Crystal Hunt
Review
Format: Dubbed VHS
Stars: Donnie Yen, Kenneth Lo, Carrie Ng, Sybelle Hu, Michael Woods

The plot: Carrie Ng's father is sick from a black magic curse and sends an archaeologist out to find a gold crystal to cure him, but gets killed doing so, and then Ken Lo's gang comes in to join Donnie and Sibelle Hu, who go to find the crystal, but have to fight against Woods' gang and they win, horay.

The plot sucked. Too bad I was plagued with the dubbed version, with bad sound fx and really bad acting jobs. The action was tainted with some undercranking and way too many cuts. Even though there were some good moves, usually I couldn't tell which way they were going or even who was doing what due to such fast editing.

Basically, since this was such an overly simple movie, I was extremely angry at the overall presentation. It was filmed in Thailand and I wonder if that had something to do with it. Donnie Yen had wires and a double at times. I didn't quite understand it. However, there were a few scenes that were fast, even though there was undercranking, and furious and I actually enjoyed them a lot. There is a really long fight at the end against the crazy American guy from In the Line of Duty 4, and he actually performs really well for being a gweilo. Michael Woods puts on a great show too. The guy can move surprisingly well for being of such large proportions, even though he's buff. I also liked Kenneth Lo's short performances. The guy just looks intimidating, and I thought that he was the only good actor in the whole movie too (facial expression wise) and I wasn't surprised at his quickness. Sibelle Hu can't fight though, or at least can't do stunts (was it Cynthia Khan? Really looked like her). Even when she rolled over a table there was a cut which made me think that there was a double. I think that had this movie not been undercranked, not been filmed in Thailand (or just with a better camera anyways) and not dubbed so badly, and also not had so many people who CAN'T do action, then I'd like it a little. Plus, they need a good story, and searching for a crystal doesn't do the job. Had it been a cop movie like I thought it was originally, I'd be happy, but no. And don't miss the 2 Thai juggies that walk around with Salvitti all the time who wear short blue jean shorts and a tight red tank top. One of them even fights, and it's one of those fights where the person has absolutely NO experience doing that stuff and just looks stupid. I wanted to throw up. The guy with the dreadlocks sucked too. I was happy when Donnie kicked him out of the picture. Bad movie and I suggest that you don't bother.

I give it a 3/10 just for the action, without that it would get a 0.

UPDATE 10/9 - Rating System Change

2/5 - This is for Donnie, Ken Lo, Woods, and Salvitti. Everyone else is horrible. Plus, there are lots of ugly people in this.

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