In the mid-1980s, Indiana Jones fever was taking off all over South East Asia. In Hong Kong, two rival films, released with eighteen months of each other, tried to emulated the fedora-wearing hero: Jackie Chan with Armour of God and Michelle Yeoh in Magnificent Warriors.
They were two of the hottest stars of the day and the breadth of their work needs no introduction- but who was better at getting their Indiana Jones on? Lets find out…
Armour of God (1986)
To say that Armour of God had a troubled production history would be an understatement.
Jackie Chan gave into his perfectionist ways whilst filming on a stunt sequence in Yugoslavia, doing another take on a branch-swinging stunt that had already been successfully captured. On the second take, the branch snapped, resulting in a near-fatal plummet to the ground and Jackie being out of action for months.
The original iteration of the film, originally directed under Eric Tsang, was abandoned and Chan took over the director’s chair for the remainder of principal photography, with the film eventually premiering in Japan in August 1986.
It’s unfortunate that the grinding gears behind the scenes are evident on screen as for the most part, Armour of God is a clever blend of Indiana Jones treasure-hunting, James Bond-style large scale stuntwork and globe-trotting.
It’s a straightforward adventure yarn about Chan’s character Asian Hawk, rescuing a kidnapped lady (Rosamund Kwan) in a globe-trotting chase filled with Chan’s trademark style of flipping about the place and chaotically and comedically striking anonymous henchman.
Eric Tsang’s directorial finger-prints still remain over parts of the film-he directed the entirety of the film’s pre-title sequence in Yugoslavia, and is also probably responsible for both the stage sequence for the Alan Tam song Midnight Rider, and for the kidnapping sequence of Rosamund Kwan’s character in the middle of the film. That scene in particular is full of such stark and bloody violence- a photographer gets shot in the frickin’ eye (!)- that I am convinced that Chan had nothing to do with it.
In fact, Tsang’s style seems a lot more adult and in-your-face than Chan’s light-hearted kid-friendly style, with even more music-video like rythmnic quick cutting than Chan would employ in his style at times.
There were other sequences that were shot by Tsang that were re-shot by Chan after he recovered from his accident; however the tonal shifts are still apparent in the finished version.
A (low-quality) still from a deleted scene from the abandoned original version of Armour of God, directed by Eric Tsang- Chan later re-shot this scene after he recovered from his stunt injury.
Jackie’s extended time off also lends to continuity errors in the finished film; the length of his hair being all over the place: it is a short bowl cut in the Tsang directed scenes at the beginning, then long and poofy in the middle of the film, then kind of mid-length when we get to the end catacomb fight sequence.
There’s also more of a focus on vehicular stunts in the film, probably to make up for Jackie’s abscence. In fact, Jackie doesn’t fight much at all until the end sequence in the catacombs, so fans looking for a continuous fight fest like Chan’s earlier films may be a bit dissapointed.
However, the vehicular stunts are fantastic and probably the best you’ll see in a Hong Kong production of the period. The scene with Jackie infiltrating the cultists’ compound with a motorbike is also wonderfully shot- the quick cutting of Jackie whipping out his various gadgets and gizmos is wonderfully done as he prepares to rev up and drive into the catacombs.
The end fight scenes in the cultists’ lair, with Jackie facing off against a gang of black hooded weirdos before taking on four large-breasted Amazonian kick-fighters all by himself, is a highlight of Jackie’s entire filmography. The choreography is so fun and inventive throughout, with lovely little touches like Chan kicking an onion like a football at an opponent’s face, or bouncing his trademark gum off of a wooden door into his mouth during an escape sequence. The fact that they were apparently the first scenes he shot after he recovered from his injury, are a testament to his drive and tenacity at the time- firmly declaring he was back and not going anywhere, with some of the best fight scenes of his career up till that point.
As mentioned though, the film does have an uneven pacing- it drags a lot in some places where they usually don’t in Jackie’s filmography. Jackie’s supporting cast, Lola Forner and Alan Tam, also don’t really get much to do outside of a few hijinks here and there, despite Tam having a lot of chemistry with Chan.
You get the feeling Jackie had to make a lot of compromises along the way, after he came back to complete the film. He was forced to shoot in 1:85 aspect ratio, for example, because of the earlier scenes that had already shot by Tsang.
