Magic crystal

"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. (***)

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.

Gotta say, this is one of the best Kung fu movies I've seen. I at first looked into it and like, ok comedy in it..going to be lame! But man was I wrong and did have a look at it!

Spoiler free summary, Hong Kong special cop goes to Greece with his family, comes back with the kgb after him. Why? Well, watch the movie and find out! It's mixed with some sci fi stuff and the story itself ain't that bad, to be a kung fu movie that is! It's a solid story with interesting characters and very good kung fu fights and stunts. Really well made done.

Richard Norton is awesome as the bad guy, Cynthia Rothrock are cool as well, and with Andy Lau they do great scenes together.

Some scenes made me burst out in laugher, that I didn't expect.

This movie has a great charm to it, it has that childish Innocent take on it like a Spielberg movie, but a lot of kung fu and Action.

It's a good flick, I am surprised! 9/10.

This movie is total chaos, the type of film where characters disappear after they seem they are going to be important. Other characters suddenly start kicking butt when you think they are simply someone's mother and a comedy relief character! Strange plots going on, magical rocks, KGB agents and Cynthia Rothrock, yes please!

The story is just a bit too chaotic for this movie to get a higher score. It has some dude who does what the police cannot as he captures a guy I believe I saw in another movie like this. After this we see a kid get bullied, the dude, kid and his partner go to Greece and somehow end up getting a stone that talks to the kid. Watch out as fights break out randomly while characters come and go leading up to a showdown back in Greece!

The characters are likeable and that helps with the bizarre and at times incoherent plot. The fighting is quick and people look like they are being legitimately killed as they leap off balconies like it is no big deal! I think Cynthia is dubbed because when I watch her films here she sounds more squeaky and cute, here like in another film I saw from China, she sounds more posh.

So the film is not good in a traditional sense, but is in a crazy way. It is fast and fun, but the plot is so bad you have to deduct some points. However, this film is not boring in any way so I have to give it higher marks. So if you want to be a bit puzzled but see some really cool and fast fights, then give this one a shot!

Magic Crystal is one of those family/action films that you can enjoy on a boring afternoon, not saying this film is bad or anything.

The story of the magic crystal is rather odd, but once you get into it, you'll start to understand (I hope). The cast in the movie is pretty good being played by a host of Asian movie stars.

Cynthia Rothrock is an interpol agent looking for the magic crystal, and Andy Lau is also some kind of special agent as well.His nephew finds the crystal in his bag, only to befriend it since it can talk to him using telepathy. The crystal has the power to project images and even brainwash you from a certain distance. Richard Norton is a greedy Russian looking to use the crystal for his own little pleasure.

Whom ever choreographed the fight scenes in this movie made Cynthia and Richard look awesome. From Richards' Tiger Fist all the way to Cynthias' Preying Mantis and Eagles'Claw the fighting was great.

Let's not forget Andy Lau, although his fight wasn't as intense as the others, he made due with what he was using, also making up for it in latter films.

In the end the Magic Crystal is a decent film to watch, my only gripes are the cheesy music that played over and over. Meaning it was the intro's theme, the fighting theme, and the ending theme. That was the only damn music playing!!!!!!!!!!!!! And Richards' poorly dubbed Russian accent was terrible. Cynthia made a joke about it in the film stating "Your English is almost as bad as your Chinese".

Anyway give it a peek, I found it to be entertaining.