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STORY: It is about a man who is involved in a conspiracy with his country & the revenge he takes against the politicians who turned against him. Revenge story-lines are one of my favorite plot devices, especially when it is done correctly & this story kept me on my toes. The action scenes are some of my favorite parts of this drama. For those of you who want to watch this for the romance, I suggest you reconsider because it is not the main focus & you MIGHT be left frustrated if you solely concentrate on that aspect of the story.
ACTING: Although there were quite a few annoying characters because of their character's nature, there is no weak link in here when it came the acting. Everyone brought their A game. Lee Minho continues to show me why he is one of my top favorite actors in South Korea. I hope me makes more dramas soon.
MUSIC: The main City Hunter theme song really takes this drama to a different level because it makes me feel as though I am right there in the drama. It gives me goosebumps.
ENDING: There are many who say that they did not like the ending, but I found it gave me just the closure I needed. Although, there are some plot holes from some side stories that are either rushed or not resolved properly, but I do not think it took away from the drama as a whole.
RE-WATCH: I do not see myself re-watching this because I do not want to be emotionally drained again.
I RECOMMEND if (1) you are a huge Lee Minho fan (2) love revenge dramas & (3) love the dramatic twists & turns of K-dramas.
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Character Analysis of The Main Cast: Lee Yoon Sung (played by Lee Min Ho) is a classic character who refuses to show emotion for the sake of his loved ones. He grew up learning martial arts and became the City Hunter whom people either admired or ridiculed. Lee Yoon Sung has his own flaws, which makes him human. To me, he is great and as a character deserves a 9/10. Kim Nana (played by Park Min Young) is our classic, lovely poor love interest with parent issues. She is trained in martial arts as well, but during the story, she gets attacked but can't defend herself. Why does a physically strong character get in so much trouble, isn't she supposed to be strong? She also cries in random scenes and refuses to leave Lee Yoon Sung, no matter the troubles they face. Kim Nana, as a character, is supposed to be stronger physically and mentally. At one point, the problems she faces become boring. The story could've gone better if the writer(s) focused less on her, and she became a character we all waited to see in the drama. But at one point, they focused a lot on her, and this turned out to make Kim Nana a boring love interest, even though she's a great feature in the story. To me, she's 5/10. The story should've focused more on the second male lead, Prosecutor Kim Young Joo (played by Lee Joon Hyuk), who is a very important character. He has his flaws and traits, and I love him as a character. A further explanation might lead to spoilers, so I won't explain him, as it would be much better to experience him. But let me tell you, he's a solid 10, along with Lee Jin Pyo. Lee Jin Pyo (played by Kim Sang Joong) is Lee Yoon Sung's revenge-driven somehow charismatic father. We see different sides of him throughout the story. He's also a quick personality test for the watchers: If you dislike him, you like romance more and are presumably a romantic person. If you like him, you prefer the action side of this drama.
Ratings: The story, on its own, deserves a 10, but the characters and their relationships lower it to 9. The cast is a solid 7, as Lee Min Ho's acting is unfortunately not good. Surprisingly he suited the role of Lee Yoon Sung, as his appearance was made for this. Park Min Young poorly portrayed Kim Nana, but compared to her works after City Hunter, she definitely improved herself, which makes her a respectworthy actress. The rest of the cast did an excellent job. OST definitely is a 10, as all the songs made me sing its lyrics and almost made me cry at one point. Like most of the crime shows, City Hunter can get boring if you rewatch it, excluding the action scenes. The action scenes were so fun to watch (and is the sole reason why my father rewatched City Hunter multiple times), but I haven't seen anyone talking about the weird sound effects, perhaps I was the only one bothered by them. The action scenes are so exciting that they can be reviewed on their own.
Overall, City Hunter has its good sides, bad sides, and weird sides that everyone can approach differently. I enjoyed watching City Hunter considering all those sides. I recommend City Hunter to those who like action and/or political dramas with romantic relationships.
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I felt like this drama could have ended sooner. After episode 12 or 13, it seemed like the political plot that fueled the story was becoming too slow, and I started to lose interest. I had a hard time not skipping scenes of some of the secondary characters out of boredom.
Lee Min Ho and Park Min Young had great chemistry. I liked that there was never a love triangle or any sort of confusion as to who liked who in this story - Yoon Sung was attracted to Na Na before they even met and, once they did, he devoted a lot of time into keeping her safe. However, this drama isn't one for people that seek romance. There are characters that are in love, but there aren't any relationships. The bantering between the two leads is very enjoyable in the first half of the show, and then it is completely replaced by angst, which changed the way I viewed both characters for the worse.
