12/11/2022 0 Comments Armor of god jackie chan filmOverall I'd certainly recommend this to fans of Hong Kong era Jackie Chan films or anybody who enjoys a mix of relatively bloodless action and slapstick comedy. The cast does a solid job as expected Jackie is great in the lead role and is ably supported by Alan Tan, as Alan Lola Forner, as May and Rosamund Kwan as Lorelei (renamed Laura in the subtitles of the version I saw). For a Hong Kong film I was a little surprised that most of the action took place in Europe and featured European actors although in the version I watched they had been dubbed into Cantonese. The comedy elements are silly but rather fun expect plenty of running in and out of rooms with characters not quite bumping into each other as well as the usual slapstick. The action includes a really fun car chase and a number of impressive fight sequences. The main story then starts and we get a good mix of great action and farcical comedy. The action in this film starts almost straight away with some really impressive stunts. We then get car chases and other excitement before they infiltrate the cult's monastery and rescue Lorelei that won't be the end of their problems though. Alan wants Jackie to steal the items off the owner but Jackie decides to approach him and ask if he can borrow them at first he is turned down but when he says he will repay him by giving him the other two parts, which the cult already have, he accepts on condition that his daughter, May, accompanies them. Now his old friend Alan tells him that his girlfriend Lorelei, Jackie's ex, has been kidnapped by a shady religious group that wants it for their own nefarious purposes. This action comedy sees Jackie Chan playing a pop star turned treasure hunter who has acquired three of the five pieces of an artefact known as the Armour of God and sold them to a European collector. The film is topped off by a jump onto a hot air balloon which is also highly impressive, and if you watch the closing credits you'll see that Chan nearly died after hitting his head on a rock - thank goodness he survived and went on to make more enjoyable movies like this one. Chan is likable, Alan Tam makes a good comic foil (and doesn't have to embarrass himself by too much fighting, being an non-martial artist), Forner is the icy beauty once more and there are some weird-looking bad guys to add to the fun. Later, there's another memorable scene in which Chan must battle four ball-breaking Amazon women, and a hilarious joke involving a vest of dynamite which had me laughing out loud to myself (the first time in a Chan flick). The action incorporates a wild food fight and plenty of extra-fast martial arts fighting which is some of the best filmed. The martial arts is as good as ever, as it should be considering Jackie Chan was at the height of his physical prowess when this was made, but kept to a relative minimum until the action-packed ending which doesn't disappointment. Beginning with a major hill-sliding event, ARMOUR OF GOD takes in an excellent cross-town car chase, utilising a number of cars and motorbikes, a huge jump which is as good as the bus jump in SPEED, and tons of destruction, my personal favourite being the jeep rolling down the town square steps which is perhaps THE best crash I've seen on film. The action sequences are dotted in throughout the film to highlight the plot and each one tops the last. There's a lot of comedy in this movie which, whilst being very Chinese in tone, is still pretty funny in places, including the middle of the film which is a bedroom farce very much in the Jackie Chan style and nowhere near as lame as some people claim it to be. In many ways this has much the same formula as Jackie's other films from the time, pairing him up with a bumbling sidekick (this time played by Alan Tam), who shares plenty of comic interplay with the Chan man, and bringing in female beauty Lola Forner (WHEELS ON MEALS) as a romantic interest. Little does it matter that the film has a lightweight and undemanding plot, which uses the Indiana Jones films as a basis and throws in lots of odd interludes (the Chinese rock band, the evil/comedy monks) before forgetting about it at the end in favour of crazy action. Made during the mid 1980s, a period which I consider to be the most productive (in terms of entertainment value) in Jackie Chan's overall filmography, ARMOUR OF GOD is another hit and a perfectly-paced movie, offering up varied locations, some wonderful action sequences, tons of stunts and breathtaking martial arts work.
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