City Hunter

NICKY LARSON is an adaptation of Tsukasa Hojo's 80s action comedy CITY HUNTER, about a skirt-chasing gun-for-hire and his pretty but aggressive partner and the adventures they have as various clients come to them. The story represented the height of 80s culture with its urban atmosphere and mix of comedy and drama; though the story is set in Tokyo, dubs meant it could apply to any major metropolis. While the 1980s setting and style can put off viewers of later eras, no story can really escape the era of its creation, and if viewers can overlook the dated history they can get a good appreciation of the story. This adaptation, done by French filmmaker Philippe Lacheau, a fan of City Hunter and other anime, is a love letter to the saga. Dubbed in French as NICKY LARSON, the film is a faithful enough adaptation of the story, as Lachaeu himself (directing as well as acting) and his co-stars play their roles with enthusiasm and enjoyment, making the film a fun ride to see. The addition of various other homages to popular anime was a nice touch too, if perhaps unnecessary. However, the adaptation isn't perfect. Primarily, an action comedy should be able to blend its comedic and dramatic parts together well enough to make the mix appealing. This adaptation has good enough comical and action scenes (the latter notably featuring a fight scene involving a magnet), but it doesn't do a good enough job at blending the two together. The film comes off as a slightly jarring mix of fighting and foolery, which doesn't really work right when compared to how skillfully Hojo's story was able to balance both. Furthermore, the addition of native French comedy to the story (some idiot Frenchmen bystanders who get dragged into the adventure) not only unbalances the mix of comedy and drama, but adds little to the overall adaptation. On the whole, while I think it could have been better, I think it was a good enough adaptation to work out.

By far the best live-action adaption of the City Hunter manga/animation. Not that it is excellent, but at least all the characters and the background story are faithful to the original City Hunter manga, unlike most of the Hollywood productions. The actor who played Umibozu (Mammoth) really looks the part, and not just some big bold guy wear a pair of shades. The story itself is a straight forward, comedic one, with some (subtle) adult humors, a bit like the old Benny Hill show if you are old enough and English. I do wish they will carry on making some sequels with the same cast with some additions of the regular characters in the manga.

If you liked french version of the anime, you'll be enjoyed The humor in the movie is from 80's exactly the same of the anime. All people who dislike this movie, don't remember the anime or actually don't like the anime

Best known as City Hunter, Nicky Larson is a funny and entertaining french movie with a lot of action. The film is really respectul towards the comics. Everything is there, same music, same character, action and a lot of fun. Without hesitation the best adaptation. Watch it!

I was so disappointed by the movie that I made an account on IMDB to tell about it... Even though it sticks to the french version of City Hunter's universe, the movie is a total failure. The jokes are terribly lame (and mostly homophobic) and the rythm sucks. Save yourself some time and money and don't watch that. (Re)read the manga instead, it will most certainly make you laugh rather than cry tears of despair seeing how bad this adaptation is.