The soundtrack of this show is good. There was one song that annoyed me a little, which usually played in Na Na's scenes with Yoon Sun, but their two love tracks were beautiful ("Sarang" by Yim Jae Beom and "Suddenly" by Kim Bo Kyung).
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The premise and revenge plot are really solid. I found it really well-paced with great twists and turns. I like that the revenge plot is being driven by two characters who have very different perspectives on what revenge should look like. The conflict between Lee Min Ho's character and "daddy drug-lord" (my friends' name for him) is one of the most interesting aspects of the show. Daddy drug-lord is a great antagonist; the other antagonists, the people who they're getting revenge on, are corrupt politicians and don't get me wrong, they're good too, but daddy drug-lord is definitely more interesting. The show does a good job of working our way through the list of bad guys such that they are successively worse people--the first one is bad, the next one is terrible, the next is horrendous, and so on. But all throughout daddy drug-lord remains a constant threat, and you're really uncertain of what he might do next. I like that (generally speaking) most of the main characters are fairly intelligent and don't make a ton of dumb decisions. Otherwise the plot would certainly feel contrived.
That being said, some things do feel contrived, and that's a bit where Park Min Young's character comes in. I do like her, I really do, but she is very hit-or-miss at her job and it feels like it depends on what needs to be happening in the plot. She's also not the brightest, and how she figures out the identity of City Hunter is pretty funny (as in, the actual moment where she figures it out is pretty hilarious). I actually liked the romance quite a bit in this show. I'm not going to claim that the two have amazing chemistry (it's okay) but the premise for their romance is really unique and good. This isn't the Lois Lane and Superman situation like Healer kinda is, it's more of a Romeo and Juliet type situation where the two of them are on opposite sides of a conflict. I loved how conflicted Lee Min Ho's character was about her; at first, he was scared of hurting her, and then it shifts to also being afraid of her hurting him. So yeah, I enjoyed the romance aspect of the show, though I will admit it's the most 2011-feeling part of the show with some of the rom-com hijinks that go down.
The action scenes are pretty great in this show. I still remember vividly to this day the action scene in episode 18 or so where City Hunter hides from and fights a bad guy in a locker room. It's a single shot for like a minute and a half, where the camera moves along with City Hunter as he hides behind the mirrors, so you can always see both him and the bad guy, even though the bad guy cannot see him. It's masterful and well-coordinated and is incredibly tense and exciting. Definitely a lot of care went into the action scenes, so kudos for that.
This was the first kdrama to teach me that characters can and will die. I legit did not expect characters to die and stay dead (I know expectations are different these days thanks to Game of Thrones) and it genuinely shocked and upset me when a certain character died and it wasn't even the last episode! So that's probably another reason why I have a nostalgic appreciation for this show because it was the first show to subvert my expectations with character deaths.
The ending of this show is perfect. You cannot talk me down from this position. This show does not lose steam and keeps some amazing twists for the end of the show. It's so darn good. It still wowed me even the second time I watched it. It also wraps up the themes of the show really well.
Side note: thank goodness this show exists because I was not a fan of Lee Min Ho after watching Boys Over Flowers and Heirs and I'm now officially a part of the "Lee Min Ho is fine" club.
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This review may contain spoilers
Democide [murder of ppl by a government which has power over them] & Bad Boy's Righteous Retribution
I guess the DnD alignment of the protagonist of this story would be chaotic neutral (cause vigilante) but heck it should be chaotic good. Because his goal is relatable. Tis righteous revenge whilst being sexy. Whilst still trying to be a good person. You're obviously gotta root for the protagonist cause he's really badass and sexy i.e. he's the ultimate bad boy dreamboat. Lee Min-ho is really good at playing the bad boy in this one & he's really in his prime in this one too. If you simp Lee Min-ho like I do you'll especially love this Kdrama -- I mean it'll appeal to your psychographic or whatever.Was this review helpful to you?
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By The End You Will Feel Like You Wasted Your Time
I preface this by saying the only reason I wanted to watch and started to watch was because of Lee Min Ho.That being said I was really enjoying this action drama in the beginning even with the ridiculous plot holes. I even liked the romance part of it at first. The show really started to go down hill for me when the fake father could never see the forest for the trees. His self-righteous and arrogant attitude just left much to be desired considering he stole a new born baby from it's mother just to take revenge. Starting with episodes 9 thru 15 it was just me wishing the fake father would die. I also hated when the FL wanted to be apart of the City Hunter's agenda. That was just too much. Plus it just slowed the show down and really didn't add much value to the plot as a whole. I started to hate watch. I kept wondering if the show could just go back to being an action drama instead of a damn melodrama!
