City Hunter – Netflix Review (2/5)

CITY HUNTER on Netflix is a new movie from Japan. It’s a crazy genre hybrid that goes from silly to serious and then satirical in split seconds. It isn’t my thing, but others will surely love it. Read our City Hunter (2024) movie review here!

CITY HUNTER (2024) is a new Netflix movie from Japan (org. title: Shiti Hanta). It’s based on a Manga and has already been made into a cartoon in the 1980s and a movie starring Jackie Chan in 1993. I’m sure there are lots of fans all over the world, who will love this Netflix movie.

Unfortunately, I am not one of them. It just doesn’t hit any of my sweet spots. I usually love genre hybrids, but this one has the Cowboy Bebop vibe that just did not work for me either. The runtime is just 1 hour and 42 minutes, which I did find was a good thing for the story covered.

Continue reading our City Hunter movie review below. Find it on Netflix from April 25, 2024.

The first Japanese live-action adaption

I can understand why this has been a long-awaited adaption as the previously mentioned Jackie Chan movie (supposedly one of his own least favorite movies) was a Chinese live-action adaption. This Netflix movie is the first time the Manga is getting a Japanese live-action movie.

In City Hunter, we meet Ryo Saeba. He is a top-class “sweeper” and we’re about to find out how he ends up working with Kaori Makimura. She’s the sister of his long-time partner, which isn’t something the original manga focused much on.

This alone should make for a great addition to the world of City Hunter for fans of the manga. It really does focus mainly on the story behind this partnership. Well, okay, and a case that has some sci-fi or supernatural (depending on how you look at it) elements as well.

“XYZ, please find my sister”

In this story, Ryo Saeba is working his “sweeper” magic (and sometimes doing a little dance in his briefs) in the underbelly of modern-day Shinjuku, Tokyo. He’s described as “balancing a cool demeanor with a fun personality” which is what I translate as him being very silly most of the time.

The movie opens with the message “XYZ, please find my sister” written on a message board. This leads to Ryo and his partner Hideyuki going out to search for Kurumi. She’s a famous cosplayer who has landed in serious trouble.

At the same time, we also become familiar with mysterious violent incidents taking place in Shinjuku. There are brutal scenes and a dark story at the heart of it all. I should love it, but it feels so superficial to me. It’s the style of it. It doesn’t resonate with me.

However, I absolutely want to acknowledge and respect that others will love it.

Watch City Hunter (2024) on Netflix now!

This new Netflix movie from Japan (org. title: Shiti Hanta) is the live-action adaptation of the legendary manga “City Hunter” by Tsukasa Hojo. The director is Yûichi Satô (Kasane) and the screenwriter is Tatsuro Mishima (Yu yu hakusho, Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead).

“Ryo Saeba” is played by Ryohei Suzuki, who has an impressive six-pack and would be a lot more charming to me, if the silliness was dialed down. However, I suspect fans of City Hunter wouldn’t recognize the character then.

Misato Morita portrays his future partner, and the cool heroine, “Kaori Makimura”. Finally, Masanobu Ando plays “Hideyuki Makimura” while Fumino Kimura co-stars as “Detective Saeko Nogami”.

Despite being a fan of horror-comedy and other genre hybrids, this one jumps between moods, styles, and genres at such a pace that I cannot give in to it. A shame really. Especially because I can see the intriguing story there.

City Hunter (org. title: Shiti Hanta) is on Netflix from April 25, 2024.

Details

Director: Yuichi Satoh
Screenplay: Tatsuro Mishima
Cast: Ryohei Suzuki, Misato Morita, Masanobu Ando, Asuka Hanamura, Ayame Misaki, Moemi Katayama, Ami201, Tetta Sugimoto, Takaya Sakoda, and Fumino Kimura, Isao Hashizume