Long xiong hu di (1987)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

Jackie Chan

Writers:

Jackie Chan (writer)
John Sheppard (writer)

Release Date:

21 January 1987 (Hong Kong)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Comedy

Tagline:

Jackie Chan in his greatest adventure ever!

Plot:

Jackie Chan and his bumbling sidekick are sent on a quest through Europe to find a mysterious treasure held by a shadowy organization of monks.

Plot Keywords:

Treasure | Cult | Europe | Kung Fu Classic | Fight

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Jackie Chan	...	Jackie
Alan Tam	...	Alan
Rosamund Kwan	...	Lorelei
Lola Forner	...	May (as Maria Dolores Forner)
Bozidar Smiljanic	...	Bannon
Ken Boyle	...	Grand Wizard
John Ladalski	...	Chief Lama
Robert O'Brien	...	Witch Doctor
Boris Gregoric	...	Man at Auction
Alicia Shonte	...	Fighter
Vivian Wycliffe	...	Fighter
Stephanie Evans	...	Fighter
Linda Denley	...	Fighter
Marcia Chisholm	...	Fighter
William Williams	...	Fighter

Also Known As:

Armour of God (Hong Kong: English title)
Lung fong foo dai (Hong Kong: Cantonese title)
Operation Condor 2: The Armour of the Gods (USA) (DVD title)

Runtime:

88 min | Germany:87 min | Spain:94 min (25 fps) (DVD edition) | UK:94 min (25 fps) (restored version) | USA:86 min | Hong Kong:97 min

Country:

Yugoslavia | Hong Kong

Language:

Cantonese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Germany:12 (re-rating) (uncut) | Germany:16 (original rating) (cut) | Australia:M | France:U | South Korea:15 | Canada:14A | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Ireland:15 | Norway:15 | Spain:T | UK:15 | USA:R | Iceland:16

Filming Locations:

Morocco

Company:

Golden Harvest Company

Trivia:

While filming the stunt where he leaps from a wall onto a tree, Jackie Chan missed a tree branch and hit his head on a rock, nearly killing him and leaving him with a permanent thimble-sized hole on the right side of his head. The fall also left him hard of hearing in one ear.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: In many of the wide shots of the chase sequence, especially after the explosion, you can clearly see that only one person (the stunt driver) sits in the car.

Quotes:

High Priest: Who gave you the courage to be killed here?
Asian Hawk: I obey my god's every command. He looks after all my needs. I always say yes to him. Never no.
High Priest: Who is your god? What is your religion?
Asian Hawk: I believe in a powerful religion. The name of my god is... money.
High Priest: Prepare to be sacrified to your money god.

Movie Connections:

Featured in The Best of the Martial Arts Films (1990)

Soundtrack:

High Up On High

Good... but might've been so much better.

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 balloon—a 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 seeing—just don't expect to be fully entertained for the whole of its duration.