Operation Condor 2: The Armour of the Gods (1999)

Great!

It was better than I expected, I had lots of laughs, but the real show in this movie are the martial arts of Jacky Chan! It really shows how powerful (and fast) he was in his young adulthood. Excellent movie for fans! June 24, 2008

Not a sequel, and not uncut

The Armour of God films have had a rough ride Stateside. Both fell victim to dubbing and the distributors' shears, and when they were finally released were put out in the wrong order - thus Armour of God became Operation Condor 2, despite Condor being the second film...

Famous as the film where a fairly 'easy' stunt almost killed Chan (you can see it going horribly wrong in the outtakes), Armour of God is a bit of a mess, and not just because of the dodgy continuity that sees Chan's pre-accident mop-top hairstyle suddenly change in the scenes he shot once out of hospital. For much of the time there's more clumsy comedy and farce than action, but just as you're almost ready to give up on it it throws in a half-hour finale with some of Chan's most impressive stunt fighting, all performed at the height of his ability.

Although the Fortune Star Hong Kong remastered release is uncut and the PAL UK DVD from Hong Kong Legends contains ample and excellent extras, Dimension's release is typically a cut-and-dubbed version. Pick up one of the other versions instead.
May 16, 2008

It's on my list of BEST ACTION COMEDIES of ALL TIMES.

This movie is on my list of BEST ACTION COMEDIES of ALL TIMES. The fighting scenes are excellent and unique, especially the scene where Jackie fought with 3 female opponents. It also has a lot of humour. It makes me laugh again and again.

If you want to enjoy it, please suspense your logic while watching it.

I own it. March 7, 2008

[3.5] jackie chan is indiana jones, well, not really

Operation Condor: Armour of The Gods, as you probably are already aware of, is not a sequal to Operation Condor, it was just released later in the U.S. and they decided to put a 2 after it. Being a U.S. release, you can expect the usual pathetic English dubbing, although a plus is that Jackie Chan actually dubs over his own voice. This film, along with the other Operation Condor, are sort of Jackie's closest makes at an archeology/adventure type of film. Though I wouldn't go as far to say it is Indiana Jones, it does have a lot more martial arts than Harrison Ford can obviously provide.

I was rather bored with the plot, and it seemed rather lame. A group of religious men, whose religion is influenced by Lucipher, wishes to become the most powerful group in the world by aquiring and destroying all 5 pieces of the Armour of God. They learn that Jackie has recently aquired a piece, and kidnap his ex-girlfriend (now his best friend's girl) to lure him in. There's not much more to the plot other than some chase scenes and the rescue operation of the girl and his best friend from the bad guys. Jackie also makes it quite clear that good must overcome evil, and he will not let the men succeed with their mission.

The films action is great but rather limited. Don't expect anything like Legend of Drunken Master or Who Am I, but there is still a lot of great classic action that you won't find in today's Chan films. The beginning scene is great, and reminds me a lot of the beginning scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark when Indiana Jones is running from the natives. In Armour of the Gods, Jackie slides down a mountainside and the natives follow in special woven one man sleds they made. There is a great car chase scene in the movie too. And lastly, the only other noteworthy action scene is the finale, where Jackie takes on a whole room of the evil men followed by their leader's 4 Amazon-like, leathered up women. Its kinda silly, but the choreography is rather amazing and its at least a solid 4 minute fight scene.

This is a Jackie Chan film that remains average overall. There is some good action, but it occurs infrequently, and the plot is too boring and uninteresting to hold my attention. There is a great stunt at the conclusion, where Jackie lands on a hot-air balloon, but the camera makes it seem unsure of the height of the balloon off the ground. Nevertheless, I am sure it something that none of us could ever pull off. Also, Jackie has a song that is in the soundtrack during the stunt, and he does his own singing. Unlike the comment in First Strike, he's not as lousy as a singer as I thought. September 6, 2007

not the best of Jackie's movies, but not worst either

Unfortunately, I don't think Jackie's fighting scenes in this movie are as good as in some of his other movies such as Who Am I, although it was kinda funny to see him fighting four chicks in high heels. The movie has plenty of death defying stunts and humor even if the bad guys are a bit cartoonish (satanic monks with bushy eyebrows) and the plot a bit thin.

The back of the cd case calls it a prequel to Operation Condor. I haven't gotten to watch the latter yet, so can't compare.

I deducted another star because as others have pointed out the dvd does not have great features. I don't mind not having a chinese sound track. If I want that I can buy a Hong Kong release. However, I get used to most dvd's having some kind of extra features. Of course, it was still worth the price. It's a nice addition to my slowly growing collection. January 26, 2007

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