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    mmym  |  Posted February 18, 2012 at 11:38 pm  |  Permalink

  I suspect that I would’ve enjoyed City Hunter 시티헌터 a tad more if I didn’t have a mammoth amount of expectations from all the unsolicited rave reviews I’ve been getting about this drama.

  So maybe I’ll attempt at positivity by saying that this series nailed the casting for the main hero because it is Lee Min-ho at his best form yet, physique and acting wise. Honestly, I was quite skeptic about him pulling off sort of a James Bond character. He definitely has the looks department down but I wasn’t sure his lanky and seemingly fragile built would be convincing enough for a literal ass-kicking role. But he obviously prepared well for it and while he may not be the ideal six-packing hero, he does look perfectly fit and more than just convincing in all the action sequences. There were only about two notable scenes for me in this series and it was all him. First would be the hospital scene when his “Ahjusshi” (Bae Sik-jung played by Kim Sang-ho) was on the brink of death. The panic, frustration and helplessness in his tear brimmed eyes felt so painfully real that although, I wanted ahjusshi to die to trigger his angst as the revenging hero, I was at the same time hoping against hope that he wouldn’t die on him. The second and last one would be when he stabbed his own hand right in front of his surrogate father to prove that he is the only person he considers precious to him. The part where he says, “This must hurt you a lot, doesn’t it?” got to me because he was doing it in between trying to look a little less pained from the bloody stab and taunting him with the proof that he cannot deny.

  If I had to choose another character that I liked aside from Lee Min-ho’s Lee Yun-seong, I would pick his “Ahjusshi”. He was my comic relief in this show. I was amused by his addiction to home tv shopping (which was a fond reminder of KimuTaku in “Hero”) and how Yun-seong uses that as a bargaining chip for when he needs favors from him. Oh and I did like Yun-seong’s surrogate father, Lee Jin-pyo, too played by Kim Sang-jung. Even if he was insane with revenge, he has a certain magnetic charisma on-screen that though he refuses to move on from the past and stop the senseless taking of lives for revenge, I still could not find it in myself to hate him.

  It was clear that the production spent more time on the execution of action scenes and it was effective in the sense that I really believed Lee Min-ho could jump off buildings unscathed, fight off his knife totting enemies with a measly spoon or issue flying kicks right off the bat. Although, I’m still not sold with the idea that a puny black mask covering half of his face was enough to hide his identity. I mean, with that hair color?! Anyone could freakin’ tell.

  My major issue really was on the story. Sans the my-father-is-the-President twist, the writing was pretty ordinary, predictable, mechanical and mighty bland for an eponymous hero. I was expecting a more tightly written story but on the contrary, the events were loosely weaved that I spotted quite a number of loopholes that needn’t be. Even the story’s pacing was a little slow or unhurried for a character that’s supposed to have an adrenalin driven storyline.

  City Hunter 시티헌터 was entertaining while you’re in that episode but once you step away from it, it doesn’t really give you that much to crave for the next. So for me, the 20 hours was sweet but sadly forgettable.