The plot lost me several times, and several scenes are boring and pointless. The music doesn’t fit the mood; I thought it should have sounded more zany than dramatic or adventurous. And since I wasn’t already familiar with many of the actors, the frequent costume changes caused me to lose sight of who was who.
I guess you need to go into this movie with the mindset of it being silly and juvenile rather than any kind of real story. I like silly and I'm not above juvenile, but this one just doesn't click with me.
Morality
There is some violence which seems out of place since most of the movie is light-hearted. It’s not real graphic as far as blood, but can be gruesome just the same because of actor Richard Norton’s ferocity. The Martial Arts fight sequences are tame.
There may be a little strong language, but it’s barely noticeable.
Despite Ryu being a womanizer there isn’t much sexuality. The worst it gets is him staring at a woman’s breasts, but it’s because he’s hungry and is imagining them as hamburgers. It’s not hard to figure out he’s always thinking about sex, but it is portrayed without actually being vulgar. There are the seduction scenes I mentioned, but they are played for comedy rather than sensuality and never get to the point of the girls stripping.
Spirituality
There's very little to talk about here. I didn't latch on to any real themes in the story or points made. It's too silly to have anything like that.
Final Thoughts
The Jackie Chan completist will want to see "City Hunter" as I did, but put it near the bottom of the list. Check it out if you’re an anime fan or are into the original "City Hunter" anime. If you're looking for a cute Martial Arts comedy you can do better than this one.
Buying Guide
While I might not think all that much of "City Hunter" the movie, the good news is if you do like it you should be pleased with the DVD at least if you get the same one I did.
Currently there are 2 DVD's out, one from Fox (which I'll give you first-hand details on) and one from Image. There is also a double-feature with Battle Creek Brawl which is out on DVD and Blu.
According to the specs listing the Image DVD is a widescreen presentation with 5.1 surround sound for the Cantonese and Mandarin Chinese language tracks. There is no English track listed so you may have to read subtitles whether you want to or not. I can't find any comments on the quality, and there is no mention of any extra features.
The double-feature lists a widescreen ratio with 5.1 DTS surround sound. The Blu version mentions HD audio and a 1080p image, but what sparse comments I've been able to find on the quality do not speak highly of it. There are at least a few extras included, but the exact details of them have been elusive.
Final Recommendation:
Fox gives "City Hunter" a fair DVD treatment. I enjoyed going through the features probably more than I did watching the movie itself. So if you're into that kind of thing it might be worth a little of your time. For that reason as much as any I recommend the Fox DVD over the Image one, although the double-feature may be worth checking out but mostly only if you're interested in the HD or the other movie.
The Fox DVD says it has been remastered. It is a single disc.
Video
1.85 widescreen:
Despite being remastered it's still pretty grainy. Some of the special effects scenes look fuzzy.
Audio
5.1 Dolby:
The surround sound applies to the English and the original Cantonese language tracks! It is clear but thin. There is virtually no bass and no surround sound immersion.
I prefer the original language tracks in foreign movies so I'm excited about the 5.1 Cantonese, however, if you’re not like me, the English track is well done, too. You also get subtitles for both languages.
Packaging
The case is standard plastic.
An insert features the cover art and a chapters list.
The interface is colorful and features animation and music. Unfortunately the same music track restarts every time the screen changes whether you access another menu or are looking through a gallery and advance to the next image. It gets annoying so you might want to have that volume control handy while surfing the gallery.
Extras
All feature titles are as they appear on the DVD in case you see something that looks like a typo.
-Jackie Chan City Hunter Out Take MTV (2:30) In the credits of the movie Jackie does his usual outtakes, but there is a separate sequence of them in a music video format with some energetic rock pop-music. This is pure eye candy for any Chan fan.
-Exclusive Interviews:
-Jackie Chan (10:06) The Jackie Chan interview is, of course, my favorite. It’s slow with lots of pauses but still terrific for fans.
-Wong Jing (7:13) Director Wong Jing’s is harder to listen to because of his badly broken English but is still interesting.
-Rocky Lai (10:58) Lastly is with stuntman Rocky Leon Lai and is subtitled. He tells some good stories about Jackie.
-City Hunter Photo Gallery: A manually controlled slideshow with a number of good quality images. They appear to be mostly on set and focused on Jackie. The music loop restarts every time you advance to the next image and gets old very fast.
-Trailers:
-Original City Hunter Trailer (4:00) This almost feels like a music video. There's no English translation for anything.
-New City Hunter Trailer (1:50) This one is in English. It shows off the comedy and fighting but doesn't say what the movie is about.
-Jackie Chan Photo Gallery & Biography: This is a pretty long and well-written bio on Jackie with some good images (most if not all of them can be seen without text in the other gallery).
-Original Promotional Materials: Another manual slideshow with restarting music. This time we see posters and such. The images are rather small but are tagged to tell what they are.
-Production Notes:
-Synopsis: A written summary of the movie.
-Cast List: This lists the names of the actors but not the parts they play. The 4 on the first page link to filmographies.
-Crew List: A simple list of the crew.
-Previews: 4 preview trailers offered in a menu.