This show could have ended at 16 but the show is 20 long drawn out eps and in episode 17 there was yet another plot twist and in episode 19 SPOILER ALERT the Prosecutor is murdered and I was not "here" for it!! It was completely gratuitous and unnecessary.
I could never rewatch this drama.
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This review may contain spoilers
To be honest I come from a long list of dramas that did not make me happy. Despite being doing an all-title marathon with Lee Min Ho, this one was certainly the best so far. Apart from the fact that I had to put my brain to work with the subtitles, since there was no website in my native language.The story is well constructed, with many points to note. In the beginning you may even find another cliché for revenge, fights, etc. BUT NOT. It's very well built, the characters have a striking personality, things happen when they should happen, and a LOT of plot twist.
Not to mention that the lead couple may be one of my favorites of all time. Like a lot of people, I like physical contact and I love watching lots of kisses between the main actors, but this relationship did not leave much to be desired, it was really difficult for both of them and, putting me in their place, I would also do the same.
The soundtrack is not much to my liking, but the songs have been added very well and match the theme.
I really liked this drama, the ending has a lot of plot twists and made me very curious about their relationship. Did she really wait? Did it work? I think we're going to have to let our imaginations shine now.
Just a warning: if you are very emotional maybe some parts will trigger you. Like someone who recently lost his father, some scenes were crucial for me to be crying for several minutes with the pause pressed. Be ready.
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was fine till 17th episode
i am so sick of watching abandoned child trope .It was very good till ep 17 ,felt disconnected the moment revelation occured about his biological father .may be not my cup of teaor may be because i watched some dramas of similar tropes before.Action ,cinematography and performances were on point .........
If not for that absurd revelation (imo) could have been 10/10 drama .....
also sound effects while action felt absurd for me ?
those effects spoiled many action highs that could have been felt .That one song that kept playing was great
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The plot isn't one to blow your mind but it was well put together and entertaining enough for you not to feel like you're being forced to sit through 20 eps of it.
Male lead - LOVE LOVE LOVE and not because he's Lee Min Ho. I like his role here much better than in Boys Over Flowers and y'all better thank the stylist for giving him a much more attractive hairstyle lol. He's like the perfect hero - goofy when he's around female lead and his friends, but he will show his awesome martial art skills and he's no nonsense when needs be. I also need to mention, this couple's kisses are always so unexpected and I was always like "Ooh is it happening wtf didn't see this coming" but they're good, trust me. *wink*
Female Lead - Beautiful, strong, brave, a total kickass and she's not your typical K-drama crybaby. She's a perfect match for the male lead. I admit that there are scenes she got on my nerves with her dumb thought process but that's a tiny fraction. most of the time she's a great character.
The acting from everyone is good and the main villain's acting was actually so convincing that you hate him, but feel pity for him at the same time. The side characters are great and brought amazing comic relief to the show from time too time, which is like almost every episode, especially Kwangsoo's character and the Uncle.
Grab your blanket, popcorn and get ready to binge watch this action-packed, light-hearted humour with some serious political issues Drama. You have been told, Go do it NOW.
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Minho's acting was on point and leave yoou wishing for more , Park Minyoung would steal your heart ! both of them are just awesome! you'd have a hate love relationship with some important characters and be on the edge for many scenes , I thought this might be influenced from the japanese manga anime City hunter but bears no resemblance . A treat for every Lee minho fan , Jonghyun's OST was so tear-jerking :(
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Great action, too much sentimental romance
I tried this out because of Lee Joon Hyuk from "Are you human too?" I like his cool, dark looks here. But this felt slow, slow at the start and then half of it was taken up with (yawn) romance and I wasn't sure if it was worth waiting for the 10 minutes of action at the end of the episode to find out what happens -the "targets" have more lives than a cat. Lee Min Ho jumping about looking pretty does not compensate. I could really not take seriously Park Min Young as a top state bodyguard? bang!! aaaaaagh - the president just got shot: ( Not a terribly original story - revenge and romance. This was on hold with me about half way through but in the second half it improved hugely, so I'm glad I stuck with it. Still too much sentimental romance for me got in the way of the plot but they certainly hooked me with the cliffhanger endings! They could have cut out the romance and taken 10+ minutes off the episodes or reduced to 16 episodes and it would have been much better all through imo. Really good towards the end. Well it got to the end and it was very well worked out, although in one respect not the ending I would have wished. Can not quite give this a 10/10 due to the above problems, but in the end a very good 9+ .Was this review helpful to you?
