City Hunter: Bay City Wars (Japan 1990)

Rating: **
Review Date: 3/20/11

Disappointing. The trailer for this movie looked like a non-stop action outing with the stylistic flair of "Wicked City" (1992), but it was all lies. It's pretty much the same old goofy "City Hunter" shenanigans as private investigator Ryo Saeba chases skirts and stuffs his face with food. He and Falcon are after the daughter of a foreign dictator who is out to destroy America by hacking into the Pentagon's defense computers. Miki and Kaori are taken hostage at a hotel in true "Die Hard" (1988) fashion, which results in the hotel being completely destroyed. Ridiculously over-the-top male posturing, deplorably sexist humor, and annoying English dubbing make this a chore to sit through. On the plus side, the soundtrack is excellent and the misspelled missile "lunch" code provides some unintentional laughs.