ARMOUR OF GOD II: OPERATION CONDOR (Fei Ying Ji Hua)
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1 (Technovision)
Sound format: Mono
Asian Hawk (Jackie Chan) comes under fire from all sides whilst on a mission to retrieve Nazi treasure buried in the Sahara desert.
One of the most popular films in Chan's extensive filmography, this superior sequel to ARMOUR OF GOD (1986) is clearly patterned after the success of RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (1981), but Chan's movie celebrates its American influences whilst remaining defiantly Asian in concept and execution. It isn't perfect, by any means: The female characters are rendered almost entirely subordinate (Carol Cheng, Eva Cobo De Garcia and Shoko Ikeda give OK performances under the circumstances), and some of the Arab stereotypes are borderline offensive (prompting protests by the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee when a re-edited version - OPERATION CONDOR - opened in US theaters), but viewers willing to overlook these conspicuous blunders will be treated to some of the most astonishing set-pieces of Chan's entire career.
In fact, the entire movie is a showcase for world-class stuntwork, photographed in glorious widescreen by veteran cinematographer Arthur Wong. Chan is clearly doubled in a number of sequences (notably a car-and-motorcycle chase during the film's opening stretch), but there's no denying his participation in the show-stopping finale, where Good and Evil engage in mortal combat within a vast underground labyrinth, culminating in a spectacular wind-tunnel sequence which took *months* to film and sent the entire movie over-schedule and way over-budget. Released in the UK as OPERATION CONDOR: ARMOUR OF GOD II.
(Cantonese dialogue)
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1 (Technovision)
Sound format: Mono
Asian Hawk (Jackie Chan) comes under fire from all sides whilst on a mission to retrieve Nazi treasure buried in the Sahara desert.
One of the most popular films in Chan's extensive filmography, this superior sequel to ARMOUR OF GOD (1986) is clearly patterned after the success of RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (1981), but Chan's movie celebrates its American influences whilst remaining defiantly Asian in concept and execution. It isn't perfect, by any means: The female characters are rendered almost entirely subordinate (Carol Cheng, Eva Cobo De Garcia and Shoko Ikeda give OK performances under the circumstances), and some of the Arab stereotypes are borderline offensive (prompting protests by the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee when a re-edited version - OPERATION CONDOR - opened in US theaters), but viewers willing to overlook these conspicuous blunders will be treated to some of the most astonishing set-pieces of Chan's entire career.
In fact, the entire movie is a showcase for world-class stuntwork, photographed in glorious widescreen by veteran cinematographer Arthur Wong. Chan is clearly doubled in a number of sequences (notably a car-and-motorcycle chase during the film's opening stretch), but there's no denying his participation in the show-stopping finale, where Good and Evil engage in mortal combat within a vast underground labyrinth, culminating in a spectacular wind-tunnel sequence which took *months* to film and sent the entire movie over-schedule and way over-budget. Released in the UK as OPERATION CONDOR: ARMOUR OF GOD II.
(Cantonese dialogue)