Crystal Hunt (1991)

Crystal Hunt (1991)
Chinese Title: 怒火威龍
Translation: Rage Dragon

Starring: Donnie Yen, Sibelle Hu, Fujimi Nadeki, Carrie Ng, Michael Woods, John Salvitti, Ken Low, Leung Kar-Yan, Tyrone Hsu Hsia, Gordon Liu (cameo)
Director: Tyrone Hsu Hsia
Action directors: Tsui Fat, Tony Tam, Lung Sang


Ah yes...Donnie Yen. He is my all-time favorite martial arts performer. I love this guy. He's been a part of some of the greatest films the genre has to offer. In the 1980s, when Hong Kong was producing some of the greatest modern-day action films ever (i.e. Police Story, Righting Wrongs, Dragons Forever, Eastern Condors, etc.), Donnie (working with legendary Yuen Woo-Ping) gave two genre favorites: In the Line of the Duty IV and Tiger Cage 2. The latter is a fan favorite and the former is a personal favorite and has my vote as Cynthia Khan's best film.

In the 1990s, when Once Upon a Time in China and Swordsman popularized the wire-fu and wuxia films, Donnie participated in some of the most celebrated films of that decade. In 1992, Donnie had memorable roles as the villain in New Dragon Inn and Once Upon a Time in China 2 and even was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for the latter. In 1993, Donnie and his fast kicking tore up the screen for the fan-favorite Iron Monkey, another favorite of mine (personally, I think Yuen Woo-Ping got cheated out of the Best Action Design award that year).

In the latter half of the 1990s, Donnie Yen began to flex his creative muscles and began to direct and star in some independent projects, including Legend of the Wolf and Ballistic Kiss. While these films have recieved some degree of critical acclaim and have a small cult following, they didn't bring in the bucks the way Jackie Chan movies were always capable of doing. Today, however, things are looking up for Donnie as he recently choreographed the sequel of Wesley Snipe's successful Blade film. In 2002, Donnie took on Jet Li a second time in a highly-acclaimed fight in the highly-acclaimed . Last year, Donnie Yen won much praise for his action directing skills in Twins Effect, a vampire film that was the most successful film of 2003 in Hong Kong. Early this year, he directed and choreographed Protegé de la Rose Noire, an action comedy that also was financially successful. It seems that Donnie Yen is finally getting the mainstream respect he deserves.

I'm really glad to see this, since I'm such a fan of the guy. Setting aside any possible Bruce Lee argument, I'm going to go out on a limb and say he's the most talented martial artist of the era. His mother was a well-known Tai Chi stylist and he is especially well-known for having studied at the Beijing Wushu Academy (where contemporary Jet Li studied as well). Donnie, in addition to wushu and tai chi, can perform wing chun and tae kwon do, and has created his own signature fighting style from his knowledge of multiple styles. He's really well-known for being a great kicker and is up there with the likes of Hwang Jang Lee and Ken Lo. His specialties are the jumping spinning-back kick, the jumping splits/front kick combo, and the jumping double-side kick (among others). Most of his movies, with few exceptions (New Dragon Inn), features at least one of these kicks.

Unfortunately, to get to where he is right now hasn't been an easy task for Donnie. Like a lot of famous performers, he's had to play in some pretty low-budget features. In the early 90s, Donnie was cast in some low-budget exploitation films, such as the film being currently reviewed and The Holy Virgin vs. The Evil Dead. Donnie Yen admitted in an interview that he hated these films and made them so he could pay the bills. While it's easy to see why he dislikes these films, I'm going to stand up and defend at least this movie, since I find it quite enjoyable.

The story is kind of complicated, because there are so many characters involved in it. Well, actually, the story really isn't that important to the film, but trying to describe what happens isn't easy. Let me see if I can do it anyways.

The movie opens in Bangkok with a trio of cops (including Gordon Liu) trying to bust some drug dealers but end up getting killed in a resulting gun battle. We find out that Trina (Sibelle Hu) was in charge of the investigation and the drug dealers will eventually figure back into the story.

So there's this rich crime lord who's now poisoned because of black magic and is lying on his deathbed. His daughter Kitty (Carrie Ng) and her boyfriend Gordon (Ken Low) want to cure him so they send for Dr. Lau, an archaeologist. Dr. Lau tells them a golden crystal that can cure him and agrees to go on an expedition with his assistant Peter (Leung Kar-Yan) to find the crystal.

So how does Donnie figure into all this? Well, he plays Brett, an ex-cop who used to work with Trina but now works as a tour guide (in rediculous red and white striped overalls). He gave up being a cop in order to please his girlfriend Whinnie (Fujimi Nadeki), who happens to be Dr. Lau's daughter.

Well, on the eve of the expedition, Peter has to resolve some business with Steven (John Salvitti), the leader of the aforementioned drug dealers. I may note here that it's pretty funny that this notorious drug dealer is always referred to as simply "Steven" (that and for being rich, he wears hideously ugly suits). Well, business doesn't go as planned and Peter is killed (but not before getting to beat up some of Steven's lackeys and Steve kidnaps Dr. Lau. When Dr. Lau turns up missing, Brett and Whinnie team up with Trina to find out what's going on.

