Armour of God (1986)

Simply Perfect

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Jackie Chan specialises in playing the likeable idiot. Here he plays the straight man, for a bit, but is soon in it up to his neck. In fact he is in trouble from the very beginning, and an old friend who turns up like the proverbial bad penny doesn't help. A cult of evil and totally ruthless monks are out to conquer the world or some such, when they are not having it off with local prostitutes. There is the little matter of the armour he has been tasked to retrieve, and other stuff that may go above your head, but forget the silly plot, this is Chan at his vintage best with ridiculous over-the-top comic book fight scenes and breathtaking stunts galore.

OK, the reason his hair turned from short to long in just 10 minutes at the start of the movie is because he got really injured, it was almost fatal jumping on the tree escaping from the natives. Jackie always had a superstition that if he would ever have short hair it would be literally life threatening...it was something supernaturally evil and based on eastern Asian superstition and the supernatural. well...i think Jackie looks better with short hair but that's the last we will ever see of that short hair so enjoy the 10 minutes or so of it in this movie.i actually had the good fortune to see this in the movie theater 2-3 times and it makes a big difference...until now where you can watch a hd version on a decent sized flat screen. Jackie's pre-USA movies which were hk based were so much better and enjoyable in my opinion and the fights were so much livelier. this movie has one of my top 5 fights all time and also my top 15. the top 5 is with the franciscan monks and the top 15 was with the 5 really athletic and oversized darkskinned ladies who were just absolute killers...HAHAHA.there were a lot of holes in the plot, but who cares, i'm not really watching it for the plots. it was a little slow in spots as i have watches the 97 min. version which is the longest and the best. the movie had a really really beautiful leading lady in Rosamund Kwan and Alan Tam played Jackie's sidekick. throw in the reigning Ms. Spain for that year as another sidekick, some crazy cult of caucascian monks intend on domination and literally two of the best fight brawl sequences you will see in a kung fu movie and just let the adventure begin.

This is the movie that almost got Jackie killed. Actually I'm amazed that he's still alive after all the daredevil stunts he's done.The evil cult is after the remaining three pieces of armour of god. Hawk (Jackie Chan) is an ex singer turned treasure hunter. His old acquaintance Alan (Alan Tam) comes to ask him to save his girlfriend Lora (Rosamund Kuan) who got kidnapped by the evil cult. He asks for armour of god that Jackie recently recovered from native tribes. Collector of armour of god's daughter joins Hawk and Alan on the quest for the remaining armour of god.The middle part of this film is boring. It's a filler to give Jackie time to recover from his injury. Then comes the exciting ending. So fast forward through the middle if it's too slow for you.Famous Hong Kong rock band Wynners appears at the opening with their name changed to the "Losers". Premise being that Jackie used to be the singer of that band. The real life singer of Wynners of course is Hawk's (Jackie) old friend Alan (Alan Tam). This is why there're Alan Tam songs inserted in this movie.There's this crazy stunt where the car Jackie and Alan are in flies across the freeway followed by a motorcycle. Stunt like this rarely shows up even in James Bond movies, but happens frequently in Jackie Chan movies. Towards the end of the movie I see an explosion going off just few feet away from the actor and him getting blown away from middle of the stair case down to the ground. That's got to hurt. Jackie Chan's father is shown for the first time at the end of the movie looking down on him after he got injured.It's a good movie that gets better towards the end. The combination of Chan, Tam, and Kuan works in this movie that adds different elements to this movie.

To me this movie remains the very first with Mr Jackie Chan chronologically. It has some pure magic of adventure and style. Being a child, could not believe my eyes when "Asian Hawk" was fighting a load of cult members and then - black women in close-fitting outfit. The movie has not become outdated. It's still alive and kicking.One day "Operation Condor" was shown on our TV. Good, but nowhere near the original "Armour".Being back on track, just want to add that "The Armour of God" is one solid outstanding piece of cinema with a few incredible highlights. Nothing like this can be found in any other film on this planet. Here they are.1. Jackie fighting off a tribe of aboriginals and ruining their "sacrifice ceremony" (an insane riding down the green hills upon the shield included).2. Cult members in black Arabian clothing with our good old kalashnikovs in their hands performing a kidnapping mission and shooting a reporter in the eye (right through the glasses). It all is backed up by some dance-pop and looks like a music video. Does it sound politically correct? 3. Jackie and his friend escaping the deadly car attack by driving off in a smart Mitsubishi gadget on wheels leaving a vast explosion behind.4. Jackie starting an unforgettable fight with the evil monks in a spacious refectory. To me this scene is an absolute caprice. It just goes "bang!", "clank!", "dong!", "Aaaargh!", "sweeesh!", etc. The Jackie's kick that sends one of the cult leaders back in space on the knees and then still roundabout back on the floor in slow-mo is a touch of platinum.5. Jackie communicating with some women that look like black acrobatic witches and sound like sirens. The communication goes with the help of fists, feet, knees, and high heels. To say that these women are queer is to say nothing.6. Jackie talking some nihilistic trash about money and spitting out a chewing gum at the end of his fundamental speech.7. Jackie blowing the whole in-rock "monastery" to pieces and flying from a cliff down onto a balloon (it looks so ridiculous and phoney but that's all right).8. Music playing throughout the whole film and adding a special flavour: some hot rock tunes are in play during the chase scenes, some dance-pop goes off during the notorious kidnapping, a sweet melodramatic song sounds when the trio are travelling, and a highly energetic song ends it all with an optimistic touch.This movie must be in top 10 among the best adventure/action flicks. Every single minute of this movie is hot and bombastic. It's a pity that Mr Jackie Chan was injured during the production and, suppose, could not unleash even more hysterical acts upon us.10 out of 10. Thank you for attention.