Magic Crystal
Cynthia and Andy
.....ruined....
Bye! See you later, alligator!Poster images for Wong Jing's 1986 action fantasy MAGIC CRYSTAL. This goofy little romp features Andy Lau, Cynthia Rothrock, Max Mok Siu-chung, Richard Norton, Nat Chan Pak-cheung, Philip Ko Fei, Sharla Cheung Man, and the schlockmeister himself...a one Mr. Wong Jing. Also starring a cutesy little kid, Siu Ban-ban, who deserves kudos for managing to not be annoying and deserving of a swift kick in the pants. I find the majority of HK children actors to be screeching brats and going the right way for a wire hanger to the backside. The film evolves around a green, or jade colored rock, the crystal of the title, that has otherworldly powers....well, because it actually IS from another world. The magical jade rock helps the goodies defeat the baddies. And all is right with the world. Hooray!
As you can see by the last poster image the poster is just a tad ruined. Ok, it's a lot ruined. It appears that a label was stuck to this portion of the poster, obscuring the handsome little E.T. creature whom the 'magic crystal' belongs to. So, I went the extra mile and posted a screen cap of the little bugger. You're welcome. Looks like an ex-girlfriend of mine.
I see this and think Andy has gone full circle as that Future Cops thing looks like a bigger budget version of something like this. But the 1980s HK films were more fun in all their sometimes schlocky natures.
ReplyDeleteI agree Glenn. 80's films, especially by Wong Jing, were such fun Schlock. And this is definately one of them. Decent silly comedy and some really nice fighting make this film very entertaining. It's like an old school, low budget version of CJ7. Without a moral or a message of course. This IS Wong Jing.
ReplyDeleteBack then HK was just so masterful at knocking out these low budget action films that were thin on plot but so much fun to watch - films like this, anything that Rothrock was in, Crystal Hunt, Cheetah on Fire and the 1,000,000 girls with guns films. Now the few action films are these big productions all seemingly starring Donnie Yen and though much better production values they have lost that sense of wild fun.
ReplyDeleteBrian, you are right. There is nothing like heyday HK cinema. Low budget but overflowing with charm and exuberance. With their meager budgets it became a situation of, "necessity being the mother of invention". And boy were they inventive. That is ALL gone now. They still make a few good movies here and there but nothing coming close to the old days.
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