Way back in 1986 when this Michael Ritchie (Fletch, The Island) directed film came out Eddie Murphy was one of the biggest stars in both the film and comedy worlds. Unfortunately what often occurs in these cases is that the star works too much and does not seem very choosy about what they do. So Murphy was in a string of rather poor films. This is one of them. Despite his magnetism and charisma. Plus talent, of course.
Murphy has found a kind of groove in the action-comedy genre, so forged ahead blindly in it. As a result we got several films of the quality of The Golden Child.
Now, you might think there is too much harshness being brought forth here. So I will give you some of the good points of the film. It is the first time on blu-ray for it and it is a newly remastered version from a 4k film transfer. The result is the film has never really looked better than it does here. Another plus is the acting of Charles Dance. He is definitely chewing scenery here, but his over the top rendering of the bad guy makes his rather not very frightening character still an interesting watch.
The paper thin story features Murphy’s character, a private detective who specializes in finding missing kids, aided by Kee Nang (played by Charlotte Lewis) in his quest to find The Golden Child, a young boy with great powers, who is being held prisoner by the evil cult leader Sardo Numspa (played by Charles Dance). Fights with henchmen and attempted humour/one liners by Eddie Murphy fills up the rest of the time.
For some out there this film will bring with it plenty of nostalgia of the 80s. If you saw it then and are thinking of rewatching it for the first time since – don’t! Much of the humour has not aged well. Plus, compared to what we are used to today, the action sequences seem rather amateurish.
Meant to be more of a family film. Well, as much of family film Murphy could be in. While most of his others were rated R this one is PG-13. So many members of the family can watch together.
Special Features:
-Digital Copy
-Theatrical Trailer
-The Making of The Golden Child
-The Chosen Ones
-Daggers, Design and Demons
