The
phrase "Armor of God" is directly derived from Ephesians
6:11 (New International Version): "Put on the full armour of
God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes." As
a Biblical reference, the metaphor may refer literally to physical
armour worn by God in metaphorical battles, or it may refer to
vigilant righteousness in general as bestowed by the grace of God
For
a while now I have been meaning to review this film, for two reasons
or more.
For
one it was that it almost cost Jackie
his life at the tender age of 32 when a simple stunt (by Jackie's
terms) went wrong and resulted in him cracking open his skull.
Two,
it is one of the most successful films Jackie has made (especially in
Europe) and spawned an equally successful sequel and a third many
years later.
In
this film, Jackie plays Jackie aka Asian Hawk an adventurist who
seeks out long-lost articles and treasures for wealthy gain. From the
beginning of the film we are witness to the Asian Hawk infiltrating a
remote tribal camp to claim a long lost sword, with a display of
classic Jackie Kung Fu he confronts the tribe, captures the sword,
and escapes by sledging down a steep hill face and jumping into a
large Bubble ball to escape and take off in his light aircraft.
From
the outset you are treated and stunned by what you see in the stunts
and martial talent of Jackie as he leaps and bounces around, there is
more action in the first ten minutes than in an Indiana Jones movie,
and top of that it's done for real.
You
also notice Jackie's hair suddenly become longer at the beginning, as
it was early in filming that Jackie had his accident, hence the
longer hair, most probably to hide the scar from the operation he had
on his head, which had to have a plastic plate fixed in.
Next
Jackie is seen selling the sword in auction and cheating to get the
price up by having a stool pigeon bidding for him.
But
is when Jackie arrives back at his hotel that the film gets
underway,as there are messages from a past friend with who Jackie
used to be in a band ( Alan and Laura).
The
thing is Laura has a successful fashion career and Alan is now a top
Canto Popstar ( funny that Alan Tam being a Cantopop star)
Now
during one of Laura's shows, she is kidnapped and the kidnappers have
sent Alan her boyfriend a ransom demand, but not for money, they want
the Armour of God (See Above).
Knowing
that Jackie had the sword which he just sold the kidnappers have used
his friends against him to get what they want.
Now
the kidnappers are a cult who believe with the Armour they can have
the ultimate power, the Armour consists of five pieces, they have
asked Alan for three pieces of the Armour, so they must have already
had the other two. Their plan is to ask a wealthy man Mr, Bannon ( a
collector of antiques) to borrow the pieces he has, when they arrive
Bannon has no interest in their money and Alan decides he will borrow
them himself. Now the house is heavily guarded and Alan is caught, on
top of that Mr, Bannon's daughter is the girl who bought the sword in
an auction from cheating Jackie.
The
main fault here is the five pieces of the Armour, in fact, the real
Armour consisted of six pieces from what is known, read below.
*In
terms of the parts of the Armour of God, the various pieces (the belt
of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the "shoes" of
the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation,
and the sword of the Spirit) are correlated to what Paul would have
witnessed firsthand as the arms and armour of Roman legionnaires
during his life in the Roman Empire.*
A
minor flaw but, it would have been nice for them to get it right.
So
what can Jackie and Alan offer Mr, Bannon, How about a full set of
the armour if he lends Jackie his three? He agrees and his daughter
May demands to go along to keep an eye on proceedings.
First,
they must travel to where the cult is stationed.
Luckily
Mr, Bannon has a house they can stay in nearby. The cult base is in
the mountains and they must meet their contacts in a nearby town
which I believe is in Croatia Zagreb (Dolac Central Market, Upper
town, Trnje.Being filmed in the then Former Yugoslavia the film was
filmed in Croatia and Slovenia. The main shots of the cult base were
in Slovenia, Predjamski grad near Postojna.
It
looks familiar because I have been there, but many years after this
film was made.
