Mission Adler - Der starke Arm der Götter

This may be the most entertaining Jackie Chan experience ever. Filmed all over the world with a huge budget and abundance of energy, Armor of God 2 is a fast, funny, thrilling film. Despite the obvious Indiana Jones plot, Chan amazes us once again by risking his life so we can be entertained for two hours. Chan's directing skills are almost as exceptional as his physical skills in the way he captures the action from brilliant wide angles that display the danger of his action. A scene where Chan flees on motorcycle from the villains through the cramped city streets is one of the most exciting chase scenes on film. Chan gambles with his life in every stunt and action sequence making for an exuberant film that must be seen to fully appreciate Hong Kong action cinema.

This movie is about impressing stunts. Period. That is all it is, and it does it well. Chan is amazingly skilled in both performing great stunts as well as coming up with ones you haven't seen before.

Great stunts also lay a solid foundation for action comedy. Many action scenes are really, really fun, mixing the stunts with fun situations. In particular, I found the car chase scene make me think "just when I thought there were no fun Bond-style chases left to make, Chan proves that there are". The only thing missing would be to play "The Ride of the Valkyries" at some appropriate times.

One more point in the favor of the movie is Chan's charm. He really has good screen presence.

So far, this is good. But let me mention what the movie does NOT have. It has no interesting plot to speak of. It has rather awful storytelling at times, moving from one scene to another with minimal or no motivation. There are even scenes with obvious remains from cut parts. Finally, the three female leads are all young, pretty and stupid. One "silly girl" would be fine but three of them? This makes them embarrassingly similar. It wouldn't hurt with one woman who were, for example, middle aged and with a professional attitude, or just not exactly the same personality as the others. I guess this is a cultural difference, in movies from the western world we are plagued with over-professional arrogant women instead, which is just as much cliché. Maybe we could get something in between, like an interesting character?

So, forget about the plot. Enjoy the stunts instead! They make me wonder one thing: How dangerous was this movie to make? How many times did Chan go to hospital?

10/10 for stunts. 8/10 for fun and action. 2/10 for story.

A treat! Overflows with energy, humor, excitement, and jaw-dropping stunts (especially the motorcycle chase scene, during which Jackie takes time out to rescue a runaway baby carriage!). The climactic fight in the Nazi outpost is terrific. Just as much fun, though, are the comedy scenes, like those with the innocent waif (and her pet scorpion) Jackie's team encounters in the desert, or Jackie's impersonation of the folkloric Chinese "hopping vampire" - one of the funniest things I've ever seen in an action film. Didn't think much of "First Strike" but I recommend this one without reservation.

Armour of God 2 destroys anything Indiana Jones ever did as it is the most accomplished action adventure film I have ever seen and I am not joking. This has everything from bad villains, female leads, well three actually, great action, great adventure, plenty of explosions and some of the most funniest scenes you will ever see in adventure film like this. Apart from Rush Hour you wouldn't usually associate Jackie Chan with doing much comedy only martial arts but he does it like a pro and it doesn't stop till the very end. I can go on and on for years and years watching this and you never ever get bored as there is so much to take in and not enough time. As soon as it is finished you'll be dying to go back for more and watch it on repeat viewings.

Jackie Chan has made some of the best kick ass films in the world. I rate his films much better than Bruce Lee's and if you want to challenge that then all you have to do is watch this, the first Amour of God and Project A and you will see how accomplished his films really are.

Rated PG-13 for martial arts action, some shootings, and sensuality Quebec Rating:G Canadian Home Video Rating:14A

Operation Condor is a very funny Jackie Chan movie which is the sequel to the 1987 film Armor Of God.However when released in America they released this film first so the 1987 film Armor Of God is called Operation Condor 2 in America.I remember renting this film on VHS a very long time ago but I did see it about one year ago on UPN.This film has all the Jackie Chan charm.Great fight scenes,stunts and action but also lots of slapstick comedy to keep you happy.This film is about Jackie Chan and two other people who try to find hidden Nazi gold but others want it as well.Operation Condor is a funny and good film and I recommend it.

Runtime:92min

8/10