Manga adaptations have become a new wave in the market.
From Japanese dramas such as "I Am Big Brother" in the past few years to the recent "Chess Soul", more and more comic works have been live-action, and film and television practitioners are re-developing value from well-known comic IP.
And there is such a classic manga adaptation movie, it squeezed into the top five at the box office in the golden age of Hong Kong films. the presence of several.
However, according to rumors, Jackie Chan and Wang Jing, the two big filmmakers, had a rift because of this classic movie, and they have not cooperated for more than 20 years since then.
This film is a childhood classic for countless people:
City hunter
Released in 1993, the film was directed by Wang Jing, a well-known commercial film director, with Jackie Chan as the male protagonist.
A group of high-value beauties playing together is a highlight of this film. Wang Zuxian, Qiu Shuzhen and Japanese oxygen beauty Kumiko Goto "murdered" countless films in the film.
In addition, Dawn, one of the Four Heavenly Kings, also helped out, playing the role of a casino master in the film.
The movie "City Hunter" was adapted from the Japanese manga artist Hojoji Hojo's homonymous Detective theme work. This comic work swept the market in the 1980s and 1990s and was a popular comic IP at the time.
In addition to "City Hunter", Hojoji also has a well-known work - "Cat's Eye Three Sisters".
Seeing the influence of Hojoji's works, the booming Hong Kong film industry is naturally reluctant to let go of this potential hit. Therefore, a manga film "City Hunter" starring Wang Jing, Jackie Chan and Wang Zuxian came into being.
The main line of the movie "Monster Hunter" is very simple. It mainly tells the story of Meng Bo, a suave private detective, fighting against a criminal organization.
Meng Bo (Jackie Chan) is a private detective outside the police system, and his profession is also known as "city hunter". Entrusted by his friend Nakamura (played by Wang Minde) on his deathbed, Meng Bo is responsible for taking care of his sister Huixiang (played by Tangning).
Time passed quickly, Huixiang (Wang Zuxian) grew up and became a beautiful woman, she became Meng Bo's new assistant, and the two gradually became ambiguous in their relationship. Meng Bo even wanted to go back on his relationship with Nakamura. The promise of "not chasing Huixiang".
One day, Meng Bo received the help of a Japanese newspaper boss and entrusted him to find his daughter Kiyoko (played by Kumiko Goto) who ran away from home. After Meng Bo found Kiyoko, he was skillfully escaped by Kiyoko.
On the other hand, Hui Xiang, who misunderstood Meng Bo, was pissed and accepted her cousin's invitation to go on vacation on a luxury cruise ship. In order to recover Huixiang, Meng Bo followed and managed to squeeze into the cruise ship.
At this time, the wealthy daughter Qingzi also boarded the cruise ship to avoid the pursuit.
On the cruise, Meng Bo also met a policewoman Ya Zi (played by Qiu Shuzhen) and her colleagues in disguise.
The cruise ship where everyone gathered was very lively, but in fact there was an undercurrent behind it.
There is a criminal organization hidden on the cruise ship. They have been planning a shocking crime for a long time. The organization took everyone on the cruise ship hostage that night and began to implement their robbery plan.
Under the crisis, policewoman Moko, casino master Gundam (Dawn) and others deal with the villain group headed by Colonel McDonald, while Meng Bo and Qingzi join the battle. On the cruise ship, a wonderful chaos begins. now...
In the end, evil can never prevail. With the concerted efforts of everyone, the protagonist group finally thwarted the conspiracy of the criminal organization, and Meng Bo also completed the bounty task of retrieving Qingzi, and the story ended with a happy ending.
Such a film, which gathered stars such as Jackie Chan, Wang Zuxian, Qiu Shuzhen, Li Ming, etc., under the guidance of commercial film director Wang Jing, finally won the fourth place in Hong Kong's annual box office . Even today, "City Hunter" is still It is a classic in the minds of countless people, and it is a must-see film every winter and summer vacation.
In the editor's opinion, it is no accident that this commercial film stands out in the golden age of Hong Kong films, and it deserves praise in many ways.
1. Chaos into the second dimension! The ultimate restoration of the comic plot
As a comic book movie, "City Hunter" strives to restore comics in the scene , which can be seen from the comic style of multiple background layouts.
The characters are also close to the comic style. For example, Hui Xiang, played by Wang Zuxian, smashes Meng Bo with a big hammer every day, which is basically the taste of the original heroine.
The plot is also quite imaginative in the comics. From the deceased Nakamura's sudden "deceit" warning Meng Bo not to touch Huixiang, to the presentation of Huixiang's own small world, there is a surreal atmosphere of the middle school.
