This is the film that nearly cost Jackie Chan his life: an early stunt went terribly wrong and he ended up bashing his head hard on a rock. In order to allow Jackie to fully recover from his injuries, much of the planned action was replaced with romantic comedy, and the film unfortunately suffers for it. The result is a fairly enjoyable romp, which starts and ends with some great sequences, but drags rather badly in the middle.
Chan plays The Asian Hawk, an adventurer who risks his life to help old pal Alan when his girlfriend Lorelei (Rosamund Kwan) is kidnapped by a religious cult. The cult wish to exchange the girl for a valuable treasure, the fabled Armour of God, but Jackie and Alan attempt a daring rescue instead...
Kicking off with a spectacular opening sequence, which sees JC performing some impressive acrobatics before sliding down a steep hill pursued by a tribe of spear wielding natives, Armour of God certainly begins well. And a great car chase soon after makes one believe that they could be witnessing a 'solid-gold' Chan classic. However, after these initial blasts of action, it isn't until the end of the film that we get to see more breathtaking movie mayhem, with the middle section consisting of barely passable comedy and poor romantic subplots.
Fortunately, Chan is back on form for the final battle in a cavernous fortress, and we get to see some truly outstanding martial arts as he takes on scores of nasty monks, and, in the film's highlight, a quartet of leather-corset-wearing she-bitches. The action here is hard-hitting and well worth the wait, with loads of poor baddies on the receiving end of some very painful looking kicks and punches.
To top it all off, the movie ends with one of the phoniest looking stunts ever, as Chan supposedly leaps off a cliff onto a hot air balloona moment so poorly executed that it borders on brilliance.
It's a real shame that this film could not be made as it was originally intended, 'cos it might have been truly astounding. As it is, Armour of God is worth seeingjust don't expect to be fully entertained for the whole of its duration.
