The Magic Crystal is a 1986 action movie directed by Hong Kong schlockmeister Wong Jing, based on E.T. and the Indiana Jones movies, starring Andy Lau, Cynthia Rothrock, Max Mok and Richard Norton.
Andy Lau plays Andy Lo "The Eagle", a mercenary and secret agent who got his hands on a piece of Venusian crystal. Said crystal somehow ends up in the possession of Andy's nephew, Bin-bin, and turns out to be a sentient chunk of rock with psychic abilities, telepathy, and mind-manipulation powers. In a sub-plot shamelessly lifted from E.T., Bin-bin decides to help said Venusian crystal return to its home, which can only be accessed through an ancient spaceship located in some Greek ruins, but their mission is made complicated when ruthless KGB operative Karov (Norton) abducts Bin-bin with the crystal, intending to use the crystal's powers for himself. It's up to Andy and his partners, Interpol agent Cindy (Rothrock) and Max (Max Mok) to retrieve the crystal at all costs.
For a kid's movie, there are plenty of fight scenes, stabbings, Family-Unfriendly Violence, assassinations performed via ice bullets, and loads and loads of action... not that it's a bad thing. It overlaps somewhere between catering to an indecisive demographic and just simply enjoyable enough to be so-bad-it's-good. But whatever it strives for, the movie certainly entertains.
The Magic Crystal is telepathically creating this trope list to be ingrained into your minds...
- Abnormal Ammo: The scene where the Interpol had to break Andy Lo out of prison involves shooting Lo in the head with ''ice'' bullets.
- Action Girl: Cindy Morgan, the ass-kicking Interpol Agent portrayed by Cynthia Rothrock, as well as Bin-bin's Action Mom Mei-mei.
- Ancient Astronauts: The Greek ruins where the crystal is discovered turns out to be a portal which allows it to teleport back to its home planet, built by some ancient alien race (possibly affiliated with said crystal) several millennia ago.
- Animate Inanimate Object: The titular crystal, which can communicate with Bin-bin and other human characters via Telepathy.
- Badass Crew: One slapped together in the last moment, after Bin-bin gets kidnapped together with the crystal by Karov and his mooks. Consisting of Red Baron Andy, Action Girl Cindy, Action Mom Mei-mei, Cindy's Hypercompetent Sidekick Max... and Fat Comic Relief Snooker.
- Beard of Evil: Karov the Big Bad has an impressive one that covers his chin, sideburns and connects to his bushy moustache.
- A Boy and His X: A Boy and his Sentient, Talking Venusian Crystal with Psychic Powers.
- Boyish Short Hair: On both Cindy and Mei-mei.
- Chase Fight: A rather lengthy and exciting one happens in the streets of Greece, between Andy and Cindy, being pursued by mooks.
- Cool Uncle: Andy Lo to Bin-bin. Since he's played by the awesome Andy Lau, that's a given, but how many kids have uncles who turns out to be government agents and killing machines, who can bring their nephews to Greece for a vacation?
- Covers Always Lie: See the above poster? The titular crystal in the movie is green, instead of blue.
- Destination Defenestration: Inverted with Andy's first action scene, when he crashes into the meeting of a mob boss by throwing himself through a window and knocking out a surprised mook.
- Dirty Communists: Karov, the Big Bad of the movie, turns out to be a KGB agent seeking the power of the titular crystal for his own purposes.
- Disappears into Light: The titular crystal vanishes after teleporting itself back to its home planet on Venus. And since Karov happens to be holding said crystal, he vanished in the same way as well, although whether he died outright or ends up suffering a Fate Worse than Death isn't made clear.
- Emerald Power: The titular crystal glows a greenish-blue tint when it communicates with humans.
- Feet-First Introduction: Used in the scene when Karov shows up near some Greek ruins. His boot filling up half the screen as the camera pans on what appears to be the Parthenon is the first thing the audience sees.
- Forklift Fu: During the warehouse fight, two mooks tries to attack the Badass Crew with forklifts. Max managed to take them out by shooting the drivers with a concealed pistol.
