Netflix
This calendar month seems to be the time to release military action movies that color outside the lines . We ’ve already had Dev Patel’sMonkey Man , a mussy , throw - everything - at - the - bulwark action picture that blends intricate fight chronological succession and on - the - olfactory organ social comment in an entertaining package that will surely gain craze condition in the near future . Just this weekend , Boy Kills Worlddished out loads of sketch furiousness and over - the - top gore in a bidding for John Wick - level fandom . Both picture show bend or break the convention of reality to deliver quick cut fighting fit that drive the limit of the genre , all in an attempt to one - up the high standards fructify by the best picture show in theMission : Impossibleand Fast and Furious franchises .
Yet the best of the April clump is the one that has the lowest profile . City Hunterdoesn’t whiz anyone you ’d recognize likeItactor Bill Skarsgård inBoy Kills Worldand has n’t been backed by an all-inclusive merchandising effort like Universal’sMonkey Man . But the movie is a clap ; it ’s like cast Pop Rocks in a can of Mountain Dew and chasing it down with a couple of Pixy Sticks . It ’s ludicrous , unfledged , and whole unrealistic . It ’s also my preferent action movie of 2024 . Here ’s why you need to streamCity Hunterpronto .
Netflix
It’s an adaptation of a massively popular franchise
If you ’re not a manga , anime , or Jackie Chan fan , you ’ve probably never heard ofCity Hunter . That ’s OK , I had n’t either until I watched Netflix ’s version . City Hunterbegan life as a popular manga series in 1985 . It was quick adapted into an anime serial in 1987 and , later , theatrical animated movies release in 1989 , 1990 , 1999 , 2019 , and 2023 . It ’s also been adapted into several live - action iteration , including a 1993 Hong Kong motion picture star Jackie Chan ( who publically trashed the film ) and a 2019 Gallic version with Pamela Anderson ( ! ) in the plaster bandage .
The Netflix version carry no baggage from the previous versions ; in other word , you do n’t need to lie with anything about the mythology ofCity Hunterto interpret what ’s going on . The flick ’s plot is moderately straightforward : Former cops Ryo Saeba and his partner Hideyuki Makimura run a detective bureau name City Hunter . They ’re hired to find a teenage runaway , who has ingested a bootleg Angel Dust drug that gives its user irregular super forte . The only down side ? You kinda kick the bucket after the effect wear off .
After Hideyuki is off by one of these Angel Dust users , Ryo must team up up with his partner ’s adopt sister , Kaori , to find the the track , protect her , avenge Hideyuki ’s end , and take down the deplorable organization behind the whole drug enterprise .
This is a pretty distinctive action movie plot ( it reminded me a routine of the first two deadly weapon system movies as well asThe Adventures of Ford Fairlane ) , and it ’s retro simplicity is part of its charm . There ’s no spooky AI algorithm to battle or earthly concern - ending crisis to solve ; instead , Ryo has to overcome a designer drug cartel and a law force that does n’t whole trust his renegade doings .
The action scenes are over-the-top and sublime
Is it a shock to take that action movies live or die by their action sequences ? No , of course not . And if you judgeCity Hunterpurely by its fight scenes , the movie is a clear succeeder . It open up with one of its best scenes : an extended pursual scene that start with Ryo manus - glide his way into a skyscraper , shooting a window so it better upon impingement , executing a Street Fighter - style flying kick that would make Chun - Li proud , and reason with Ryo using a massage mat to skid down some stairs and flee out another window , his flight of steps score by soar upwards rock music and punctuated by dull motion so you’re able to drench it all in .
And that ’s just the first 15 mo ! after in the movie , there ’s a face-off at a crowded cosplay convention where Ryo oppose a leather - cloak woman with a whip a laCatwoman , whothenpulls out two small knives from the stem of her bullwhip to subdue Ryo . Oh , and there ’s also someone with a rifle dissipate at Ryo while all this is pass on . metropolis Hunter‘s action scenes areintenseand often brute , and even if they are n’t remotely naturalistic , you ’re still on the bound of your seat to see how it will all turn out .
Ryo is both incredibly cool and utterly immature
Two of my favorite activity torpedo ever are Steve McQueen ’s cool , fashionable cop inBullittand Spike Spiegel ’s aloof lone wolf inCowboy Bebop . With his fashionable turtleneck shirt , beige trench coat , and Corinthian attitude , City Hunter‘s Ryo Saeba is understandably draw from the same cloth . And it ’s a quotation to actor Ryohei Suzuki that he personify the aspects of this character cleanly . Ryohei is incredibly charismatic , and he makes you love Ryo even when he ’s acting like a unadulterated idiot .
Unlike the characters that clearly inspire him , Ryo is immature and a mo goofy . He ’s addict to smut , ogle women ’s tit shamelessly , and is prone to prove his , er , excitation , when someone attractive is around him . ( And someone always is . ) YetCity Hunterdoesn’t let its poor boy off the hook with this behaviour .
Through Kaori ’s never-ending disapproval and nudging to be good , Ryo finally reigns in his immaturity enough to keep his nidus and fix the display case . It ’s a redemptory spark that is n’t overact , and it feels make .
City Hunter constantly surprises you
I ’d be remiss to not briefly pertain on one of the good aspects ofCity Orion : It always keeps you guessing as to what will come about next . The movie has its own narrative logical system , so it never experience choppy , but it also constantly springs one surprise after another . From the aforementioned chase scene that opens the movie to its third - act confrontation that pits Ryo and Kaori against a seemingly endless stream of enemy , City Hunterthrows constantly curveballs at you .
One such curveball is its non - sequitur humor . The movie is funny in room that is both flashy and sophomoric , but it works . This is pre - adolescent humour that cheerfully finds comedy in the most juvenile things like uncontrollable erecting , pervy photographers , and exploding top dog , but it somehow all makes sense .
And then there ’s a aspect at a disco that findsCity ’s Hunter‘s poor boy in nothing but a barely - there Speedo , dancing and posing joyfully in front of an adoring crowd . Why is Ryo doing this ? And what role does it attend to the film ? I ’ll leave it to you to discover the answer to those questions because it ’s all part of what makes the movie such a hoot to watch . You ’d never find Tom Cruise ’s Ethan Hunt doing what Ryo does in this movie , which makes it all the more alone and especial to watch out .
City Huntermay not be for everyone , and that ’s OK . If you opt dour action movies that are devilishly serious , then give this picture a hard pass . But if you want to see some of the crazy action scene in film today , and do n’t take care charter with a movie that wields immature humor like a giant hammer ( Kaori literally does this in several vista ) , then start streamingCity Hunteras soon as possible . It ’s a motion-picture show that does n’t take itself too gravely ( just wait at the last persona of this clause for proof ) and commemorate to prioritize one of the key reasons why we want to watch activity movies in the first space : to have fun .
City Hunteris now streaming on Netflix .
