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5.0 out of 5 stars
Who needs Indiana Jones when you've got Jackie Chan?, May 16, 2008
The Armour of God films have had a rough ride Stateside. Both fell victim to dubbing and the distributors' shears, and when they were finally released were put out in the wrong order - thus Armour of God became Operation Condor 2, despite Condor being the second film...
Famous as the film where a fairly 'easy' stunt almost killed Chan (you can see it going horribly wrong in the outtakes), Armour of God is a bit of a mess, and not just because of the dodgy continuity that sees Chan's pre-accident mop-top hairstyle suddenly change in the scenes he shot once out of hospital. For much of the time there's more clumsy comedy and farce than action, but just as you're almost ready to give up on it it throws in a half-hour finale with some of Chan's most impressive stunt fighting, all performed at the height of his ability.
Although the Fortune Star Hong Kong remastered release is good, it's well worth tracking down the PAL UK DVD from Hong Kong Legends, which contains ample and excellent extras.
However, the real fun is to be had in the sequel, Operation Condor. In the past, Jackie Chan's plots have had enough holes to drive a Mack truck through: this one could take their entire production line. This spectacular example of the just-one-damn-thing-after-another school of filmmaking insults your intelligence almost as much as a Michael Winner film. Characterisation is elementary at best, stereotyping runs rampant and logic frequently flies out the window, but who cares? This is still one of the best audience pictures of the 90s, with incredible stunts no western star in the world (or his stuntman) would attempt.
Whereas Schwarzenegger or Stallone are pure brute force, Chan is the Buster Keaton or Donald O'Connor of action movies, with a slapstick acrobatic versatility that is astonishingly fluid. When did you last see them knock down a baddie then catch his gun in mid-air while doing a somersault over him, all in a single take? Like great dancing, it is not a series of choreographed moves in succession but appears to be one constant movement, and Chan knows how to place the camera to a stunt's best advantage.
The most expensive movie ever made in Hong Kong up until that time ($100m Hong Kong), his take on the Raiders movies is pure knockabout stuff. The hook is a search for Nazi gold buried in the desert, but that's just an excuse for some great prolonged and imaginative setpieces that mix broad physical comedy with action to breathlessly entertaining effect - you'll constantly be hitting the rewind because you can't believe what you've just seen is physically possible, while he hyper-kinetic editing will make you hit the slo-mo too. Put your feet up, your brain on hold and you'll love it.
The 2.35:1 widescreen transfer on Fortune Star's makes the most of the film's huge underground base, while Wong Ngok Tai's vivid use of colour is better represented here than on the dupey UK DVD. Best of all, where the US and UK releases are both dubbed (the US one heavily cut and rescored as well), this has the original Cantonese soundtrack.
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