Crystal Hunt
(Dubbed) - This is one of the great "B" action
films from Hong Kong filled with terrifically fun action set pieces and
a damn good cast having some fun on their Thai vacation. The story is admittedly
poorly written and some of the acting is atrocious but its difficult not
to appreciate the zest and energy that is brought to the film on some level.
An old man (Tien Ching) is dying and his devoted
daughter (Carrie Ng - looking incredibly chic in a variety of outfits,
sunglasses and red garish lipstick and being a completely sultry witch)
discovers that he can only be saved by finding the Gold Crystal (which
is some old relic, but never really explained ). She and her boyfriend
Ken Lo hire an archeologist to find it but he soon disappears. The archeologist's
daughter (Fujimi Nadeki) gets her boyfriend Donnie Yen and his ex-police
partner (Sibelle Hu) to look for him. Besides the fact that Sibelle is
a Thai female police officer (not very likely in Thailand) and has gotten
a bit chunky, her acting in this is as wooden as Donnie’s is silly - especially
in his suspenders. It often feels like they are acting in a different movie
than Carrie and Ken, who bring an intensity that is appreciated. Donnie
of course makes up for his acting with some astonishing action skills that
are on full display.
Anyway, there are lots of bad guys - some good
fighting gweilos - Michael Woods being one, John Savetti another
- two Thai tarts in pink tops - and lots of others. Everyone fights in
this - even Carrie who I have never witnessed doing Kung Fu. This film
is definitely bad - but good bad and lots of goofy fun. There are many
ridiculous moments such as Donnie Yen chasing a pickpocket who is
on a motorbike and while chasing him on foot he does flips for no reason
- as if this will speed him up ! The last twenty-three minutes is just
one huge brawl is which Carrie goes up against Savetti, Sibelle against
both the gweilos, Nadeki against Woods and Donny of course takes them on
as well. His fights against them are not up to the the quality of those
in Tiger Cage II, but are still quite effective. Stick around for the out
takes - and look at the faces of Sibelle and Ken while someone is tended
to - they appear positively ill.
My rating for this film: 6.5