City Hunter (film)
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| Sing si lip yan | |
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 City Hunter DVD cover |
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| Directed by | Wong Jing |
| Produced by | Raymond Chow, Leonard Ho, Chua Lam |
| Written by | Tsukasa Hôjô, Wong Jing |
| Starring | Jackie Chan, Joey Wong |
| Music by | Romeo Díaz, James Wong |
| Release date(s) | 1993 |
| Running time | 105 min. |
| Country |  Hong Kong, Japan |
| Language | Cantonese |
| IMDb profile | |
City Hunter (城市獵人; Sing si lip yan) is a 1993 martial arts-action film based on the Japanese manga City Hunter. It was made by Golden Harvest and Paragon Films. The film was directed by Wong Jing and starred an international cast that included Hong Kong super star Jackie Chan as Ryo Saeba.
After City Hunter's release, Chan not only disowned the film, but attacked Wong personally in the press. In his subsequent movie High Risk, Wong struck back by modeling a character after Chan, insinuating that Chan was actually a boozing womanizer and a fraud who didn't really do his own stunts after all. The film offended Chan greatly and started a feud between him and one of the film's stars, Jet Li—a feud that would not end until Jet Li publicly apologized for his involvement. The two have since become friends, and later made The Forbidden Kingdom, marking their first film together as lead actors.
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[edit] Plot
The film's plot saw Ryo and Kaori (Joey Wong) accepting a job to find the run away daughter of a businessman. The girl, named Shizuko (Kumiko Gotoh), escapes onto a cruise ship with Ryo, Kaori and Saeko (Chingmy Yau) on her tail. The ship is then hijacked, and it's up to Ryo and the girls to free the ship. The terrorists are led by an American ex-marine (Richard Norton) with seemingly no real back story ('a big shot', as Ryo calls him in the dub). When introducing himself to the terrified passengers, he says his name is 'Mac', but the passengers can call him 'Mac Donald'. Although he informs them that he will take all the rich men on board to Thailand, he actually plays them at baccarat one by one before simply shooting them. His plan is foiled not by Ryo Saeba at first but by Wong Jing's own God of Gamblers style character who joins Ryo and Saeko as a third action character. Shizuko herself is also capable of performing some gymnastic stunts. Amongst the uniformed terrorists is an American martial artist (played by Gary Daniels) whom Ryo ultimately defeats in the Street Fighter II section of the movie. There is also a ludicrous gay terrorist in a short cameo by stuntman Kenneth Low. The film features many typical Hong Kong Wong Jing action set pieces as well as many homages to obvious Chinese classics such as a scene where Ryo enters a movie theater where Bruce Lee's 'Game of Death' is playing. Upon watching Bruce Lee face Kareem Abdul Jabbar on screen, he remarks that he could defeat a couple of tall black guys. Of course, said black guys appear, and Ryo isn't able to defeat them without hints from the master on screen. Upon winning the fight, Ryo says 'You were good!' to the celluloid Bruce, who promptly replies 'Hm! you too!' causing Jackie Chan to make the silly noises and faces that are the film's trademark and run from the theater. Although Chan's ridiculous character and the slapstick 'manga in motion' scenes are meant to capture the feel of the manga, Wong Jing has invented his own wacky cartoonish movie inspired by it.
[edit] Comparison with anime
- The film is not really faithful to the anime or the manga. However there is a brief intro that has the death of Hideyuki Makimura (Michael Wong) and explains why Ryo can't take advantage of Kaori. The film is most notable of the crossdressing done by Chan as the Street Fighter II character Chun-Li in one scene.
- Mr. Mumble[1] (Meng bo) is another live action version of City Hunter. Despite the fact the names have been changed, this 1996 movie is considered to be a bit more faithful to the original material than the earlier film. Michael Chow plays Maang Boh (Mr. Mumble, the Cantonese version of Ryo) who takes on a job to guard Sharon (Pauline Suen), the daughter of a mafioso. The film also stars Francoise Yip as Yachi (Saeko), Jessica Hester as Lao Tang (Kaori) and Eric Kei as Chi (Umibozu).
[edit] Box Office
City Hunter grossed a strong HK $30,762,782 at the Hong Kong box office. Surprisingly, however, the Japanese market, for which the film was tailored, was less enthusiastic.
[edit] Cast
- Jackie Chan - Ryo Saeba / City Hunter
- Joey Wong - Kaori Makimura / Carrie
- Chingmy Yau - Saeko Nogami / Anna
- Richard Norton - Col. MacDonald
- Michael Wong - Hideyuki Makimura
- Gary Daniels - Pony-tail thug
- Kumiko Goto - Shizuko Imamura
- Leon Lai - Kôtetsu / Gundam
(Names after forward slash are those that appear in the English dubbed edition of the film only)
[edit] Details
- Director - Wong Jing
- Written by - Wong Jing (film), Tsukasa Hôjô (comic)
- Date produced - 1993
- Country of origin - Hong Kong, Japan
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
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