Meng Bo's appearance of "falling off" after picking up the girl not only has the humorous shadow of Jackie Chan's movie, but also restores the exaggerated techniques in the comics.
In addition to inheriting the style of the original comics, director Wang Jing also added his own innovative parts , and the Street Fighter showdown at the end of the film has become a classic among the classics.
Meng Bo and the villain thugs confronted each other in the game hall. The two started the "game mode" under the electric shock, and they became PK characters in the Street Fighter game.
The front and back sides are "picking roles" like an arcade duel. In the constant role change, the audience relives the style of these arcade game characters as if they were playing video games, and this fight scene full of Street Fighter elements will also become a classic in the future.
It is worth mentioning that this two-dimensional element was also borrowed from "Street School Fighter" directed by Wang Jing in the same year. Aaron Kwok, Andy Lau, Jacky Cheung and other stars "ran into the arcade" in the film.
2. Jackie Chan's action scenes are still "guaranteed", and Wang Zuxian makes a cameo appearance in "playing stars"
With Jackie Chan's participation, action elements are naturally indispensable in this film. Jackie Chan also contributed a large number of wonderful action scenes. The protagonist Meng Bo spends almost half of the film fighting with his opponents. , so that the fans are all cheering!
The humorous style of Jackie Chan's action films is also reflected in the film. The protagonist Meng Bo has almost no serious face moments. He fights with his opponents in the whole process of hee hee, and the confrontation between the two sides has appeared a lot of hilarious jokes. scene.
In addition to Jackie Chan, another highlight of the film is the action scenes of the actresses. Among them, Wang Zuxian is the most prominent. She has faced the villains many times in the film. image of.
In addition to showing boxing and kung fu, Wang Zuxian also sacrificed his image to a certain extent. Such a scene is far from the glamorous goddess in the past.
In addition, Qiu Shuzhen , whose role is set as a policewoman, also contributed some big plays in the film. Under Qiu Shuzhen's interpretation, the character image is not only sexy but also contains some heroic and sassy feelings.
Three, eye-catching! Handsome men and beautiful women
From the most intuitive visual point of view, the first impression of the film is two words : seductive .
In the film, Meng Bo is surrounded by beauties, Wang Zuxian's playful and gorgeous, Qiu Shuzhen's sexy and glamorous, Goto Kumiko's youthful vitality... The female characters with their own characteristics form a beautiful landscape in the play, which makes people's eyes stop. .
In addition, the actresses in the film mostly show people with cool looks, watching the beauties show off their beautiful bodies to the camera, which is full of benefits for the audience.
Jackie Chan, who plays Meng Bo, is even more "blessed". He not only picked up Qiu Shuzhen and Wang Zuxian successively, but also was surrounded by beautiful women, which made people look "envy".
There are also benefits for female audiences. Liming's handsome appearance runs through the audience. At that time, Liming, who was at the peak of his appearance, did not have many scenes in the film, but his every move was quite unrestrained. In the film, he was responsible for acting handsome.
4. King Kong Barbie? Jackie Chan incarnates as a big boss in women's clothing
We talked about beautiful Qunfang earlier, let's enjoy a special "female character" - Jackie Chan's female version of Chunli.
During the duel in the game hall, Meng Bo and his opponent upgraded their combat power after being electrocuted and transformed into Chun Li, the female character in "Street Fighter".
There is a huge contrast between "Chunli" and Jackie Chan's inherent image, which brings a great visual impact to the audience. This image is also a "shadow" that Jackie Chan cannot erase in his acting career.
Compared with Qiu Shuzhen's Chun Li's appearance in the same year, Quan should wash your eyes for everyone.
However, this is not the first time that Jackie Chan has tried to dress up as a woman in a movie, and he has to continue to be hot after washing his eyes.
In the 1979 movie "Laughing Fist Strange Tricks", the 25-year-old Jackie Chan first tried the look of a women's clothing boss on the screen, but this look is indeed a bit difficult to describe .
In the movie "Super Project" released in the same year as "City Hunter", Jackie Chan also has a female appearance, but compared to the previous work, Jackie Chan's curly appearance is slightly "fresh".
5. There is hip-hop in Hong Kong! still in 1993
Remember the magical "Galagala" singing of the dance floor DJ in the film? That voice came from one of Hong Kong's earliest rap groups, Soft and Hard Tianshi.
