Eureka: City Hunter

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Ribs
Joined: Fri Jun 13, 2014 1:14 pm

Eureka: City Hunter

#1 Post by Ribs » Wed Jul 04, 2018 12:31 pm


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What A Disgrace
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Re: Eureka: City Hunter

#2 Post by What A Disgrace » Wed Jul 04, 2018 12:37 pm

Sounds like a lesser Jackie Chan vehicle, and yet its still the only Eureka! release of the month I'm interested in.

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tenia
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Re: Eureka: City Hunter

#3 Post by tenia » Wed Jul 04, 2018 2:53 pm

It is a lesser Jackie Chan, but it remains quite a fun one nevertheless. I've seen it for a first time when I was a kid and the Street Fighter II sequence (near the end of the movie) still is in my memories.
The story and humor probably are the weaknesses of the movie, with lots of tropes getting used in a simplistic way.

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colinr0380
Joined: Mon Nov 08, 2004 4:30 pm
Location: Chapel-en-le-Frith, Derbyshire, UK

Re: Eureka: City Hunter

#4 Post by colinr0380 » Wed Jul 04, 2018 6:27 pm

Here's the Street Fighter sequence. And yes, that is an early appearance by Gary Daniels before he starred in the live action adaptation of Fist of the North Star (directed by Tony Randell, of Hellbound: Hellraiser II fame) a couple of years later

City Hunter was directed by Wong Jing, who is a bit of a more comic director (he is probably most famous for the long running God of Gamblers series) and who has been very prolific as a writer from the late 1970s on (he wrote the screenplay for Sammo Hung film The Prodigal Son and the eye-popping, kneecap exploding gore epic The Seventh Curse in 1986 for example!) before in addition to that also becoming an actor, producer and director! He wrote the City Hunter screenplay too.

City Hunter is definitely a 'wackier' Jackie Chan film and was based on a Japanese manga series. I'm trying to recall the specifics of the Bey Logan commentary on the old Hong Kong Legends DVD, but I think he mentioned that this was actually made as a result of a poll or something like that where fans were asked which role they would most want to see Jackie take on, and they wanted him to take on self assured ladies man Ryu Saeba!

Incidentally, and probably due to the Wong Jing connection, the three heroines surrounding Jackie and representing different parts of Asia (female trios seem like a big thing in Hong Kong cinema: The Heroic Trio, Peking Opera Blues, even in a number of earlier Jackie Chan films, particularly the two Armour of God pictures) include the Taiwanese Joey Wang (star of A Chinese Ghost Story but also in the original God of Gamblers film) as the adopted-sister of murdered partner/love interest; the Japanese actress Kumiko Goto (who had been in a number of Tora-san films before this) as the plot driving character that everyone is chasing (who gets a skateboard chase sequence between her and Jackie as one of the major set pieces in the early section of the film); and perhaps most spectacularly as the duplicitous villainess the Hong Kong actress Chingmy Yau, who was only a year from her infamous starring role in Category III erotic thriller (written and produced by Wong Jing, though not directed by him), Naked Killer, which is still perhaps the best answer to Basic Instinct, with the actress playing a killer whose m.o. appears to be cutting off her victims testicles!

I seem to remember that a lot of the action of the City Hunter film (including that Street Fighter sequence) takes place on a cruise ship being taken over by terrorists, which suggests that Under Siege was a surprisingly big influence over Hong Kong cinema of this period! (Though the better film with this Die Hard/Under Siege influenced setting is Red Wolf, which also has the advantage of being better than Speed 2: Cruise Control would be!)
Last edited by colinr0380 on Thu Jul 05, 2018 12:24 pm, edited 3 times in total.

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Banasa
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Re: Eureka: City Hunter

#5 Post by Banasa » Wed Jul 04, 2018 6:31 pm

Without a doubt a lesser Jackie film, but at least its still a sort of prime period Jackie, where he's able to do more than let a rope lift him above the floor.

Its directed by Wong Jing who endlessly churns out films is basically a hack. Both Wong Jing and Jackie did not get along during the filming of City Hunter which led to Wong Jing making fun of Jackie Chan in his Jet Li film "High Risk". The trailer is not too subtle about it either referring to the Jackie Chan parody as "the cowardly actor" (cheesy trailer here)

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colinr0380
Joined: Mon Nov 08, 2004 4:30 pm
Location: Chapel-en-le-Frith, Derbyshire, UK

Re: Eureka: City Hunter

#6 Post by colinr0380 » Wed Jul 04, 2018 6:37 pm

If Eureka are picking up some of these Jackie Chan films that Hong Kong Legends released back in the day, I would really be excited for a Blu-ray of Miracles, that was directed by him and is a big budget period set remake of the Frank Capra film A Pocketful of Miracles.

sabbath
Joined: Fri Apr 25, 2014 6:29 am

Re: Eureka: City Hunter

#7 Post by sabbath » Wed Jul 04, 2018 8:05 pm

Banasa wrote:
Wed Jul 04, 2018 6:31 pm
Its directed by Wong Jing who endlessly churns out films is basically a hack. Both Wong Jing and Jackie did not get along during the filming of City Hunter which led to Wong Jing making fun of Jackie Chan in his Jet Li film "High Risk". The trailer is not too subtle about it either referring to the Jackie Chan parody as "the cowardly actor" (cheesy trailer here)
...and one of the prime Jet Li vehicles! Hope Eureka can get that one, too.

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