The plot thickens, trying to find out the guilty party, surprise also when it was revealed who was the father.
Lee Min Ho was great, no outstanding in this role. Loved the kiss scene also, not fake like so many other k/dramas. Already re-watched and definately worth watching again.
Really this is worth more than a 10.
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The story was really good, I haven't read the original manga, but from the description of it, I guess there was a lot of change in it. Not only the setting, but also the relationships between the characters. I think this story was made for adults, rather than teens, and that hit the right spot. The links in the story came together as the drama progressed, it really came out great. 9/10
The cast was also good, I really liked Park Min Young and fell in love with Lee Min Ho, he's so handsome ;) I also really felt for Prosecuter Kim Young Joo (Lee Joon Hyuk). Because their acting was really good, the watcher feels the characters and experience the story with them. 10/10
The music, that's a different story. I liked the music, that's not the point, but I often felt the music was misplaced. Really, really often. Their were instrumentals used for suspense, but there was no action. There were also songs that were played with - this is how I feel - the wrong lyrics. Some of the songs were nice, other weren't. I have mixed feelings about the OST, but it went on my iPod anyway. I really do like Suddenly, by Kim Bo Kyung. Overall: 6/10.
I don't like re-watching, let me make this clear, but this drama, I would re-watch. Not for my own fun, but when a friends would ask me to watch City Hunter with him/ her, I would say 'Yes'. I do think you would be bothered by things you already know, but I always have that feeling, so yeah. 7/10.
Overall, I would give it a 9/10. Because I really enjoyed watching and that's the main thing. Enjoy!
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The story is revolves around revenge, but it is not without comedic and romantic elements. There is also a heavy emphasis on friendships and family relationships; so there is never a dull moment. The writing is well done and utilizes all these pieces to create a scenario that immediately pulls you in and keeps you hooked. Even the parts that could have been cliche or exaggerated were executed perfectly and I was actually surprised with some of the happenings within the drama.
The acting was a lot better than I was expecting. I am not the biggest fan of Lee Min Ho, he can be stiff at times and never quite fulfills the role as I would hope, HOWEVER he did well with this show. The action scenes were wonderful and his interactions with the other cast members were more authentic than I expected. I think the development of the characters was spot on and very well timed throughout the show. Everyone suited their roles well and I had no complaints.
The music was wonderful. I have downloaded the soundtrack of course! The song choices were very nice and the placement of all the music was wonderful. I hate distracting music and I never found that with this drama, everything fell right where it was needed. There was only emphasis to the story and acting due to the music, the atmosphere was great.
I would say that this can be highly rewatched and I will more than likely watch it at least one more time in the future. I would recommend it to anyone who would like a fast paced and intense story. I also think this is a good show for those who are not the biggest Lee Min Ho fan, because I think it is one of his better shows. However, It is not light whatsoever and there are moments you may not expect. it is really a roller coaster.
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Story: 10/10
At first when I saw the summary, I was skeptical about good the drama would be. I mean it is described as every other crazy revenge plot where the guy falls in love and suddenly all that he knows is tossed away. I started watching it because I was desperate for a new drama... Believe me when I say I was pleasantly surprised. There are twists and turns and the writers tried their best to keep the viewer guessing. You know those stereotypical moments where every kind of K-drama cliche is used? I was glad to say that there weren't too many of those. The second lead couple(s) were adorable when they weren't too irritating. Lastly, the female lead was not that usual bumbling naive idiot (thank the lords). Towards the end, there were a couple of episodes where you don't see her much but that is easily justifiable by the plot twists.
Acting: 9.5/10
I remember once some actor in an interview said that the movie is only as good as its villain. In this story, there are many bad guys- not villains per se- and guys that seem good but are kind of bad but still good but you still hate them a bit. But all of them were amazing. The actors seemed borderline cherry picked and the roles suited them perfectly. The only problematic one was Lee Minho for me, simply because sometimes he just wasn't convincing enough. Yes, I am nitpicking but somehow at the end of the drama, he was the only one who just didn't leave that bid an impression on me. His "father" on the other hand? Flawless! There were times when I was scared of him and I was seeing him from the safety of the screen. Gold help those who piss him off in real life- his glare alone could probably make you piss your pants.