In 1993, in an era when "everything can be rapped" , Wang Jing boldly added RAP elements in the film, and was sung by Hong Kong's emerging duo rap duo Soft and Hard Tianshi (Lin Haifeng, Ge Minhui) in the film. Singing has no effect on the main storyline, but it seems more like an attempt.
For that era, rap was undoubtedly a new thing, and its acceptance was not as high as it is today. From this point, it can be seen that director Wang Jing dared to try and innovate.
The song sung by the two DJs in the film is called "Home for the Elderly" . This song uses a cynical attitude to ridicule the aging of Hong Kong people's mentality, which is like staying in a "home for the elderly". I wonder if this magical song surrounds your ears Woolen cloth?
In the 1993 Hong Kong Chinese film box office list, this " City Hunter" ranked fourth with a box office of 30.76 million Hong Kong dollars , second only to "Tang Bohu's Autumn Fragrance", "Happy Events in the Flower Field" and "New Love".
In 1993, the New Year of Hong Kong movies, which was considered to be a "separate group of heroes", the box office results of "City Hunter" were quite good. After all, "Fang Shiyu" and "Once Upon a Time" series came after "City Hunter". As well as classic movies such as "East and West" and "Fighting from School", and now the Chinese movie masterpiece "Farewell My Concubine" was only ranked 44th in Hong Kong's annual box office list.
The popularity of the "City Hunter" movie has also "killed" the second dimension. In 2018, Jackie Chan's version of "City Hunter" won the second place in the selection of the best manga-modified movies in the famous Japanese comic magazine "Weekly Shonen JUMP", second only to "Rurouni Kenshin".
But you know what?
Behind the well-received reputation of "City Hunter", there is a small friction between the main creators. It is said that Jackie Chan and Wang Jing had differences during the filming of this film , which even led to the two no cooperation in the next 27 years. Even this "City Hunter" is only the first collaboration between the two.
In Wang Jing's film "Dare to the Tiger" two years later, Jacky Cheung played the image of a coward who did not need a substitute, and was considered to be suspected of mocking Jackie Chan.
According to reports, Jackie Chan and Wang Jing have different ideas in the creation process of this film. Wang Jing is accustomed to adding too explicit female elements in directing films, and often adds some vulgar words in his lines, and these are all in the hope of establishing a positive attitude. What Jackie Chan disliked in the image, there was a lot of conflict between the two in the direction of the film's style.
Judging from the presentation effect of the final film, this "City Hunter" is more like the product formed after Jackie Chan and Wang Jing compromised their styles .
In terms of character image , the role of Meng Bo is not as upright and upright as Jackie Chan's previous characters, but in addition to retaining the essence of justice, it also contains some cynicism.
In the action scenes, Wang Jing arranged a number of fighting scenes to satisfy Jackie Chan and let Jackie Chan play almost half of the movie time. Although the big scenes that are common in Jackie Chan movies such as high-altitude duels and speeding car chases are missing, Wang Jing still gave Jackie Chan a shot. Some action scenes are preserved.
As a commercial film director, Wang Jing, who is good at figuring out the audience's mind, adds a lot of funny elements to the action scenes, and the audience can find the laughs in almost every action scene.
In terms of the scale of the film, Wang Jing also insisted on compromise. The vulgar and swear words were removed from the lines, but some dark stalks with slightly sexual implications were still retained.
In terms of characters, Meng Bo always looks smug to the actresses, and he has a feeling of idiots. The actresses who appeared cool and cool also gave some "stunning" scenes, but Wang Jing always controlled scale.
Even though Jackie Chan and Wang Jing had a rift because of this film, the data will not deceive people. This film has achieved a double harvest at the box office , and the "mutual compromise" of the two finally made this commercial classic .
Since Jackie Chan's "City Hunter" in 1993, there have been many adaptations of the original comics, including the French version of "City Hunter" a few years ago, as well as the larger adaptation of Lee Min Ho's "City Hunter", as well as directed by Tang Jili, Huang Xiaoming bought the new version of "City Hunter" with domestic copyright (project in preparation).
But as far as being out of the circle is concerned, Jackie Chan's version of "City Hunter" is undoubtedly a classic among the classics.
Whether it's Jackie Chan's distinctive humorous fight, or a group of beautiful and handsome guys in the film, or a plot that is truly restored to the comics, Jackie Chan's version of "City Hunter" has left us with deep memories. A super classic that you should revisit every year.
The comic book movie on the market has become a wave, but even with the passage of time, this 27-year-old "City Hunter" can still be regarded as a masterpiece of the comic book movie.
So the question is, how many times have you watched this childhood classic?
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