When Hong Kong superstar Alan’s (Alan Tam) girlfriend Laura (Rosamund Kwan) is kidnapped, he enlists the help of one-time backing singer and friend Jackie (Jackie Chan) to help. Unfortunately, she’s been kidnapped by a group of evil monks from a sinister cult made up of people with extraordinarily bushy eyebrows hell-bent on acquiring and then destroying the Armour of God (not the God you and I know, but some other one we’d previously overlooked). As luck would have it, Jackie (who sometimes goes by the name of Asian Hawk) knows where some of the pieces of the Armour of God are, having already rescued a piece from a generic backwards tribe in some faraway land. The two find a Count who has two other pieces of the Armour (plus the sword, recently purchased in an auction by his daughter), and Jackie promises that if the Count lets them have the two pieces as collateral for the exchange of the hostage, he’ll bring back the remaining two pieces to complete the collection. The only catch? The Count’s daughter May (Lola Forna – make the appropriate whistling noises now) insists on coming along for the ride.

Armour of God is remembered for all the wrong reasons. Yes, it is the film that nearly killed Jackie – who was left with a permanent hole in the head when a fairly innocuous (for him) stunt went wrong. Yet it is so much more. The film races along at a whacking pace and is just so much fun that you often forget you’re watching a film. When I first watched it, I thought it was pretty good, but in this day and age when so many films (Jackie Chan films or not) are so straight-laced and pretentious, this comes like a breath of fresh air.

People have often stated that this (and the equally fantastic sequel OPERATION CONDOR) were Jackie’s attempt at copying Raiders of the Lost Ark; but in truth, apart from the opening sections of both films, there is no resemblance whatsoever between these films. These opening scenes ARE pretty great though.

Presumably set in the same alternate reality as Wheels On Meals (people of all nations speak fluent Cantonese – even to each other when there’s no-one else around), Armour of God was primarily filmed in the former Yugoslavia. As with Wheels On Meals, the change of setting from the usual Hong Kong backdrops is much to its benefit. In fact, there’s so much in common between this film and Wheels on Meals (including of course the casting of Lola Forna, but also in the style of the action choreography and some of the more dramatic moments) that if Sammo Hung were to say tomorrow that Armour of God was in fact directed by him, I doubt if anyone would be that surprised.

The only fly in the ointment as far as I’m concerned is the rather gratuitous and bloody violence displayed in the kidnapping scene near the beginning (played against Alan Tam’s hilariously camp 80’s synth-rock “classic” Midnight Rider). This segment was directed by Eric Tsang, who was apparently to direct the whole film at one point. Thankfully, he was removed after shooting just this one scene and Jackie did the rest.

Alan Tam pretty much plays himself – the former singer of a band called the Losers (Alan Tam was a member along with Kenny Bee of 70’s boy band the Wynners. Wynners, Losers - it’s a joke, you see?). Rosamund Kwan plays the typical damsel in distress, this time usually drugged by the cultists.

There’s some great action, of course, during the 94 minutes of this film. Notably a splendid car chase with lots of explosions and conveniently placed ramps. Although visibly under-cranked, the scene is still exciting. Elsewhere, the scene where Jackie finally takes on the monks (doubled extensively by his stunt-team – all wearing the same curly wig!) is pretty phenomenal, and the finale with the four warrior-women (doubled extensively by his stunt team wearing stilettos and clad in leather!) is a nice finishing touch.

One thing that may have passed by the casual viewer is that there is little or no slapstick in this movie – often a source of criticism for Jackie Chan films. Instead, we have some pretty damn good visual jokes that are still funny today. I’m sure there’s something I’m missing in Rosamund Kwan’s pet name for Jackie, though. Maybe it’s something that doesn’t translate into English, but I think there’s more to the name than is conveyed in the subtitles.

Anyhow, another cracking film from his golden period. Oh, and by the way, did you know this film nearly killed Jackie Chan? ;)