Reviewed by: Beat TG Date: 04/02/2025 Summary: Underrated Action Potboiler I don't think I've seen many movie reviews that brings up any positives when it comes to CRYSTAL HUNT. The focus is mainly on the negatives, and given the material it's understandable. It's basically a story that takes cues from generic Hong Kong cop movies plus any movie that involves treasure-hunting and magical/supernatural elements. The premise sounds silly, and may potentially look like that too. That being said, I'm gonna have to go up against the naysayers, and say that the movie delivers with sheer entertainment despite its' out-of-this-world plot. There's a reason why there are movies beyond others that are expensive and has the productions values as well as resources to look great. Making a lot of money for cheap budgets has its' advantages, which has been proven many times. This movie was made for that same reason, and in the long run it has actually succeeded and even garnered a cult following due to the main selling drive: The action scenes. What would a low-budget action movie be without the likes of Donnie Yen, Ken Lo, Fujimi Nadeki, John Salvitti, and Michael Woods? The movie would've been very different but the point I'm making is that all these action performers will give you more than enough of their talents to elevate let a movie of this caliber rather than waste the time and effort. Donnie, in particular, stands out being the lead action performer who gets to have numerous well-choreographed fight scenes; The best ones that includes John Salvitti and Michael Woods -- both of whom have given Donnie Yen some of his absolute best fight scenes in his career. CRYSTAL HUNT falls into the same category as Donnie Yen's other movies such as THE HOLY VIRGIN VERSUS THE EVIL DEAD, CHEETAH ON FIRE, CIRCUS KIDS, HIGH VOLTAGE, IRON MONKEY 2, and SHANGHAI AFFAIRS in that they all were produced cheap, but more or less still made money. Plus they provide the action filmmaking that would be a treat for those wanting their action movie fixes. Reviewer Score: 7

Reviewed by: mrblue Date: 09/19/2003 A professor is kidnapped by a crime lord's daughter (Ng, looking pretty damn sexy) and her bodyguard (Lo, looking pretty damn silly sporting a flat-top buzzcut, clip-on earring and cheap orange sunglasses) to find the "golden crystal," which Ng hopes will cure her father's mysterious disease. The professor's daughter enlists the aid of her ex-boyfriend (Yen) and a policewoman (Hu) to help her find the crystal first. This movie is so bad I don't really know when to begin. Its' main problem is the pacing. Crystal Hunt is so boring that even the fights (which, admittedly, there are a lot of) can't save it from being a clunker. It doesn't help that the fights aren't really all that great to begin with -- one "chase" has Hu going after a bad guy trying to get away on a ice cream pushcart. When the action finally gets good during the last half-hour, it's a matter of "too little, too late."

Reviewed by: Sydneyguy Date: 02/27/2003 Summary: Agree with reviewer below me The reviewer below me is absolutely right. A good cast seems wasted on a week script. The action was average and their were a few laughs but that can't save the movie. It looked like everyone did a lot of work for this movie but too bad it didn't pay off though And doesn't Sibelle Hu look like Bridgette Lin? 5/10

Reviewed by: RLM Date: 05/18/2002 Summary: Acttion Film For an action film with lots of great names, I was disappointed in the acting, martial arts, and story. Carrie Ng (Lisa) teams up with Sibelle Hu (Special Police Squad's Madam Wu) and Donnie Yen (Leung) to hunt down a mysterious powerful crystal. Lau gets kidnapped along the way by a vious gang and the good-guys vow to find the crystal and bring the villians to task. To be fare, this is a non-stop action movie with lots of fighting - and well - action and some scifi! The actors do seem to be working hard to make the film work. An HK Indiana Jones without anything that makes that kind of action film worth seeing. The tempo of the film didn't suit me and I didn't get sufficiently interested to care what happened. 3/10

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