STUDY IN CHINA GLOBAL (SCG)Today,we are going to talk about a 1991 film named Crystal Hunt (怒火威龙nùhuǒ wēilóng).This movie features much of the same cast as Cheetah on Fire (猎豹行动lièbào xíngdòng) and was likewise shot in Thailand (泰国Tàiguó). Here the Indiana Jones-like adventure plot involves a magical gold crystal with healing powers. Wealthy Lisa (Carrie Ng) wants it to cure her ill father while treasure hunters are after it as well. Joyce (Fujimi Nadeki) wants to find her archaeologist father who disappeared in search of it while the cops are trailing the treasure hunter/smugglers. Yen plays Chi Liang, a former cop who has working woes. He joins his former partner (Sibelle Hu) to help his ex-girlfriend find her father. Yen and Hu appear in several club scenes in which their rapport onscreen is strong. There’s humor and fun stunts and lots of brutal fights. And this movie earned bad guy Michael Woods celebrity status in Asia, Europe and Africa.
The story opens as a deal goes bad. Bad boy Woods plays up his mischievousness with a remote control car that attacks; an explosion blows everyone but Woods to kingdom come. Yen’s opening action sequence is quick to follow, and it’s quite comical. Dressed in clown-like red and white striped pants, he’s working as a tour guide and foils a pickpocket, only to have his own wallet stolen. He pursues the motorbike-riding thief on a bicycle, and puts him to shame, only to be chased by the thief and an army of jitneys. The episode’s straight out of slapstick comedy. other scenes are downright savage, as when Woods sticks a pistol in a guy’s mouth and pulls the trigger. The action swings between these extremes throughout. Salvitti’s mad dog character always removes his jacket before fighting, and at one point Yen incredibly jumps into a split over Salvitti’s head to evade his attack.
once the ensemble treks into the forests and caverns, the final twenty minutes are pretty much a free-for-all of non-stop action, as the smugglers pursue the heroes, who are following a map in search of the crystal. Woods’ new toys are remote control planes with bombs, which he delights in setting off against them. Much automatic weapon firing and kung fu later, Lisa’s muscle (Ken Lo), who has survived a multiple stabbing, and Lisa, who has averted a blasting flame and a fall off a cliff, bite the dust. Yen separately takes on Woods and Salvitti, assisted by Hu and Fujimi, and for awhile the non-Asians seem immortal, exhausting the heroes; ultimately the villains deaths’ are gruesome. Yen chokes Woods with a chain around his neck against a tree while Fujimi delivers the final blow to the groin. Three strikes to the head with a log by Yen finally deliver Salvitti to his deserved end.
Director: Tsui Fat (徐发Xú Fā)
Cast: Donnie Yen (甄子丹Zhēn Zǐdān), Sibelle Hu (胡慧中Hú Huìzhōng), Carrie Ng Ka-lai (吴家丽Wú Jiālì), Lau Ka-fai, Michael Woods, John Salvitti, Ken Lo Wai-kwong, Fujimi Nadeki
