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ARMOUR
OF GOD
AKA:
Armor Of God || Operation Condor 2: The Armour Of The Gods (US)
Year:
1986 Reviewer: Tony
Ryan
The
opening scene of this film is a memorable one for a number of
reasons. Firstly, Eric Tsang was originally in the director's
chair, Jackie sported a short basin like haircut for probably
the only time ever, but more importantly, as every Jackie Chan
fan would know, it was his closest brush with death as a
simple jump ended with a hole in his head and emergency
surgery in Yugoslavia.
After
the long lay off, Jackie returned, lengthy hair restored to
take over as director, canning all original footage minus the
aforementioned opening sequence in which Jackie's character
'Asian Hawk' (or Jackie in the dubbed version!) steals a sword
from an African tribe to sell at an auction.
The
movie is a little short on action until the end except for a
car chase midway through the film which was clearly ripped-off
from his earlier film 'Wheels
on Meals'. It is worth the wait however, as the finale
sees Jackie battle a room full of monks, followed by four
tough Amazonian women showcasing some of Jackie's best
choreographed action after 'Police
Story'.
Interestingly,
Cynthia Rothrock was originally asked to play the final
villain but chose a larger role alongside Jackie's Opera
School brother Yuen Biao in 'Righting
Wrongs' and to this day has never been seen in a film with
Jackie. He did produce and style the action in 'Inspector
Wears Skirts', and would have appeared alongside Biao,
Hung, Rothrock et al in 'Millionaires
Express' if he had not fallen out with Sammo on 'Dragons
Forever'. Also worth noting is that this is one of the
only Jackie directed films to show bloodletting and some nasty
deaths.
The
last twenty minutes alone are worth anyone's money, as you
will undoubtedly rewind in order to be repeatedly amazed by
one of the greatest physical performers of any generation.
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