Armor of God (Longxiong hudi, 1986)

A lesser Jackie Chan vehicle, mostly notworthy as the movie that nearly killed him (after a fall that fractured his skull--yikes!) Jackie plays an Indiana Jones-style adventurer named Asian Hawk, called in to help an old friend (Alan Tam) after his girlfriend (and former flame of Hawk's) is kidnapped. The bad guys want a complete set of "the Armour of God" in exchange for the girl's life, so Hawk and Alan set off to fight evil monks (and some kickboxing high-heeled gals--don't ask) to get the Armour and the girl.

It's heavy on silly comedy, very light on fights and action. However there are some very nice slashy moments between Hawk and Alan, so slash fans should find it definitely worth watching. The end fight is fairly amusing and intense, but I really wanted to see a few more fights to liven things up the rest of the time.

SUMMARY:

Overall rating: B- Not one of Jackie's better movies. Armour of God 2 was significantly more entertaining, IMO (though it wasn't nearly as slashy).

Droolworthiness: A- Jackie looks very cute, and Alan's not bad either.

Slashiness: B+ Hawk and Alan definitely have some nice moments together--forget the girl, I think what they really wanted was each other!

Action: B The final fight was very good, but the rest was pretty ho-hum.

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