Music: 9/10
Unlike Healer or I'll Remember You- this drama didn't seem to have that impressive music- you know the kind that you download and listen to on repeat? BUT the music that was used suited the mood perfectly; so much so that it seemed natural, as though if the scene happened in real life, it would make sense if it was playing in the background. Perhaps that also was its only flaw. It blended into the scened a bit too much.
Rewatch Value: 10/10
It would be perfect if we could simply forget the first time that we saw the drama and watch it again with the same kind of curiosity because that does make this drama more thrilling. Even so, the drama has the potential to be watched on repeat and the viewer still wouldn't get bored.
Overall I think that it is the kind of show that you should watch at least ones. The politics and themes of revenge, love (familial and romantic) and both amazingly fantastical and bone-chillingly realistic. Makes you wonder what your government might be hiding from you.
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This review may contain spoilers
first time to finish a drama and write review immediately probably i'm too provoked to wait
i rated it just 7 cause it has many weak points and illogical events many times which made me mocking many times
such as how could a bodyguard in general wears heels ?????????????????????????????
how the 2 main leads treat working at the blue house as if they work in their private property
they can leave whenever they want and back whenever they want
and any one can reach the blue house to take excuses for the employee worked there cause they r sick
any one can enter the blue house easily and reach the president by phone easily
they r treating being injured by a bullet as if u had a flu just a few hrs and u can run like a horse
even the flu can make u sick more than that
and what the hell about when someone is being injured
they chatter too much without thinking to call the emergency
starting from ep. 14 the romance was in the very back seats and became so cold & lukewarm suddenly
towards the end they left many many things they didn't explain although it's 20 eps
coming to the end .....
this is the worst, lame, weak END i've ever seen in my life
it ruined the drama totally in my opinion
y they 've to kill young joo there was really no need totally for that it was illogical for me at all
and when yoon sung has been shot at the end what the hell was that reaction from kim nana
it was totally fake and abnormal
i was waiting till the end for a proper confession of love from yoon sung to kim nana
what was that ?? no really what was that end between them ??? what the hell was that
they ended the drama in rush they ruined it literally
second time to watch lee min ho i noticed
his face expression was really dead he can't act angry or shout well
he can't give u the right expression for being nervous or scared
many people i wasn't satisfy at all for not knowing what had happened to them
the weakest point at the KD always is going to be the END
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This review may contain spoilers
I had an on again, off again relationship with this drama. Most of the time I was watching it, I had the idea that I was just wanting to finish it. I was sure I wouldn't have that dreaded I'm-so-sad-it's-ended-what-do-I-do-with-my-life feeling. But I did. It's that kind of drama. How could I not get sucked in despite all my disappointment with Lee Min Ho's character? Thanks to his personality, I had a break from this drama halfway through. I tried twice getting back into it but on the third time successfully picked it up again. I also read a spoiler that made me curious.
The second half of this drama is really solid. Some of the emotions that it captures are spot-on and really intense. The music as well was used powerfully to really get me swept up in what was happening.
This is my first wander into Kdrama action dramas. It starts aggressively and violently. We're not in rom-com anymore.
Yoon Sung
I was not expecting Lee Min Ho's character to be this laid back. I like seeing his playful side because I've only seen him dead serious. He has a great smirk face though.
I like that it's not really about revenge but Yoon Sung wanting to please his dad. He's really smart about revenge and practical about how he wants to live his life.
Romance
This is probably the worse part of the drama.
I did like at first the way Yoon Sung so awkwardly falls in love. He has some real cliché moments though. The stalking, the competitive gift buying, trying to kiss someone when they're asleep - ewww. I didn't like the way he treats Na Na. Whenever he feels attracted to her, (which is every five minutes) he makes a jab at her to hide it. Such a jerk. He's rude and picky just like he is in Personal Preference.
Young Joo - second male lead
Yoon Sung - “Excuse me, I got it first.”
Young Joo - “Shall we rewind the security tapes?”
Korean rivals. *happy sigh.
I wasn't crazy over this guy. He seemed a bit of an after-thought kind of character. But I liked what they did with him in the end and how he was with Sae Hee.
