Release Date: January 21st, 1987 (theatrical)
December 13th, 2021 (blu-ray)
Run Time: 1 hour 38 minutes 28 seconds (hong kong cut)
Run Time: 1 hour 38 minutes 28 seconds (hong kong cut)
1 hour 28 minutes 29 seconds (export cut)
Region Code: B (locked)
Picture: 1080p (1.85:1 aspect ratio) (both versions)
Sound: Cantonese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (theatrical mix) Lorelei
Region Code: B (locked)
Picture: 1080p (1.85:1 aspect ratio) (both versions)
Sound: Cantonese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (theatrical mix) Lorelei
Cantonese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (theatrical mix) Flight of the Dragons
Cantonese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (home video mix) Lorelei
Cantonese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (home video mix) Flight of the Dragons
English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (classic dub) Lorelei
English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (classic dub) Flight of the Dragons
Cantonese/English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (hybrid) Lorelei
Cantonese/English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (hybrid) Flight of the Dragons
English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Subtitles: English (both versions)
Slipcover: Yes (hard box slip box)
Digital Copy: No
Starring: Jackie Chan, Alan Tam, Lola Forner, Rosamund Kwan, Ken Boyle, John Ladalski, Robert O'Brien, and Bozidar Smiljanic
Written by Edward Tang, Cheuk-Hon Szeto, and Ken Lowe
Disc 1:
Digital Copy: No
Starring: Jackie Chan, Alan Tam, Lola Forner, Rosamund Kwan, Ken Boyle, John Ladalski, Robert O'Brien, and Bozidar Smiljanic
Written by Edward Tang, Cheuk-Hon Szeto, and Ken Lowe
Directed by Jackie Chan
Rating: BBFC: 15 (martial arts action)____________________________________________
Poster
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What's It About?
Former musician Asian Hawk (Chan) becomes embroiled in a dangerous quest to seek out the last three parts of lost treasure the Armour of God, in order to save his ex-band mate’s girlfriend from the clutches of a ruthless cult.
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Film Review
I saw ARMOUR OF GOD after seeing a bunch of Jackie Chan's other films, so what I am about to say may come as a shock to some: I don't really like this film. The first hour or so is boring with Jackie Chan and Alan Tam singing and wooing girls, but there isn't much action. The comedy doesn't really land and it feels like a romantic comedy rather than an Indiana Jones type film. The thing that really kills the first hour is Alan Tam. He is terrible here and really needed. Jackie could have done the film on his own and it might have made the film better. The second half of the film fares better with some pretty decent fight scenes and locales. The fight with the four women is gold and I liked the setting too.
The reason the film seems so off-balanced is because Jackie almost died doing a stunt. At the beginning of the film, he is seen jumping from a wall to a tree. The branch broke and he fell all the way down. He broke his head open and he was bleeding profusely. He was out of commission for a while but was able to recover and finish the film. You can tell which scenes were filmed before he got hurt because his hair changes styles.
I am not sure that ARMOUR OF GOD would have been much better had Jackie not gotten hurt. The film just meanders for a really long time before getting to anything that is remotely exciting. I would give it a worse review had Jackie not gotten hurt, but give the circumstances, I will say that it is worth a watch, but be aware that it is a lesser Jackie Chan film.
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Video/Audio
Taken from a brand new 4K scan, and restored in 2K, and presented in the film's original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, ARMOUR OF GOD looks damn good. Colors look great and skin tones are accurate and true. The colors from the concert montage at the beginning just pop off the screen. Grain is thin and detail can be pretty high at times. Blacks are also inky deep and there is a nice depth to the picture as well. This is an amazing transfer.
Now, I don't know ARMOUR OF GOD well enough to know all about all of these audio options. I have seen the film plenty of times, but mostly with the English dub. I can tell you that each of these tracks, which there are 9, all sound great. The Home Video Mix sounds softer than the Theatrical Mix and the English dub is quieter. These tracks should please fans.
