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.

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.

This is a fantasy comedy film from Wong Jing, where cop Andy Lo (Andy Lau) along with friend Pancho (Wong Jing) and nephew Pin-Pin (Bin Bin) travel to Greece to find his long lost friend Shen (Phillip Ko). He is being chased by the KGB and Interpol after discovering a rare, supernatural gem.

There are plenty of martial arts action in the film, courtesy of Andy Lau, Cynthia Rothrock and Edward Norton. The action really doesn't slow down, especially toward the second half of the movie, which made it look overkill at some point. While the movie starts off a little slow, it picks up steam when our lead characters are in Greece and a high-profile chase between the KGB and Shen take place, with Andy and company and the Interpol agents caught in the middle.

Actor Chan Pak-Cheung has a supporting role in the film and delivered some laugh-out-loud comic relief, especially during the scenes where he comes under the spell of the supernatural gem. The "friendship" between the gem and the kid character was pretty heartfelt.

Actress Sharla Cheung also has a supporting role but, along with Chan Pak-Cheung, wasn't utilized enough. I would rather have them serve as the leads over the attention-freak and cocky Andy Lau.

There are some plot holes here and there, but overall, it's a fast-paced movie that is delightfully cheesy and pretty entertaining.

Grade B-