Eureka in the UK is pleasing Hong Kong cinema fans with new releases of classic movies, all from new 4K or 2K masters. The latest release is the Jackie Chan action-comedy City Hunter.
Womanising crime-fighter Ryô Seaba (Chan) is asked to track down a missing Japanese heiress and his investigations lead him to a sea-bound ocean liner. However, once on-board he finds he has more to contend with than a simple kidnapping case – the liner is about to be hijacked by terrorists and he is the only man who can foil their dastardly plot.
Jackie Chan is known for his comedy slant on action movies, but here with director Wong Jing takes it to a whole new level with mixed results. The film which is based on a popular Manga comic series is very colourful and shot with a very comic book look. The cast which includes Chingmy Yau, Joey Wang as well as westerners Richard Norton and Gary Daniel do OK, given the thin material they have to work with but it just comes across as so over the top that it stops being enjoyable and at times just embarrassing to watch. It’s not really suitable for children either because some of the violence can turn nasty in places.
The comedy does not translate well to Western audiences, mugging to the camera and pulling silly faces becomes tiresome after a while and even when the action does come it is nothing special, especially compared to his other films made at the time. Jackie Chan hated the finished product and its not hard to see why. The film has its fans and the presentation on this new remastered Blu Ray looks superb.
The new 1080p transfer is solid and very colourful, film grain is intact and this 2k remaster is the best the film has ever looked. Audio options are Cantonese Mono / Stereo, 5.1 remix, Mandarin or English dubbed tracks.
Plenty of extras are ported over from the old HK Legends DVD and include –
- Limited edition slipcase (First print run only)
- Interviews with Jackie Chan
- Interview with director Wong Jing
- Interview with stuntman and long-time member of Jackie Chan s stunt team, Rocky Lai
- The Jackie Chan Experience – an interview with Richard Norton
- Evolution of a Fighter – an interview with Gary Daniels
- Outtake montage
- A Collector s booklet featuring new writing on the film (First print run only)
While the film did not appeal to me fans will be very pleased with this new release from Eureka.
REGION B LOCKED.
FILM: 5 PICTURE: 8.5 AUDIO: 7 EXTRAS: 8
