"Very Silly Indeed"
Eureka continues in its efforts to bring as many Jackie Chan films to the UK viewing public as possible with the release of this knockabout slapstick outing from 1993.
Jackie Chan is the City Hunter of the title. He has his own (silly) theme song, a male partner who dies in the opening (very silly) montage, and when he's not working at city hunting he spends his days swinging on a hammock and having (extremely silly) Benny Hill-type dreams about girls in red swimsuits.
When he gets hired to find the daughter of a wealthy publishing tycoon, our Jackie finds himself on a posh cruise liner with the daughter of his old partner in tow and encountering more silly dance sequences, outrageous outfits, annoying pop songs and ridiculous fight scenes than I could cope with.
Oh yes, CITY HUNTER is extremely silly. There are a few good stunts (a skateboard chase near the beginning is impressive) but these are greatly outweighed by its star indulging in dressing up in women's clothing, swinging from an inflatable dolphin and other acts of slapstick high hilarity that quickly become rather wearing if you don't have a great enthusiasm / high tolerance for this kind of thing.
Eureka's transfer is absolutely gorgeous it must be said. If only all early 1990s pictures could be made to look like this. It's a 2K scan and the colours virtually leap off the screen. There are five (!) audio options, three of which are Cantonese and two English. I couldn't tell a lot of difference between the two English tracks but one is listed as 'alternate dub' and is apparently the original home video version.
Other extras include archival interviews with Jackie Chan, plus interviews with stuntman Rocky Lai, actor Richard Norton and actor Gary Daniels (who does the remarkable splits routine in the film).
There's also an outtake montage, more archival footage, stills, trailers, TV spots and Japanese closing credits. Plus you get a booklet with new writing by James Oliver.
Jackie Chan in CITY HUNTER is out from Eureka on
Blu-ray now
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