Kim Na Na
“That's okay. I'm a human bullet shield anyway.”
This actress has a great face. And I don't just mean she's pretty. Her face makes me feel calm. Haha.
I love that she dresses appropriately for her job. No silly short skirts and flying hair.
She manhandles Yoon Sung a lot.
There are many moments in the drama when I wanted to strangle her. But there are some moments of competency that are really satisfying too.
I like that she is her own woman and has her own ambitions and purpose in life.
“Excuse me, but can you take your marital spat back home?” Sometimes, I really I love this girl.
Kim Na Na is not a great heroine, but since I was watching My Princess at the same time...well, let's just say the stupidity of Lee Seol next to Kim Na Na's stupidity, there's no comparison. Also, Na Na's ability to grit her teeth in the face of all sorts of circumstances without uttering a word is admirable. Na Na also has a respectable job and she really is all on her own without any help. No parents, no siblings, nothing.
Kim Na Na still needs to be saved lots, but at least she gets to save Lee Min Ho at least once, right?
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City Hunter is a pretty typical need-for-revenge-made-me-a-vigilante type of thriller. Complete with the conceit that all it takes is a little strip of cloth over his mouth to make Yung Soon completely unrecognizable. If you've seen Arrow or Batman, this plot will mostly be nothing new to you. It's even based on a manga and has an awesome black and white manga style opening. (Random Question: Why are vigilantes always so wealthy?)
The twist in the story is an interesting one from a character stand point. While Lee Yung Soon wants to avenge his father, he is driven to it mostly by honor and the relentless pressure from his foster father rather than from any sense of real emotional betrayal by the perpetrators. The emotional drive behind the quest is Lee Jin Pyo and Yung Soon's desire to please him and earn his love. Jin Pyo is also still holding a lot of cards close to his chest and is blatantly manipulating Yung Soon. It is impossible to tell what his feelings for the boy are. He is an enigmatic figure and he and Yung Soon's relationship is deliciously complex. Their relationship takes what is a pretty generic revenge-vigilante plot line and bumps it up a notch. The pacing for the plot is really excellent for most of the show's run and even when that fails it still manages to have exciting cliffhangers in key places. The action/fight scenes are creative, well choreographed, well-shot and well- performed and are always exciting. In short, this drama overall is a ton of fun.
It makes sense that a complicated character and relationship are what make this drama stand out. What I've found in my limited experience with K Dramas is that developing characters and complicated relationships - and making the viewer 100% invested in them - is their major strength. They are certainly not above doing a little emotional manipulating but I'm down with that. I love characters that are conflicted in themselves and a vigilante plotline lends itself to that so well. Yung Soon's big conflict is that he just desperately wants a normal life and everything that comes with that. However, his upbringing has insured that he doesn't even know exactly what that looks and feels like.
My first impression upon being introduced to Lee Min Ho in his role as Lee Yung Soon, was that this kid was far too pretty to play a character that is meant to be a super duper bad ass vigilante. I mean look at him. He's really really ridiculously good looking (Zoolander reference intentional) not to mention slim and kind of willowy.
Apparently, Lee Min Ho is kind of a big deal in Korea. His career started as the ('a'?) lead in a hugely popular drama that I have not seen but I have certainly heard of, Boys over Flowers. That role and his good looks have pretty much guaranteed him a spot on every "hottest Korean actors" list you can find on the internet. What I didn't bargain for was that he is not only popular because of his pretty pretty face but because he is also a good actor. Probably the best I've encountered in the handful of K Dramas I've watched.
So it didn't take many episodes for me to realize that he is actually perfect for this role which has a serious bad ass side but also a sad and lonely little boy side (as so many vigilantes do) and he carries off the dichotomy really well. His look really works for this. He can pull off being an arrogant player prick one minute and a damaged little boy the next. Plus I don't know many dudes who could pull off looking and being bad-ass while wearing a pair of salmon colored skinny jeans.
