City Hunter is originally based on a Japanese manga written and illustrated by Hojo Tsukasa. The manga has several volumes and even had an anime version but this show is its first live drama adaptation. But the manga is actually a lot different from the drama seeing that, in the manga, the lead character is actually a private detective who hunts down criminals while in the Korean drama adaptation, the lead character is a vigilante seeking vengeance and hunting down a specific group of people.
I finished watching this last year (2011) but it is getting a rerun now in ABSCBN and it made me remember that I really liked the show. It really is one of the best action dramas and korean dramas that I've seen in a while. But enough about me fawning over Lee Minho's picture and let's review the drama.
In the year 1983 North Koreans (NK) blew up a place in Burma that killed high ranking South Korean (SK) officials. Five South Korean officials, "group of five", decided that SK should retaliate to show their strength and sent 21 specialized soldiers in a covert operation (called Sweep Mission) to kill some of NK's high officials. The mission was a success but just as the soldiers were about to board the submarine to get back SK, they were gunned down. One of the soldiers, Park Moo-yul (Lee Yoon Sung's father) took the bullet for his friend Lee Jin-pyo and sank below the waters of Nampo River. Lee Jin Pyo survived and found out the the "group of five" decided to assassinate them to make sure what they did would stay a secret (which was stupid because the guys who killed the soldiers would still know about it). Jin Pyo promised to avenge the death of his comrades, especially his best friend and saviour Moo yul. He kidnapped Moo yul's "son", Yoon Sung, and raised him as his own while teaching him to shoot and to fight .
After attaining a doctorate degree in MIT, Yoon Sung (played by Lee Min Ho) finally returned to Korea to fulfill JinPyo's revenge plan. He worked as an IT expert in the Blue House (official residence and principal workplace of the President of the South Korea - the White House/Malacañang of Korea) and it was there where he saw Kim Nana again. Kim Nana (played by Park Min Young) is a presidential security detail that excels in martial arts,she fends of herself and is taking care of her father, who was in a comatose due to a car accident. She is the female lead character in the drama, whom our hero falls in love with.
Yoon Sung has his own plans on how to execute his revenge and he starts of by checking out his opponent and seeing what way can he bring them down. His enemies are corrupt officials and he gets evidence in all their misdeeds so that he can have them persecuted. He did all of this inconspicuously that he was known to the public as the City Hunter. For the public, the City Hunter is a vigilante who brings justice and fights the corrupt heads of the nation and corrects the transgressions those officials are doing.
The other characters in the drama are Lee Young Joo (played by Lee Yoon Juk), a local prosecutor who has a clear and strong sense of justice and law. He understands what the City Hunter is good because the Ciuty Hunter is unveiling corrupt officials and catching in them in a way that the police can't. However, the City Hunter being a vigilante is still against the law. Jin Soo-Hee (played by Hwang Sun Hee) is the ex wife of Young Joo who helped the City Hunter when he got injured in one of his fights as a return of favor when the City Hunter helped her once.
..and introducing the group of Five. The number beside their picture represents the order of which they are caught.
The first one was Senator Lee Kyung-wan, whom the City Hunter got a video confession that he pocketed children's welfare funds and is using it for his reelection. He was put in a box and sent to the prosecutor's office (Justice!!! it was a funny scene).
The second one was Seo Yong-hak, a former defense minister and a current presidential candidate. He pocketed the government budget for military equipment and just bought cheap second hand and faulty military equipment which lead to injuring the soldiers. He was caught while trying to buy a second hand military helicopter and asking a commission for his part of the sale which is illegal. The third one who got caught is Kim Jong-shik, an education minister. He was rather complicated since he is Prosecuter Kim's father and he was the one who caused the car accident that killed Nana's mother and made her father an invalid. It was also during this time that Nana found out that Young Soo is the the City Hunter. Nana and Young Soo worked in this case together and they found that Yong Shik was embezzling the government education budget and hiding $200 million KRW in his house to hide the money trail. They got the money and sent it to the student scholars accordingly and the City Hunter was trying to pursue Jong shik but accidentally he fell from an overpass which resulted in him being in a comatose state.
The fourth one is Chun Jae-man, a rich and very cunning businessman who runs a chemical company that seems to have some disposal and quality problems because several of its employees gets sick. He is one tough cookie and I loved this part of the show because even if the City Hunter exposed the problems Mr. Chun's chemical company, Chun Jae Man has this "who's more cunning" contest - mind chess and verbal battle with Lee Jin Pyo. Of course, Jin Pyo is smarter and made Jae Man lose his money and company. I think amongst the five Jin pyo's own plan of revenge succeed in Jae Man because he was able to kill Jae Man before the City hunter can stop him.
