Film Review

Magic Crystal


Year: 1987?

Directed by: Jacques Risi and Richard Norton

Cynthia Rothrock: billed in the credits as "Cindy Rothrock (!?!), Senior Student of Chuck Norris & America's Only Female Karate Tournament Champion", CR stars as Cindy Morgan, an Interpol Agent.

Other Players: "Ivan the Russian" (Richard Norton in a thin disguise), Ricky Chan

Plot Synopsis: An archeologist in Greece discovers a crystal (looks more like a radioactive cowpie), which is really a 2000-year-old alien computer; unfortunately the KGB are after him, so he calls a friend (a P.I. in Hong Kong) for help. The P.I.'s nephew ends up with the crystal, and the two bond somehow, and thus the kid is propelled on a quest to return the crystal to its rightful place, with the KGB, Interpol, his uncle, and various others trying to keep up.

General Impressions: This isn't a very serious film, that much is obvious. This is a strange mix of E.T. and Raiders of the Lost Ark, with a lot of low-brow kung fu humour thrown in. The production values range from good to really, really poor (the Play-Doh alien is pretty lame). The fight scenes are entertaining, though. There's a lot a variety, many different weapons, and a few huge free-for-alls. CR is rather sparsely seen for most of the movie, but is suddenly ubiquitous in the final half hour. It was interesting to see her fighting against Richard Norton (as "Boris Karloff", KGB agent), her usual co-star and comrade-in-arms. From an acting perspective, although the film is dubbed into English, CR's voice isn't used, so we're back to simply appreciating her moves (and she's got some good ones to show us).

Watch It?: Yes, but be prepared to groan; this is pretty cheesy stuff.