“Crystal Hunt” American DVD Cover
Director: Hsu Hsia
Producer: Chui Fat
Cast: Donnie Yen Chi Tan, Carrie Ng Kar Lai, Ken Lo Hui Kwong, Sibelle Hu Hui Zhong, Fujimi Nadeki, John Salvitti, Tin Ching, William Ho Ka Kui, Hsu Hsia, Chu Tiet Wo, Chui Fat, Leung Kar Yan, Gordon Liu Chia Hui
Running Time: 90 min.
By Tyler
After some great work with Yuen Woo Ping in films like Tiger Cage and Iron Monkey, there was a period in which Donnie Yen ventured into the super low-budget films before going into TV. During this period he made Holy Virgin vs. Evil Dead, a campy category III film, and Cheetah on Fire, a sister film of Crystal Hunt (they both contain a similar cast).
Crystal Hunt is the superior of the three, but that isn’t saying much. Crystal Hunt was a troubled project. The editing, storyline and the continuity is very bad. Also, a stuntman was severely injured during a bike stunt (during the credits they do a Jackie Chan-style bloopers thing). All these problems do not distract from the grueling fight scenes, and some pretty funny comedy. The fight scenes are choreographed great, and you can see that Donnie used a lot of Escrimina and Wushu is the film.
The plot is incredibly horrible and has an equally horrible subplot (Carrie Ng and Ken Lo looking for the crystal to cure her father’s illness). The opening scene has nothing to do with the overall film (look for a cameo by Gordon Liu), just fast foward to the fight scenes.
GAME OVER!
Tyler’s Rating: 7/10