When Kitty and Gordon learn of the professor's disappearance, they send for Whinnie who's unable to tell them what's going on. There's also a scene during the time that Gordon walks into an office and beats up everyone in there, telling the lead guy that he has two days. It's never explained what he has two days to do, but it does allow us to see what Ken Lo is capable of doing.

Anyways, Trina and Brett are out one day and find one of her informants on the street. They chase him down and beat him up, forcing him to tell them about Dr. Lau. They find out that he'd been kidnapped by Steven. The informant meets a violent end by one of Steven's killers (Michael Woods) who then (unsuccessfully) tries to kill Trina.

Brett and Whinnie raid Steven's hideout where they get to beat up the lackeys. Brett and Steven get into it but they're interrupted by a gunfight that breaks out between Kitty, Gordon, and Steven's men. Brett and Whinnie and rescued by Trina and manage to escape.

After the gunfight, Brett, Whinnie, Trina, Gordon, and his men set out to climb the Sacred Mountain to find the golden crystal and Dr. Lau. However, they are met Steven and his men and a huge climax erupts involving guns, exploding airplanes, falling rocks, a chain, and lots of bone-crushing martial arts.

Well, that's the plot in a nutshell. It's your typical exploitation film. There's lot of violence and martial arts, although thankfully no nudity and sex. The storyline exists as solely a reason for the mayhem and doesn't make a lot of sense. I guess it's all coincidental, but I can't say I really care. There are some interesting questions that I'd like to bring up:

1. Did you notice that Dr. Lau was sent to the Sacred Mountain still wearing a suit and tie?

2. What was the significance of that fight scene involving Ken Low and the guys in the office?

3. How can a drug dealer wear such ugly suits? And why is simply known as Steve? Is it because there are so few Steves in Thailand that it makes it that much easier?

4. Did you notice that EVERYONE in the movie knows martial arts (not that this is a bad thing)?

5. Don't Steve's Thai girlfriends have anything else in their wardrobes besides pink sports bras and short jean shorts?

6. How did that shotgun fire only one projectile?

Now don't take these as necessarily criticisms. They kinda add to the whole fun of the film. I wouldn't take this movie seriously. I mean, maybe you can look at it as a low-budget Jackie Chan movie, just with more violence. I mean, both this movie and a lot of Jackie Chan movies have martial arts, flimsy plots, and outtakes at the end...maybe I'm just generalizing too much.

Director Tsui Fat takes the action scenes into his own hands in this one. Seeing that three of the cast members (Donnie Yen, Michael Woods, and John Salvitti) had worked together in In the Line of Duty 4 and the first two Tiger Cage films, you'd have a pretty good idea what to expect. While lacking the polish of the Yuen Bros, Tsui still manages to show off everone's talents pretty well in this one. There is some speeding up in fight scenes, but it didn't annoy me. There are also some funny shots where a guy will do a double or triple jump kick and through some "creative" editing and sound FX work, it looks like he's hitting the person 6 or 7 times in one move.

Donnie Yen looks great as usual and in addition to some great kicking (look for a nice triple bicycle kick), gets to do some tai chi and escrima. Michael Woods, a big muscular black guy that looks like a pro-wrestler, once again impresses with some nice agile moves. His final fight with Donnie and Fujimi is reminiscent of his role in ITLOD4, as he takes some punishment and then switches into invincible mode. John Salvitti gives arguably is best physical performance in this one, but that's in part because he gets for fight time then he did in his other Donnie Yen collaborations. While his role isn't as memorable as the "spaz-fu" fighter in ITLOD4 or the swordfighter in Tiger Cage 2, he still is very impressive in this one.

Everyone else fares pretty well. With the exception of Ken Low and Leung Kar-Yan, I'm not sure who else in the cast are official martial artists. Sibelle Hu, who's done a lot of girls n' guns flicks, gets a couple of decent fights. Fujimi Nadeki and Carrie Ng also get in some good moves. So if you like fighting women, this movie has three. Sure, they're no Cynthia, Michelle, or Yukari, but that's alright. Sibelle, Fujimi, and Carrie on speed isn't a whole lot different then Cameron, Lucy, and Drew on wires. Heck, it's probably even better.

A year after this movie came out, the same cast and crew got together again for Cheetah on Fire, another exploitation film set in Thailand (at least the last third). That one is more of a let-down. There's a lot of action, but the only really good stuff comes in the end. There are two fights between Donnie Yen and Ken Lo, two superkickers of the genre. Unfortunately, they are filmed in the dark and are barely visible. Donnie does get to destroy Gordon Liu in a short duel. And for those of you who thought that Carrie Ng really got it dirty in Crystal Hunt, she gets revenge against John Salvitti in this one and after taking him on hand-to-hand, strangles him with barb wire. Nonetheless, the film isn't that good and is really a waste of talent so I won't recommend it.

This movie, on the other hand, is an example of how entertaining a b-movie can be, even if it is sort of inept. I mean, it gives us what we want: Donnie Yen, good martial arts and women who can kick butt. Sometimes, that's all I need. Oh, that and it has some funny dubbed dialogue, but that's another story in itself.