The Cover

In an interview that's included on the disc, Jackie Chan explains City Hunter as an animated cartoon come to life. He also says something to the effect of "whether it succeeded or not is up to the viewer." Let me break down that for those of you who aren't versed in celeb-speak. It means that Jackie knew the film was shitty and that you too will think it's shitty if you bother to watch it.

You know that look a monkey gets when he finds a box, but can't figure out how to open it? That's me watching this movie. City Hunter isn't a Hong Kong Classic, it's not a good chop-sockey movie, it's hardly something that I'd classify as a film. Let's start with the fact that Jackie's name in the film is City Hunter. I don't know what a City Hunter does - apparently he just runs around looking confused. Another lovely example of translation gone bad.

Through various plot machinations, Jackie goes on a cruise ship and fights terrorists. So City Hunter is basically Die Hard on a Cruise Ship...with Asian people...terrible fights...and Jackie Chan running around dressed like Chun Li from the Streetfighter video game. OK, obviously it's nothing like Die Hard, so what's to like about this film?

Maybe the creepy factor. Jackie has fallen for the girl that he has raised for a dead friend since she was a young girl. Of course, his death is outlined in the beginning of the film with disturbingly mocking sense of humor. I didn't know seeing your friend die before your eyes could be so funny. He can't help but love this girl thirty years his junior, but at the same time, he can't help but ogle the nubile breasts of every girl that enters his view.

The biggest problem with City Hunter is that it doesn't focus on the action. So maybe the plot of Magnificent Butcher wasn't the best ever crafted, but the fights were amazing and well done. No such luck here. There's likely two real action scenes in the film and one of them is so cartoonish, literally a parody of a Streetfighter video game, that it ceases to be interesting on any level.

This is one of those films that you rent so you can see exactly how not to make a movie.

Movie Grade: D

Video: 3 out of 5
It's fine. There's a little bit of haziness to certain scenes and the CG enhanced sequences look like they were rendered off a VHS tape. I'm guess that was a limitation of the time more than a fault of the transfer.
Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1

That's funny, right?

Audio: 3 out of 5
I don't know. Give me a break on this one, will ya? The dubbed version sucks.
English (5.1), Cantonese (5.1)

Extras: 3 out of 5
My favorite extra: an interview with Jackie saying how American audiences don't care or know about him and his skills. I'm sure he's singing a different tune now. There are some other interviews, an outtake reel and assorted trailers and photo galleries. For twelve bucks, not much to complain about.

Overall: 2 out of 5
It's cheap, it's bad, it's up to you. If it was my choice, I'd buy Magnificent Butcher two times before I bought this film.

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