Without a doubt one of Jackie's most internationally known films, and while not perfect, it still brings me great joy and such a feeling of nostalgia over 30 years later!
It's no secret that this was the film that almost cost Jackie his life. Even after completing a simple stunt perfectly in one take, Jackie wanted to try one more take of leaping from a wall to a branch, swinging over to safety on the next wall...
But he was not to make it.
Crashing down onto the ground below, he smashed his head on a rock bringing a stop to the production (then directed by Eric Tsang), and almost his life! Thankfully, one of the worlds top surgeons was in Yugoslavia during the time of the accident and was able to save the legend's life, allowing Jackie to bring us many more years of incredible entertainment, and of course, a long and happy life.
This, to me, would also be a big reason as to why things move along a little slow for the first hour of Armour Of God in terms of typical Jackie Chan action. Yes, we have that fun and acrobatic opening with Jackie sealing the sword from some natives (leading to the aforementioned accident), and his getaway where his hair grows long by the time he slides to the bottom of the hill; and there is of course the violent shooting and kidnap of Laura (Rosamund Kwan) before a fun car chase and brief scuffle with monks as Lola Forner (from Wheels On Meals) joins the team, but all-in-all, it just feels slow...
And I don't mean boring slow, there is a number of comedy sequences that keep things ticking, but there's also a bizarre nightmare sequence of Jackie getting chased by his car as Alan and Rosamund wave to him as a happy couple, as well as a prolonged scene of Jackie trying to woo Lola as Alan Tam tries to look through her bags. It just goes on a little too long and really slows things down quite a bit. Maybe they were giving Jackie time to heal, but thankfully, its all made up for during the last 30 minutes of all-out stunts, martial arts action and one of Jackie Chan's greatest fight scenes in the finale!
This last battle, from the monks dining hall until he hits that hot-air balloon, is so exciting and so well choreographed, you can't help but forgive the hiccups along the way. When I was a kid, this was one of my weekly hires from the video store, and while the UK video release was cut by 6 minutes (which did help as a youngster), I totally fell in love with the film and Jackie of course. For years I was bouncing bubblegum off walls and doors, perfecting the gum-style of the Asian Hawk and how he eat it...
While I am all for the uncut, original language version, this added 6 minutes does hold it back a bit, as it now seems dated. But still, when the action happens, its hard to deny the man his dues as - even after life-saving head surgery - Jackie Chan still shows that he is the king of Hong Kong action comedies, giving a showcase that still blows me away today!
With such intricate choreography and dedicated stuntmen, Jackie and his team deliver an end fight scene that stand stall as one of his best. Busting some incredible moves in the dining hall battle, Jackie then moves on to face 4 extremely tall and muscle-bound black women who don't hold back. Now, granted that throughout the whole fight sequence, 6 of them were his stuntmen and 3 were women, but regardless - it still looks amazing!!
This was also the movie that was to see the fantastic Cynthia Rothrock go toe-to-toe with Jackie as the final boss, but after his aforementioned accident, Golden Harvest moved her on to Righting Wrongs (Above The Law) with Yuen Biao, so the battle of all battles was not to be (although we still got one of Hong Kong's greatest action films with Righting Wrongs!).
Closing with an incredible stunt with Jackie jumping from a cliff onto a hot-air balloon, we see things out with an amazing collection of NG's including the footage of that dreaded accident that nearly ended a hero...
Avoid the US edited version by all means!
Overall: Though slightly dated, Armour Of God still highlights one of Jackie's greatest fight scenes with incredible stunt-work that still entertains today. And we can't forget about its awesome soundtrack also!
It's no secret that this was the film that almost cost Jackie his life. Even after completing a simple stunt perfectly in one take, Jackie wanted to try one more take of leaping from a wall to a branch, swinging over to safety on the next wall...
But he was not to make it.
Crashing down onto the ground below, he smashed his head on a rock bringing a stop to the production (then directed by Eric Tsang), and almost his life! Thankfully, one of the worlds top surgeons was in Yugoslavia during the time of the accident and was able to save the legend's life, allowing Jackie to bring us many more years of incredible entertainment, and of course, a long and happy life.
This, to me, would also be a big reason as to why things move along a little slow for the first hour of Armour Of God in terms of typical Jackie Chan action. Yes, we have that fun and acrobatic opening with Jackie sealing the sword from some natives (leading to the aforementioned accident), and his getaway where his hair grows long by the time he slides to the bottom of the hill; and there is of course the violent shooting and kidnap of Laura (Rosamund Kwan) before a fun car chase and brief scuffle with monks as Lola Forner (from Wheels On Meals) joins the team, but all-in-all, it just feels slow...
And I don't mean boring slow, there is a number of comedy sequences that keep things ticking, but there's also a bizarre nightmare sequence of Jackie getting chased by his car as Alan and Rosamund wave to him as a happy couple, as well as a prolonged scene of Jackie trying to woo Lola as Alan Tam tries to look through her bags. It just goes on a little too long and really slows things down quite a bit. Maybe they were giving Jackie time to heal, but thankfully, its all made up for during the last 30 minutes of all-out stunts, martial arts action and one of Jackie Chan's greatest fight scenes in the finale!
This last battle, from the monks dining hall until he hits that hot-air balloon, is so exciting and so well choreographed, you can't help but forgive the hiccups along the way. When I was a kid, this was one of my weekly hires from the video store, and while the UK video release was cut by 6 minutes (which did help as a youngster), I totally fell in love with the film and Jackie of course. For years I was bouncing bubblegum off walls and doors, perfecting the gum-style of the Asian Hawk and how he eat it...
While I am all for the uncut, original language version, this added 6 minutes does hold it back a bit, as it now seems dated. But still, when the action happens, its hard to deny the man his dues as - even after life-saving head surgery - Jackie Chan still shows that he is the king of Hong Kong action comedies, giving a showcase that still blows me away today!
With such intricate choreography and dedicated stuntmen, Jackie and his team deliver an end fight scene that stand stall as one of his best. Busting some incredible moves in the dining hall battle, Jackie then moves on to face 4 extremely tall and muscle-bound black women who don't hold back. Now, granted that throughout the whole fight sequence, 6 of them were his stuntmen and 3 were women, but regardless - it still looks amazing!!
This was also the movie that was to see the fantastic Cynthia Rothrock go toe-to-toe with Jackie as the final boss, but after his aforementioned accident, Golden Harvest moved her on to Righting Wrongs (Above The Law) with Yuen Biao, so the battle of all battles was not to be (although we still got one of Hong Kong's greatest action films with Righting Wrongs!).
Closing with an incredible stunt with Jackie jumping from a cliff onto a hot-air balloon, we see things out with an amazing collection of NG's including the footage of that dreaded accident that nearly ended a hero...
Avoid the US edited version by all means!
Overall: Though slightly dated, Armour Of God still highlights one of Jackie's greatest fight scenes with incredible stunt-work that still entertains today. And we can't forget about its awesome soundtrack also!