Plantiana Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

Cortechba Overrated

Fairaher The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Marva It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Leofwine_draca THE MAGIC CRYSTAL is something of a hidden gem of Hong Kong cinema. It's a blistering thrill-ride of a film, packed with some top martial artists partaking in some top fight scenes, and it's as fast, funny, and thoroughly exciting as other, better known examples of Hong Kong '80s action cinema like POLICE STORY and DRAGONS FOREVER. And yet it's a virtually unknown film in the West, and I only found it as a B-feature on a German double-bill disc.The use of a sci-fi sub-plot in which a child character finds an alien lump of jade may be why this one's been overlooked in favour of more straightforward action fare. Writer/director/star Wong Jing was obviously hoping to cash in on some Spielberg magic, with obvious nods to E.T. and RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, but truth be told the film doesn't need it. The action sequences alone are far better than anything Spielberg ever did.While the alien stuff is pretty cheap and cheesy, it's also fun and this film has plenty of comedy to keep you laughing along. One guy, played by Wong Jing himself, ends up being the butt of the most of the jokes and has plenty of pratfalls as a result. The martial arts comes courtesy of a reliable Cynthia Rothrock and a delightful Richard Norton, the latter playing a hulking Russian mastermind of a villain. The hero duties are performed by Andy Lau, who shows himself to be no slouch in the fight scenes either. And what a wealth of action THE MAGIC CRYSTAL has! It barely pauses to draw breath before offering up another superbly choreographed bout between the participants. It's certainly a film I'll be coming back to, to enjoy again and again, in the future.

Comeuppance Reviews When a young boy named Pin Pin (Bin Bin) (yes, you read that correctly. Bin Bin plays Pin Pin. What did you expect?) befriends a green, glowing crystal that can communicate with humans by intercepting their brainwaves, a series of Martial Arts battles - as well as wacky comedy scenarios - ensue. The evil KGB want the crystal, and the nefarious Karov (Norton) is not messing around. Cindy Morgan (Rothrock) is battling him every step of the way. Andy (Lau) is a cop and the older cousin of Pin Pin, and along with Winnie Shen (Cheung) and Pancho (Jing) the three go on a series of misadventures, not the least of which takes them all the way to Greece where the ancient aliens (now seen on the History channel and on DVD) tried to rendezvous with human beings thousands of years ago. But are they done with us? Find out today! The Magic Crystal is a fun and entertaining joyride that throws a little bit of everything at the viewer. It might not always make the most amount of sense, but it seems making sense wasn't even in the top 100 of priorities for director Wong Jing. His mandate appears to have been to entertain audiences at all costs (even if coherency is one of those costs). He succeeded. One minute a little kid is chatting with a glowing chunk of goo, then there's some wacky slapstick with some other characters, then there are some fast and furious Martial Arts fights. It's definitely a cinematic smorgasbord, and who are we to say no? Obviously, what we gravitated towards here were the fights. They have that fast, cool, inventive style Hong Kong was so great at, especially in the 80's/early 90's. You get not one, but two Rothrock/Norton fights, and throw Andy Lau into that mix, and you truly can't lose. The fast pace keeps things lively and the whole outing has a cool ending. What's not to love? The fact that some of the action takes place in Greece gives things a different feel and look from the average "chop-socky" films of the time, and there's a lot of cool 80's style on display, from the music, to the phones, to the cool, pre-CGI effects which actually delight the eye rather than irritate it. There's the time-honored warehouse fight, and a schoolyard bullying subplot that was very ahead of its time. Fan favorite Richard Norton plays the bearded baddie with aplomb. He's a KGB man who inexplicably is also a Martial Arts master. This was the first of many Cynthia Rothrock/Richard Norton on screen pairings, and, as they individually are two of our favorites, we were happy to see their relationship got off on the right foot.You'll likely have a smile on your face as big as the one on the 3-D poster of Donald Duck that Pin Pin has over his bed when you watch this "Gem" of a movie.

unbrokenmetal Here we go again on an action adventure with breath-taking speed. An alien artifact is discovered in Greece, taken to Hong Kong, and everybody tries to get hands on it, while a little boy discovers the crystal contains an alien talking to him. Sometimes it happily provides super powers, sometimes it doesn't even talk, must be one of those WEIRD aliens, although... after it was locked into that crystal for 2000 years, it needs no excuse. Andy Lau, Cynthia Rothrock and Richard Norton as Russian agent Karloff (as my dubbed version calls him) deliver some spectacular fights. Even if everything is a bit incoherent and can't decide if it wants to be a kid's movie or a violent action flick, it's speedy and enjoyable, apparently even with a reasonable budget for good quality since a lot of footage was shot on location in Greece. My favorite line is Richard Norton telling the little boy: "If you co-operate, you get some ice cream. If not, you go to Siberia." Going back to school after holidays never sounded so good.

gridoon "Magic Crystal" takes an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink approach to movie-making: there is action, comedy, spy stuff (the villains are KGB), exotic adventure ala Indiana Jones (it was partly shot in Greece, and there are underground lairs full of traps), and science fiction (a little boy befriends an alien creature - does that remind you of anything?). The mixture of all these different genres isn't 100% smooth, but at times it is exhilarating, particularly during the fight scenes, which are furious and ferocious. Cynthia Rothrock (possible highlight: her Eagle Claw kung fu), Richard Norton (ph: the way he handles his double sharp weapons at the end ), Andy Lau (ph: using an umbrella as a weapon!), and the actress who plays his sister (ph: her astonishing body-bending abilities) are all superb in action, and there are some big laughs as well (a man wakes up to find his hands and feet having exchanged places!). IMO, any martial arts/80's Hong Kong film fan should seek this one out. (***)