Los Angeles. Chandler Jarrell is a detective specialized in finding missing children. He gets a new assignment from a woman, a certain Kee Nang, who insists he is the "chosen one" and must save the golden child from the evil forces or else the world will be doomed. Reluctantly, Jarrell flies with Nang to Tibet to go through a dangerous ceremony and obtain a magic dagger. Back in the US, the dagger is stolen by Numspa, who wants to use it to kill the golden child whom he holds in captivity. Jarrell manages to free the golden child and defeat Numspa, who transformed into a winged demon.
It is unknown how much of Dennis Feldman's original script, "The Rose of Tibet", was changed when director Michael Ritchie took over and transformed it into a comedy, yet it certainly seems that such an approach drowned a large part of its poetry. Finally titled as "The Golden Child", the ultimate film pleased very few, since it is a patchwork of several strange, exotic and often incompatible directions and styles that clash with each other. It starts off too seriously, with a mysterious kidnapping of the golden child in the mountains by unknown villains, but then improves a bit by switching to the L.A. comedy segment. Sadly, overall very little jokes truly ignite. The most was achieved out of comedian Eddie Murphy, who manages to salvage some of the scenes thanks to his improvisational dialogues, though even he cannot correct all the bizarre, confusing elements in the film alone—one of the best ones is when he is sitting in the car with Nang (very good Charlotte Lewis), suddenly places the palms of his hands over his face and then says: "The spirits just told me that you should come up for a little while, have a drink, and wait for further instructions", but she just rebukes his flirting. Another has him passing through a corridor in the Tibet temple, spoofing the words of the wise man: "Only a man whose heart is pure can wield the knife, and only a man whose ass is narrow can get down these steps. And if mine's is such an ass, then I shall have it!"
There are a few good moments here—the one-minute scene where the walls collapse behind villain Numspa, and he is transported into the demon underworld, while the camera slowly zooms out, all in one take, is almost brilliant—but the finale is one of the most terrible examples of confused crafting of the 80s. For instance, Numspa is about to aim with his crossbow at Jarrell, and Nang does a long saldo to go all the way to Jarrell and save him by taking the arrow herself. Why didn't she simply run towards him? It would certainly be faster than doing a slow saldo all the way up to him. Why didn't she simply push Numspa away since she passed him? Why didn't Jarrell go after Numspa after that, since the villain just simply slowly walked away after that? And why didn't Numspa fire another round to hit Jarrell this time? The same goes for the finale: Numspa transforms into a winged demon and chases after Jarrell and the child in the car, until he stops their vehicle by crashing an utility pole and blocking the road. Jarrell and the child run by foot into a deserted tower of some sorts, battle the demon there—and then just return to the car, drive around the pole and continue!? Why didn't they drive around the pole in the first place? Even more preposterous, the mysterious woman hiding behind the silhouette is in the end revealed to be a woman with a torso of a giant snake (?!)—this not only comes out of nowhere, it is never mentioned again, and makes no sense, since it is utter trash. It is not a good sign when a movie has such an elision of common sense, which contaminates the entire storyline.
Grade;+
It is unknown how much of Dennis Feldman's original script, "The Rose of Tibet", was changed when director Michael Ritchie took over and transformed it into a comedy, yet it certainly seems that such an approach drowned a large part of its poetry. Finally titled as "The Golden Child", the ultimate film pleased very few, since it is a patchwork of several strange, exotic and often incompatible directions and styles that clash with each other. It starts off too seriously, with a mysterious kidnapping of the golden child in the mountains by unknown villains, but then improves a bit by switching to the L.A. comedy segment. Sadly, overall very little jokes truly ignite. The most was achieved out of comedian Eddie Murphy, who manages to salvage some of the scenes thanks to his improvisational dialogues, though even he cannot correct all the bizarre, confusing elements in the film alone—one of the best ones is when he is sitting in the car with Nang (very good Charlotte Lewis), suddenly places the palms of his hands over his face and then says: "The spirits just told me that you should come up for a little while, have a drink, and wait for further instructions", but she just rebukes his flirting. Another has him passing through a corridor in the Tibet temple, spoofing the words of the wise man: "Only a man whose heart is pure can wield the knife, and only a man whose ass is narrow can get down these steps. And if mine's is such an ass, then I shall have it!"
There are a few good moments here—the one-minute scene where the walls collapse behind villain Numspa, and he is transported into the demon underworld, while the camera slowly zooms out, all in one take, is almost brilliant—but the finale is one of the most terrible examples of confused crafting of the 80s. For instance, Numspa is about to aim with his crossbow at Jarrell, and Nang does a long saldo to go all the way to Jarrell and save him by taking the arrow herself. Why didn't she simply run towards him? It would certainly be faster than doing a slow saldo all the way up to him. Why didn't she simply push Numspa away since she passed him? Why didn't Jarrell go after Numspa after that, since the villain just simply slowly walked away after that? And why didn't Numspa fire another round to hit Jarrell this time? The same goes for the finale: Numspa transforms into a winged demon and chases after Jarrell and the child in the car, until he stops their vehicle by crashing an utility pole and blocking the road. Jarrell and the child run by foot into a deserted tower of some sorts, battle the demon there—and then just return to the car, drive around the pole and continue!? Why didn't they drive around the pole in the first place? Even more preposterous, the mysterious woman hiding behind the silhouette is in the end revealed to be a woman with a torso of a giant snake (?!)—this not only comes out of nowhere, it is never mentioned again, and makes no sense, since it is utter trash. It is not a good sign when a movie has such an elision of common sense, which contaminates the entire storyline.
Grade;+
1 comment:
Si, la scena finale di scendi dall' auto, riprendi l' auto mi straniva un pò fin da piccolo.
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