One thing that isn’t compromised though is the film’s soundtrack: in fact, music seems to be a bigger component of this movie than some of Jackie’s previous efforts. As I mentioned before, there is a music sequence featuring 80s Cantonese popstar Alan Tam, who also co-stars in the film alongside Jackie. He supplies an assortment of songs to the soundtrack, the best of which is Lorelei. I know fans generally cream themselves over Jackie’s song on the soundtrack, High Upon High, but Lorelei, particularly the original Cantonese version, absolutely slaps. If this track had been snapped up by a Western performer, I’m convinced it would’ve been an absolute smash.
Despite the flaws I listed above, Armour of God remains a fun entry into Jackie’s filmography. It’s complete globe-trotting comic-book like entertainment throughout, with Jackie pulling out all the stops to mount an entertaining production despite the drawback of his catastrophic injury.
Magnificent Warriors (1987)
Magnificent Warriors was the third starring role for Michelle Yeoh (in fact, the last before her initial acting retirement due to her marraige to Dickson Poon) and is supported by an all-star cast including Richard Ng, Venom Mob member Lo Mang, veteran stunt actor Fung Hak-On and frickin’ Taekwondo superkicking legend Hwang Jang Lee (!) who thankfully, is well utilised in a one-on-one brawl with Yeoh during the end battle.
I’m not going to hold the tension any longer: put simply, this is just a wonderful film through and through. To be brutally honest, I think it’s a more consistent and balanced effort than Armour of God in pretty much every way, despite the obvious charms of that movie.
Though Chan is charming and assured as heck in Armour of God, Michelle Yeoh gives him a run for his money with her complete self-assuredness on camera.
She was only twenty-four at this point, and already commanding the camera with ease. Director David Chung does a wonderful job, especially considering the low-budget nature of Hong Kong filmmaking, emulating the feel and grand scope of the Indiana Jones pictures- there’s more crane shots in this film than I think in all Hong Kong pictures made from 1980-1986 combined!
With intricate vehicle action, and even a biplane chase that pre-dates the one in Last Crusade, there is a real effort here to compete with Hollywood production value.
Sure, its not as well excecuted as the aerial chase in Last Crusade two years later- there’s some obvious sped up shots in ther sequence, but still, despite the odd bits of clunkiness, it’s impressive and unique for a Hong Kong picture…
There’s some wonderful sunset photogaphy in this picture too, I think with this and the aerial photography, Magnificent Warriors does a more considered job of emulating the work of Spielberg and cinematographer Douglas Slocombe than Armour of God does. I understand that movie has Bond influence too, but so does Magnificent Warriors, and the two things are woven into one another better in this film than in Armour of God.
Even with the great production values; Does it reach the heights of Armour of God in terms of action and stuntwork? To be honest, I think at times it really does: the action in this film is really, really, really, really well handled. Michelle Yeoh is just unbelievably good here; she sells every bit of action required of her, with standout moments including her whipping the crap out of people with a horseshoe (a scene I’m convinced Jackie Chan, knowingly or unknowingly, homaged in Shanghai Noon) and the aforementioned fight with Hwang Jang Lee.
She is also I think at her most beautiful here, although she’s too busy kicking the fuck out of people for me to concentrate on superficial things like that.
The stakes of the film just keep escalating and escalating and escalating throughout, until it becomes an all out war film (!) with machine gun and swordplay action reminiscent of Sam Peckinpah’s the Wild Bunch- at ninety minutes the film doesn’t outstay its welcome either. Besides this being a Hong Kong Martial Arts film, where intrinsically the plot is fairly bare bones in order to get from setpiece to setpiece, the only real weakness of the film is…well…I’m afraid it’s Richard Ng.
I’m very aware that Ng was an extremely talented actor and was very good at what he did, but whether it’s this or Winners and Sinners or Wheels on Meals, he ends up being the weakest element of the film and I’m afraid it’s the same here.
Whilst I was watching this on Sky Movies, Magnificent Warriors came with a content warning about animal abuse; which I found utterly bizarre, until the scene where Ng’s character desecrates a pigeon. Incredibly offputting, just like his character in the movie.
Verdict
Armour of God is an incredibly charming and fun movie, a welcome addition to Jackie’s filmography despite the production issues. The movie may win out in terms of kitsch appeal and high energy over Magnificent Warriors, and the inherent star power of Jackie, but Magnificent Warriors is both the more polished and ambitious Indy imitator of them both.
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