My Review of "City Hunter (2024)"

City Hunter (2024) came out quietly on Netflix earlier this year. I was surprised I didn't see it earlier because I'm a little bit of a fan of this franchise. Back in the day I only knew it as a Japanese anime but didn't realize they made a live action version.

I remembered Jackie Chan's attempt to make City Hunter into a live action movie. Although, I liked it, it was far from the original concept of the show. I'm happy to say that this new live action feels pretty faithful to what it was. That could be a detriment to the show because the main character isn't quite a woke person.

The movie starts out with the introduction of some super beings on the streets. People don't know what is going on but youth are also starting to go missing on the streets. There's a message board on the street called XYZ. It's basically a board where people make messages of their grievances. If it seems worrisome enough our heroes will go investigate.

That's when we get introduced to Ryo Saeba. He's the investigator of the XYZ message board. His partner Hideyuki Makimura take on this case from a very buxom female. She claims that her younger sister Kurumi is one of the kids missing from the streets. Due to Ryo's outlandish sex drive he decides to take on the case. This female is very attractive after all.

We find out that Kurumi has something to do with the disappearance of kids on the street and the huge new super drug that's making people super strong. That's only after Ryo's partner is killed in action by one of the super kids off the streets. Now it's up to Ryo and Makimura's sister, Kaori, to find out what's behind the whole mystery and get their revenge.

It's a pretty simple storyline but there's a few added layers to help spice things up. The story is even based on some true to life problems in Tokyo like the runaway kids. I think that adds an element of relatability to this movie as well.

Though the story is not a crazy complicated thing, what you're really here for is the action. They are able to make Ryo look so cool in so many scenes even though he's such a goofy character. I love the juxtaposition of his character. You know he's a badass but he's so goofy and stupid sometimes that you wonder why they gave such a dumb character such cool moves. It's all done in a fun anime kind of way too. I don't know how they made these totally outrageous action scenes so believable either. They are pretty close to Bollywood outrageousness but not quite there.

The fact that Ryo is such a goofy character really gives this show some light as well. We have Kaori as the straight person to counter Ryo's craziness but even that switches sometimes. Sometimes it's Kaori getting them into trouble and Ryo getting them out of their messes. I love this dynamic and it really makes for some really entertaining viewing.

Some of the stuff in this movie won't appeal to all people. Ryo is definitely a lecherous individual and not a lot of people will find his antics acceptable. He doesn't really ever cross the line but there are a number of moments where I thought to myself, "how were they allowed to do this on Netflix?" In a way, I loved that it was so different from the woke stuff that we constantly see on the platform.

Overall, I really enjoyed this movie and I don't think it gets enough attention. If you're into older action movies or even into anime I think you're really going to enjoy this one. It's such a fun ride and I think it's a hidden gem on the Netflix platform. I have to give this movie a 7.5 out of 10.