- Friend to All Children: As badass as Andy Lo is, he's still very good with the kids, easily hanging out with Bin-bin and his schoolmates and bonding with the kid characters with ease.
- Guns Do Not Work That Way: Bullets, Do NOT work that way. Somehow Andy Lo can survive getting shot by an ice bullet because it melts harmlessly into water, without leaving a scratch on Andy Lo. Never mind the fact that the bullet goes straight through his brain...
- Harpoon Gun: The preferred weapon of Karov, he notably uses it to kill a Greek fisherman and hijack his boat.
- Karmic Death: Karov repeatedly antagonizes the main characters for the crystal, trying to harness the crystal's powers for his own gains. His eventual fate has him finally grabbing hold of the crystal, just as it's teleporting itself back to Venus, taking Karov together with it.
- Mama Bear: Mei-mei, the Action Mom of Bin-bin, who partakes in the rescue mission when Bin-bin gets abducted by Karov and his minions.
- Master of Illusion: One of the powers of the crystal, which can manipulate the mind waves of people within its vincinity and can make them hallucinate visions. Like the voyeur spying on an undressing Winnie seeing her peel her face off.
- Mineral MacGuffin: The magic crystal itself. It's a sentient chunk of Venusian crystal with psychic powers.
- Nerd Glasses: Bin-bin, the class nerd and protagonist who befriends the titular crystal, as well as Snooker, the bumbling Manchild assistant of Andy.
- Plucky Comic Relief: Snooker, the Fat Comic Relief sidekick of Andy, who provides most of the laughs in the movie.
- Case in point: When a bunch of mooks infiltrates Bin-bin's house where Andy and Snooker are staying in, Snooker happens to be coming out of the toilet holding a toilet plunger before bumping into a mercenary. Said mercenary intimidates Snooker by licking his knife; Snooker responds by licking the plunger.
- Power Crystal: The titular crystal, who turns out to be an intelligent, ET-like being from Venus who wants to return home.
- Prison Riot: A short one happens during the scene to break Andy Lo out of the prison he's held. It's during the confusion of this scene where he gets shot by an ice bullet.
- Railing Kill: During an infiltration scene, Andy Lo flips a mook off a balcony to a hundred-meter drop.
- Red Baron: Lo's codename is Eagle Hunter No. 1.
- Retractable Weapon: Cindy's preferred weapon, which is a metal spear which she can fold into three and carry in a leather case, and unfold into a complete weapon whenever she gets into fights.
- Satellite Character: Ultimately, Max, the sidekick of Cindy, is this, since all his scenes are him tagging along behind Cindy, occasionally helping her to fight mooks, and he doesn't get as much development as the other characters (despite being played by Hong Kong celebrity Max Mok).
- Shout-Out: During the scene when Snooker touches the crystal and feels its energy filling his body, he actually shouts, "I HAVE THE POWER!"
- Silicon-Based Life: The Venusian crystal itself is a living being, despite being a glowing chunk of rock.
- Surprisingly Happy Ending: The crystal disappears, to the anguish of Bin-bin... Shortly after, a "baby jade" appears, to Bin-bin's joy, ending the movie.
- 'Tis Only a Bullet in the Brain: Spoofed. The bullet that lodges into Andy's brain is made of ice, which knocks him out harmlessly. He recovers as soon as the ice melts. What.
- Waif-Fu: Cindy and Mei-mei both does this in their fights.
- We Have to Get the Bullet Out!: A variant; Lo is able to survive an alleged assassination, because he gets shot in his head with... an ice bullet. He recovers and regains consciousness after the bullet melts.
- What the Fu Are You Doing?: During the warehouse fight Snooker tries using a pair of chucks on enemy mooks, but he spends most of the fight flailing the chucks around uselessly while making plenty of noises trying to intimidate mooks. He does accidentally knock out a mook sneaking up behind him using said chucks though.
- Whole-Plot Reference: To E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, but with the alien being changed to a sentiet piece of talking crystal. And with a bunch of fight scenes peppered throughout.
- Workout Fanservice: Andy Lo's first scene. Andy Lau in a sleeveless vest working out.
