Review: Wong Jing is a peculiar addition to movie history. He is a shameless plagiarist who produces unnoficial sequels and infringes copyrights with startling regularity. He is a man who has the strangest views on women, often portraying them as nothing more than a way to get breasts from A to B. He also seems to have a habit of churning out some unforgetable Hong Kong classics, and City Hunter is one of them.

Taking his inspiration from the Japanese comic books of the same name, and apparently acquiring the rights to do so for a change, Wong Jing teamed up with Jackie Chan in 1993 to create a madcap adventure in which the production values shine through, and the pace never slows down for a second. Helped by a strong cast and rich source materials, this is definitely a small sidestep from the usual Jackie Chan output, but is both an excellent addition to Chan fans, and a great introduction for newcomers to Chan's work.

While facing a battle with British fighter Gary Daniels in a game arcade, Chan suffers a blow to the head and we are treated to a homage to Capcom's 'Streetfighter' series of games. Everything is accurate; the music, the costumes, and even the way the fighters move. It's a triumph of wire-work, and a stark reminder of why Wong Jing really should have aquired the rights to 'Tekken' before beginning production on the movie which later became 'The Avenging Fist'.

It is also nice to see a film that makes the most of it's supporting characters. Joey Wang and Chingamy Yau both get their fair share of the action to balance out their obvious physical reasons for being in the film, HK radio DJ's 'The Hard-Soft kids' (It's not what you think) get a musical number to themselves and even have a chance to dress up for the Streetfighter scene. The God of Gamblers character is allowed a little fun, throwing a pack of cards around like shuriken, and (if you watch the English dubbed version) Joey Wang's lecherous admirer will leave you screaming 'I am potent, potent, potent!' at any opportunity. Most notable are contributions by European actors Gary Daniels and Richard Norton, who are both given an opportunity to show off their fighting skills against Chan, who seems happy sharing the limelight with them.

City Hunter is not Chan at his very best, but that is largely due to the fact that he gave the directorial reigns to somebody else. This is especially prominent in the comedy, in which there is a strong divide. On one hand, we get the expected physical comedy of Jackie Chan. On the other hand we have the oddball comedy of Wong Jing, with it's references to homosexuality, breasts, and even bigger breasts, which for once, does not get tiresome and over-played.

Chan is still excellent as usual and Wong Jing certainly benefited from this partnership. I suspect that Chan himself guided the notoriously uneven director through the process, and the result, while not flawless, still shines. For this reason, it seems odd that Wong Jing bitterly attacked Chan in 'High Risk', but then, that's Wong Jing for you.