The final man was Choi Eung-chan, the current President of South Korea. Amongst the five, he was the one who voted to keep soldiers in the Clean Sweep mission alive and he lived in guilt for all those years because he was not able to stand by his decision. Later, it was found that he was the biological father of Yoong Soo/City Hunter, and Jin Pyo's main plan was to have the son kill the father as his main revenge. However, Young soo saved the President and in the end Jin Pyo declared that he was the City Hunter to save Young Soo.
The second one was Seo Yong-hak, a former defense minister and a current presidential candidate. He pocketed the government budget for military equipment and just bought cheap second hand and faulty military equipment which lead to injuring the soldiers. He was caught while trying to buy a second hand military helicopter and asking a commission for his part of the sale which is illegal. The third one who got caught is Kim Jong-shik, an education minister. He was rather complicated since he is Prosecuter Kim's father and he was the one who caused the car accident that killed Nana's mother and made her father an invalid. It was also during this time that Nana found out that Young Soo is the the City Hunter. Nana and Young Soo worked in this case together and they found that Yong Shik was embezzling the government education budget and hiding $200 million KRW in his house to hide the money trail. They got the money and sent it to the student scholars accordingly and the City Hunter was trying to pursue Jong shik but accidentally he fell from an overpass which resulted in him being in a comatose state.
The fourth one is Chun Jae-man, a rich and very cunning businessman who runs a chemical company that seems to have some disposal and quality problems because several of its employees gets sick. He is one tough cookie and I loved this part of the show because even if the City Hunter exposed the problems Mr. Chun's chemical company, Chun Jae Man has this "who's more cunning" contest - mind chess and verbal battle with Lee Jin Pyo. Of course, Jin Pyo is smarter and made Jae Man lose his money and company. I think amongst the five Jin pyo's own plan of revenge succeed in Jae Man because he was able to kill Jae Man before the City hunter can stop him.
The final man was Choi Eung-chan, the current President of South Korea. Amongst the five, he was the one who voted to keep soldiers in the Clean Sweep mission alive and he lived in guilt for all those years because he was not able to stand by his decision. Later, it was found that he was the biological father of Yoong Soo/City Hunter, and Jin Pyo's main plan was to have the son kill the father as his main revenge. However, Young soo saved the President and in the end Jin Pyo declared that he was the City Hunter to save Young Soo.
*sob* *he really did love Young soo as his own*
Thoughts on the Drama :
Lee Min Ho was chosen to play the protagonist Lee Yoon Sung and like most people who heard of the announcement, at first, I was skeptical if he can portray the character well. I loved him in Boys Over Flowers (one of my fave dramas), and I was entertained with him in Mackarel Run and Personal Preference,but those dramas are centered on love and romance, mostly the usual rich guy falls in love with a poor guy type of drama. City Hunter was waaaaay different from what he is used to portraying but, after seeing the drama, I can say he has grown to be a great actor In a short period of time he has shown a great depth and range in acting. Overall, he was a very good choice for this drama.
Cast was great but my favorite was Kim Sang-joong who played Jin Pyo because its a very interesting yet difficult character to play but he did an awesome job with it. Difficult, in the sense, that he is a strong willed man who became hard due to tragedy and thirst for revenge. JinPyo is cunning and has this charisma pulls you and won't make you pity him nor hate him which is really rare if we're talking about antagonists.
Though I didnt really note on it earlier but this story also has a great love story. Yong Soo knew that he wasn't supposed to fall in love because he has a keep his real identity a secret and he has a mission to do. He also is aware that he'll just make his life and his loved one difficult but he can't help it because of Kim Nana. He fell in love with her when he saw a picture of her which was a few years before he actually got to know her personally. They have an on and off relationship in this drama but their interactions are fun, giddy and cute.
There's a lot of twists and turns in the story and the things I loved the most about this drama is that the storyline is very elaborate, its not derivative and you can say that the story wasn't rushed unlike with some dramas that during the latter part of the drama things tend to get dragged on and be more complicated. The action scenes came naturally to the plot and the tension is high but its not forsaking the love and comical scenes. Some action dramas I've seen sometimes leaves you that heavy feeling but this drama leaves you that asking for more. At the end of every episode, there is a cliffhanger that makes you shout "NOOOOOOOOO". So if you haven't seen it yet, please do so especially if your a Lee Min Ho fan because I believe its his best work yet.
Thanks to DramaBeans, SBS and Wikipedia.
Thanks to DramaBeans, SBS and Wikipedia.
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