Bullet Points: The Golden Child
The Golden Child was a movie, up until recently, I had never seen from start to finish. For whatever reason The Golden Child and I were never in the same place at the same time… sure I might catch a few minutes of it here or there on television over the years… but it took me 33 years to actually sit down and watch all 94 minutes of this Eddie Murphy film. Was it worth the wait?
- The Golden Child: Our story begins in a temple in Northeastern Tibet, where we get our first look at The Golden Child (J.L. Reate in HER one and only acting role… that’s right despite the character of The Golden Child being a young boy, the role was actually played by a young girl). The Golden Child has mystical powers as we see when he gives life to a dead bird. Prophecy states The Golden Child has the ability to save the world from evil… so of course that makes The Golden Child a target for evil doers, like the sorcerer known as Sardo Numpsa (Charles Dance, Game of Thrones). Sardo and his men kidnap The Golden Child and take him to Los Angeles… Why? Because the prophecy states The Golden Child would be taken to The City of Angels by a man who is no angel. You are right on the money so far prophecy!
- Public Access Television: Eddie Murphy plays Chandler Jarrell, a private investigator that specializes in finding missing children. Jarrell is making an appearance on a local talk show to get the word out about a missing girl named Cheryl Mosley… it isn’t the smoothest appearance in the history of television as Jarrell has to deal with a rude host and compete for time with an 80 year old tortoise, but his appearance does catch the eye of Kee Nang (Charlotte Lewis) who has been sent to Los Angeles from Tibet to find the man the prophecy referred to as “The Chosen One” …the man who can save The Golden Child and in turn save the world. After seeing Chandler Jarrell on TV, Kee Nang believes he is The Chosen One.
- A Whole New World: Kee Nang tracks down Chandler Jarrell to enlist his services in finding The Golden Child, stating she believes The Golden Child’s kidnapping was connected to Jarrell’s Cheryl Mosley case. I could not help but wonder if Kee Nang wasn’t hot if the movie would just end right here, but Kee Nang is hot so Jarrell at least humors her. Kee Nang takes Jarrell to see Dr. Hong (conveniently played by James Hong) and it is here that Chandler Jarrell is told he is The Chosen One and speaks to a 300 year old librarian who is half woman/half dragon. Jarrell is as skeptical as you might imagine, but when The Golden Child comes to him in a vision as the prophecy stated The Golden Child would, he starts to believe there may be something to all of this.
- Globe Trotting Adventure: With the premise now clearly established, the action picks up as Jarrell finds himself crashing the crib of the Yellow Dragon bikers, where we get a Gene LeBell sighting and some fisticuffs. This is also where Kee Nang proves she can more than handle herself in a fight… Jarrell finds out from one of the bikers that they were the ones who were hired to kidnap Cheryl Mosley and ordered to take her to gangster Tommy Tong’s night club… so it is off to Tommy’s that Jarrell and Kee Nang go… but before they can get any information out of Tommy, he is killed by the evil Sardo and we get our first of many Jarrell/Sardo face offs. Sardo tries to cut a deal with Jarrell, if he can retrieve the mystical Adyante Dagger, Sardo will trade The Golden Child for the dagger… Next thing you know Jarrell and Kee Nang are on a plane heading to Tibet, where Jarrell has to run a gauntlet of sorts to retrieve the dagger something only The Chosen One can do.
- Sardo the Welcher: Not surprisingly, Sardo tries to welch on his deal with Jarrell as he attempts to get the Adyante Dagger without making the exchange… because what Sardo didn’t tell Jarrell was that the Dagger is the one thing that can kill The Golden Child. But when that evil plan is foiled by the quick thinking of Jarrell, Sardo’s next move is to kill Kee Nang. And now the movie throws in a good old fashioned race against time, as Jarrell is told that Kee Nang can be brought back to life, IF he can rescue The Golden Child before sundown.
After finally watching The Golden Child, I understand the negative vibes that some fans have for the movie. Obviously this movie was a departure from Eddie Murphy’s previous films… the PG-13 rating alone meant we were getting a toned down Eddie Murphy. Plus there was the fantasy elements of The Golden Child, at this point we had seen Eddie Murphy in Beverly Hills Cop and 48 Hrs, two action comedies based in reality… so I could see how some fans felt Murphy was straying too far from what brought him to the dance.
But I can also see where some fans feel The Golden Child is underrated. Sure it isn’t Beverly Hills Cop, but it is also not The Adventures of Pluto Nash. The story itself is well executed and the heroes are easy to love and the villains are easy to hate.
It is also easy to love some Bonus Bullet Points…
- Familiar Faces: The Golden Child does have a similar vibe as another 1986 film, Big Trouble in Little China. The two films also share some cast members. There’s the aforementioned James Hong (who played David Lo Pan in Big Trouble in Little China). Plus, there’s Peter Kwong who played Tommy Tong in The Golden Child and Rain in Big Trouble in Little China. And last but not least there’s Victor Wong, who played Egg Shen in Big Trouble in Little China and The Old Man (aka Kee Nang’s father) in The Golden Child.
- If You Ever: …wanted to see a Pepsi can come to life and dance to Putting on the Ritz, then The Golden Child is the movie for you.
- Rumor Has It: The original idea for the film was for it be a straight action adventure movie with Mel Gibson as the star. But Gibson turned down the role so it eventually went to Murphy and at that point it became an action comedy.