The female protagonist, Kim Na Na (Park Min Young) also has her share of troubles. Ten year's previously, when she was just a school girl, her mother was killed and her father put in a coma by a car accident. She lives very stressfully, trying to pay her father's exorbitant health care bills by working multiple odd jobs like being a designated driver and selling sketchy health tonics. Despite these troubles, her personality is fairly cheerful and things take a turn for the better when she gets accepted to work as a secret service agent/bodyguard at the Blue House (the equivalent of the White House in the U.S.). Also working at the Blue House? Lee Yung Soon as an IT professional and unbeknownst to Kim Na Na, along with his revenge mission, Yung Soon has been asked, for some complicated unknown reasons, to keep an eye on Na Na. Mysteries everywhere! While he hides it well, he is pretty much smitten with her before he even meets her. And it's no wonder because Na Na is really lovely in a stunning but very girl-next-door sort of way.
She is also bad ass in her own right! She really annoyed me at first - there was a lot of over-the-top crying in the first few episodes and she is a little blatantly unfair to Yung Soon, though she of course does not know his secret. However, she eventually turned into one of my favorite female leads - she's strong, fearless, and compassionate. And way more emotionally intelligent than Yung Soon. Unfortunately, the drama seriously drops the ball on her character at a particular point but more on that below because it is tied up with my criticisms of the drama.
And what about the romance? It's development is fantastic. Slow burn, in best K drama fashion. Kim Na Na truly loathes Yung Soon, despite his good looks, until she starts to catch on to his secret and realize he is not quite the selfish a-hole she has thought him to be. And once she falls, she is so forthright and brave about her feelings - it is so sweet and confident and awesome. Unfortunately, once again, the Drama - despite putting a TON of screen time and effort into developing the romance - drops the ball.
Here's the reason why this Drama does not get full marks from me. It does a decent job of wrapping up the revenge plot line and resolving Yung Soon and Jin Pyo's relationship. Mostly. However, somewhere around episode 15ish it just completely goes off the rails regarding its characters and relationships which it has been meticulously developing. The romance and Lee Yung Soon's wanting to be part of a loving family are a huge theme of the drama but it mostly put those aside for the last 5 episodes or so and never really adequately picks theme back up and brings them to a closure. Kim Na Na, practically disappears from the show and her character is boiled down to two minutes of reaction shots per episode. The independence of her character completely disappears. The pacing in the last 5 or so episodes is also out of whack, spending lots of time on unimportant details so then at the ultimate end, everything feels rushed. It's a shame because up until that point the Drama was really hitting everything out of the park, so it was a shame to see it stumble in the end.
I'll end with some technical comments. The production values of the show are seriously top-notch. They are indistinguishable from a big-budget Hollywood action blockbuster and they sustain that for 25 hours of television. It's beautiful and stylish from the opening credits to the last shot.
I've also learned that it is impossible to properly review a K Drama without reviewing the Original Soundtrack. City Hunter's is AWESOME! The music was addictive and used really well to enhance the action. My favorite is the main "Heisty things are going down" theme music. Thence forth this shall be the music to accompany all my heroic ass-kicking. It has this driving jazzy drum beat, lush strings and then some bombastic and ominous horns come in mid way - Yum! The name of the song is Sad Run though as one Youtube commenter appropriately pointed out: " 'Sad Run'? More like Epic Strutting of Lee Freakin' Min Ho":0) https://youtu.be/evDbAajnosg
Finally, I watched the show on Viki.com which uses amateur teams of translators that are either volunteers or likely only paid a little to produce the subtitles. This is a cool system and it definitely allows the site to offer lots of dramas translated into many languages. However, my experience has been that you have to be prepared for a lot of meaning to be lost in translation. The translations are usually literal rather than meaningful and it can lead to confusion. (For example one translation I copied down: "You're sitting on top of your father's head now, aren't you?" Um, what?) Also because it is usually a team doing the translating, sometimes terms that are frequently used throughout the series can switch mid stream. For example there are two characters that are initially in early episodes referred to as ex-boyfriend and girlfriend but later in the show (and more accurately) they are ex-husband and wife. It doesn't effect my overall enjoyment and understanding of the show but I do feel like I maybe miss nuances. Something to be aware of if you plan on watching the show in translation on Viki.
FINAL VERDICT: If you like comic book revenge-vigilante plot lines you will love City Hunter which is well done and so much fun though it loses a little steam towards the conclusion and has a very frustrating ending.
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