So
as not to lose the Armour our three heroes employ a plan to offer
them the Armour, but when it's discovered to be a dustbin lid and
broom the kidnappers are none too pleased. This results in a chase
sequence filmed in the streets that defy belief as cars roll and
crash in spectacular incidents that you will be sure people have died
here. One scene has a 4x4 rolling down a flight of stairs in a market
with people running for their lives and it all looks so close it's
breathtaking.
So
now they must get into the base of the cult, so they hijack a couple
of the cult's people and disguise themselves so they may enter their
lair.
The
thing is the cult leaders are not so stupid and realise that the
Asian Hawk has entered the base, which is high up in the mountains.
Whilst May occupies an official there the boys try and find Laura to
set her free. Now the cult has planned ahead and has drugged Laura so
she is under their control. The three achieve their goal and free
Laura and get her back to their house.
The
film goes through a lot of innuendoes once back at the house with
Laura acting funny around Jackie and May falling out with Jackie
because of a passionate moment ruined by Jackie's crudeness. Laura is
curious so thinks Jackie as she wants to see the Armour, but Alan is
not so sure.
In
a scene from a slapstick movie the four occupants, run around the
house either trying to avoid each other, get a peek at the Armour, or
borrow it in Alan's case, and Jackie's tries to make amends with
May, but when Laura ends up in Jackie's room May sees and is
dismayed,
meanwhile,
Alan is tracking Jackie and when he goes to Jackie's room Laura drugs
him, thinking he is Jackie.
The
following morning Jackie discovers May and Alan plus the Armour has
gone. Now it's up to Jackie to get the Armour and free his friends
from the cult.
With
no concern for his safety, he heads to the base high up in the
mountains, breaking in and sneaking in to trace Alan and Laura's
whereabouts. With spates of Monkey style jumping Jackie shows agility
you have to marvel at as he hides and runs around. Once locating the
twosome he agrees to free Laura and she remembers his nickname
''cowboy'' it's then he knows that the drugs have worn off.
In
a play-off against Alan, he plans to leave Alan behind to fend for
himself and get Laura out, but with a smoochy speech for Laura, she
says she's not going without him. With that Jackie says OK but it's
gonna cost you ( playing the hard man).
When
Alan gets accidentally pushed down a food store chute Jackie ends up
going to save him once again, it's this scene that highlights
Jackie's ability to combine comedy and Kung Fu into a piece of
entertainment that will have you reaching for the rewind button to
view the action you missed because you were laughing.
A
brilliant scene with a log ( or should I say a tree) on fire to ward
off attack from cult members and a fight with plates and food that
gets out of control for real by the looks of it.
Upon
getting Laura and Alan to safety he stays behind to regain the Armour
of God and now he must confront the cult's prime fighters, four
Amazon Women which will give him hell. It's well known in this fight
that Jackie wanted to get away from the multiple attackers attacking
one at a time, here all four fighters attack him head-on and Jackie
has to fight to survive, there are some doubling scenes for the
women, you can see members of Jackie's stunt team in drag fighting
JACKIE.
Once
defeated Jackie is fronted out by the hordes of cult members. But
with one last chance and the fact that Jackie is wired to blow with
Dynamite he bluffs his way out of trouble but not before all goes
wrong and the place is blowing up around him, Now he must get out and
out he does as he Leaps from the mountainside of the base camp to a
Hot air Balloon just below him in the sky. This is Jackie doing what
Jackie does best entertain and spellbind with his feats.
Though
of note, Jackie did not base jump off the mountain to the hot air
balloon as he had no experience in doing so.
He
actually sky-jumped out of a plane to do the stunt.
Armour
of God is a Hong Kong film that deserves to be seen by everyone.
there are many intricate scenes that deserve a second or third
viewing to fully discover the magic on screen.
Score
out Ten = 9
Review
By : Sertes Nake
Original
Review date : 26 June 2010 / Updated 14th September 2020
This
review was based on watching both the original VHS VPD UK release and
the UK Region 2 Hong Kong Legends release on DVD.
(C) image copyright 1993 Star TV Entertainment / (c) 2000 Medusa Communications
