The Golden Child

The Golden Child

1986

Director- Michael Ritchie

Cast- Eddie Murphy, Charles Dance, Charlotte Lewis,  Victor Wong, James Hong

           

A horror-comedy-fantasy? That’s the combination that The Golden Child attempts. In truth it doesn’t succeed as either horror or comedy but as a fantasy it is enjoyable. The movie is similar in tone and subject to Big Trouble in Little China; it even stars a lot of the same cast. Both throw a Westerner into the middle of Eastern mysticism. It doesn’t soar to the level of the Big Trouble, which is a classic, but it has a lot of good moments.

            The titular Golden Child is a Dalai Lama-esque child living in a Tibetan monastery and exists as a power for good in the universe. He is kidnapped by an evil cult led by Sardo Numspa (played by Charles Dance 20 years before Game of Thrones).  Eddie Murphy plays a detective who finds lost children. He is hired to find the child before the cult can sacrifice him to the Satanic power that they worship.

            The movie’s timing seems to be off. I don’t know if it’s an editing issue or something else but as a result the funny parts aren’t that funny and the action sequences or not very suspenseful. However, Eddie Murphy makes up for it. This was made at the height of his career and his charisma carries a lot of the scenes.

            Charles Dance is a great villain (as fans of Game of Thrones would attest).  At first he appears to be some higher level sorcerer but is later revealed to be much more when he transforms into  Harryhausen-esque winged demon (that actually looks pretty good).

            Charlotte Lewis is beautiful in this film (one of her first). She is so exotic it’s hard to take your eyes off of her.  Of course, James Hong and Victor Wong turn in solid supporting performances as always. Of special note is the cast of evil minions who have a variety of strange faces and gimmicks. They really add to the flavor of the film.

            Nerds will be glad to note that Frank Welker (the voice of Megatron!) makes an appearance as the voice of what must be the Devil when Charles Dance astrally projects into what we assume is Hell.