Now Streaming: CITY HUNTER, Lighthearted Fanservice Adventure, Swamped By Blood

"He's like a pervert Aladdin." And that's his best friend's description.

City Hunter
Now streaming on Netflix.

Self-rated TV-MA for violence, the first portion of the latest adaptation of Tsukasa Hojo's manga series, first published in 1985, belies its rating.

Indeed, the flippant fanservice, in which the lead character leers at women and fancies himself a ladies' man, is borderline offensive and played for laughs. Soon, though, that gives way to a decently-interesting mystery, involving random young homeless people in Japan who suddenly become brutal and kill random bystanders.

Two friends, Ryo Saeba (Ryohei Suzuki) and Hideyeki Makimura (Masonobu Ando), are partners in a private-detective agency that specializes in finding missing people. Ryo, the would-be ladies man, is an expert marksman and physical warrior, while Makimura is a former policeman who runs the operation and provides the back-office support.

One night, Makimura comes to the end of his narrative thread, entrusting the protection of his adopted sister Kaori (Misato Morita) to Ryo. Eventually, Ryo and Kaori work together to solve the mystery. The more they dig, the bigger and more involved the mystery becomes.

So far, so good. In the third act, however, as the true nature of the mystery is revealed, along with an even more evil antagonist, the action, which was brutal and punishing, yet not necessarily more disturbing than the equivalent of PG-13, in U.S. rating terms, takes a turn that is much deadlier and truly diabolical, leading to far more blood being spilled in copious quantities, and many more dead bodies piling up.

Perhaps this is more in harmony with the original manga series or its various anime adaptations, both in Japan and in South Korea. My level of expectations was set by Wong Jing's silly, only occasionally serious live-action City Hunter (1993), a slapdash, entertaining, if minor, action vehicle for Jackie Chan, Richard Norton, Gary Daniels, Ken Lo, and company.

The overall intent of the film is reflected in its closing moments, which is meant to be respectful and holds out the promise of more films featuring the two lead characters.

Summary: It's not for me, but it might be for you, if you like your entertainment to be slapdash, silly, and sexist, until it gets bloody.