BY TIM MCGLYNN
The
Paramount Presents Series recently released The Golden Child on Blu-ray and it
is a beautiful disc to behold even though the movie has a few flaws.
It’s
1986 and Eddie Murphy is riding high on the success of Beverly Hills Cop, 48
Hours and Trading Places and it is time to create another blockbuster for this talented
star. What do you do? Well, let’s keep the same formula and feature
Murphy as a hip, wisecracking hero who this time finds lost children. Then, throw in a bit of martial arts in the
style of John Carpenter’s Big Trouble in Little China and add some Asian
mysticism that reminds viewers of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Make sure your lead character displays an
anti-authority attitude and even include a humorous scene where he pretends to
be a government official flashing a phony badge. Mix it all together and you have 1986’s The
Golden Child directed by Michael Ritchie.
Hollywood
loves to rehash successful formulas in the hopes that audiences will enjoy
seeing the same thing over and over. The
Golden Child doesn’t quite make it, however, although the talent is there both
in front of and behind the camera. The
magnificent Charles Dance is evil Sardo Numpsa who kidnaps a young Buddhist
mystic from Nepal known simply as the Golden Child. He also just happens to be the savior of mankind.
Sardo wants to channel the special
powers the child possesses to advance the Dark Forces and their desire to
control of the Earth.
Beautiful
Kee Nang(Charlotte Lewis) sees Chandler Jarrell (Murphy) interviewed on a public
access television show as a finder of lost children. Charles Levin is hilarious as the 3rd
rate TV host in this scene and is reminiscent of John Candy in Little Shop of
Horrors. Kee identifies Jarrell as the
Chosen One, the only person who can rescue the Golden Child from the clutches
of the evil Sardo. Jarrell initially
doubts his choice as the Chosen One, but joins Kee on this mission as he is
intrigued by her martial arts skills and attracted to her stunning beauty. Along the way we meet a bumbling high priest
played by Victor Wong who helps the pair in their mission, although he doubts
they will succeed.
Randall
“Tex†Cobb plays a dim but kind-hearted henchman named Til who serves as captor
for the Golden Child. Til is easily
distracted when his prisoner performs feats of magic in an effort to charm the
big oaf. One of these tricks is the
bringing to life a discarded Pepsi can in what has to be one the longest, most
blatant product placements I’ve ever seen. Cobb was an odd casting choice as an Asian giant, but this was the 80s
and Hollywood hadn’t become enlightened as of yet.
Kee
and Jarrell do finally rescue the child, but in the process must confront Sardo
and all the forces of the Dark World. The Golden Child has the ability to restore life to one who has died,
but only as long as the victim is still touched by sunlight. This power becomes necessary during the final
battle with Sardo and his minions.
The
special effects are outstanding as they are practical and predate the CGI
madness of recent films. ILM not only
created the Dark World and all the evil creatures doing battle with our heroes,
the company served as a producing partner for the film.
The
film is bright, colorful and loud which was typical of adventure movies from
the 80s. Alan Silvestri and then John
Barry were the first two choices as composer but were then replaced by Michael
Colombier in an effort to produce a more pop- sounding score. This works well in the Los Angeles settings
but seems a bit out of place when the action switches to Nepal. This is a bit disappointing as I am a big fan
of the Andrew Powell rock score for Ladyhawke that was produced by Alan
Parsons.
It
appears that Paramount hedged their bets when test audiences didn’t buy Jarrell
as an adventure hero. Murphy was brought
back for re-shoots and allowed to improvise some of his dialogue with humor in
the style of Alex Foley from Beverly Hills Cop. Being a PG-13 movie, however, there is a lack of the expected
profanity. This did not hinder Murphy
from dressing down an uptight businessman perusing a porn magazine in one of
the funniest scenes. The problem occurs
when the finished film doesn’t know which route to take. Not enough humor and a compromised adventure
story make this movie kind of a mess. As
Archie Bunker once said on All in the Family, ‘Too much of both and not enough
of neither.â€
Michael
Ritchie created a handsome film with first-rate cinematography and special
effects. It might have been interesting
to see how John Carpenter would have treated this story, as he was the original
choice for director. Carpenter went on
to helm Big Trouble in Little China instead.
As
for the Blu-ray itself, this is one of the first offerings from the Paramount
Presents series and it is magnificent. The digital transfer is outstanding with sharp contrast, dense colors
and a wonderful 5.1 mix that is a bit heavy on the bass. If this is the quality continues, we’re in
for a treat. Extras on the disc include
The Making of The Golden Child in HD, The Chosen Ones, Daggers, Design and
Demons as well as a theatrical trailer. I personally enjoy the short features on the technical aspects of
adventure movies especially when practical effects are used. A commentary track would have been a nice
addition, but director Ritchie is sadly no longer with us and Eddie Murphy has
all but disowned this movie.
The
Golden Child as a whole does have some problems, but individual scenes of
action and humor are outstanding. As a
gorgeous looking film presented in 1.85, my preferred aspect ratio, it is a
great title to show off your video and audio components.
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