I also want to talk about the number of audio tracks for a minute. There were a lot of people who were worried about the number of tracks and how they would affect the picture quality, given all of the video based special features on this disc. The tracks do not take away anything from the picture quality in terms of bitrate or anything like that. In fact, there are two tracks for every one thing. For example, there are two classic English dub tracks. They are exactly the same except for the song used at the end. This means that the tracks aren't taking up as much room as one would think.
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Extras/Packaging
Disc one starts out with three outstanding commentary tracks. The first is from Frank Dejeng who always delivers a great commentary track. He puts the film into the time it was made as well as giving us foreigners a lot of history of China and Hong Kong. The second track is from Mike Leeder and Arne Venema, who put the film into the perspective of those who live and work in Hong Kong as well as having worked with Jackie Chan before. Great stories are heard on this track. The last track is from the hosts of the Podcast on Fire Network podcast. They put the film into the perspective of the fans. They have great stories about the making of and why they like the film.
On the video side of the special features, we have an episode of THE ART OF ACTION, which is a YouTube show hsoted by Scott Atkins. Here he breaks down the action in ARMOUR OF GOD with Matt Routledge. There is a show called CELEBRITY TALK SHOW, which is exactly how it sounds, and features Jackie Chan as the guest. It is pretty wild to see something like this on this disc, but I welcome it. There is an appreciation of ARMOUR OF GOD from Radek Sienski as well as a location tour, of sorts. It's pictures of the locations as they looked in the film and how they look now. Steven Larson takes us through Jackie Chan on VHS during the VPF years. There are some archival interviews with Jackie Chan, Willie Chan, and Golden Harvest editor Peter Cheung. A tribute music video and a bunch of trailers close out disc one.
There are no special features found on disc two.
Disc 1:
- Audio Commentary with Asian cinema expert Frank Djeng
- Audio Commentary with Mike Leeder and Arne Venema
- Audio commentary by Kenneth Brorsson & Phil Gillon of the Podcast On Fire Network
- The Art of Action with Scott Adkins & Matt Routledge (20m 49s, HD, 1.78:1)
- Celebrity Talk Show (58m 21s, SD, 1.33:1)
- Rise of the Phoenix - Radek Sienski on Armour of God (20m 49s, HD, 1.78:1)
- Locations: Then & Now (6m 2s, HD, 1.78:1)
- Jackie Chan on VHS - The VPF Years with Steve Lawson (7m 52s, HD, 1.78:1)
- Interview with Jackie Chan (4m 9s, SD, 1.78:1)
- Interview with Willie Chan (4m 16s, HD, 1.78:1)
- Interview editor Peter Cheung (3m 44s, SD, 1.33:1)
- Japanese Release Outtakes (4m 29s, SD, 1.85:1)
- Behind the Scenes (4m 16s, HD, 1.78:1)
- Split Screen (2m 8s, HD, 1.78:1)
- Cantonese Trailer (4m 23s, HD, 1.85:1)
- Mandarin Trailer (3m 56s, HD, 1.85:1)
- Japanese Trailer (1m 9s, SD, 1.33:1)
- English Trailer (2m 5s, HD, 1.85:1)
- 88 Films BD Trailer (1m 43s, HD, 1.85:1)
ARMOUR OF GOD comes to us in the same kind of Limited Edition packaging that 88 Films used for THE YOUNG MASTER and RIKI-OH: STORY OF RICKY. The outer box is hard chipboard with some outstanding art from "Kung Fu Bob". Inside the box is a 14mm two disc case that houses the two blu-ray discs and the postcards. The artwork is reversible with the "Kung Fu Bob" artwork on one side and the film's original theatrical poster on the other side. The postcards feature stills from the film. Also inside the box is 88-page booklet that features writings from Tim Murry, Thorsten Boose, and Audi Sorlie as well as an interview with Thorsten Nickel. The Thorsten Boose piece is all about the glut of Jackie Chan video games that came out in the 80's and 90's. Such a good read. There is also a double-sided poster featuring the "Kung Fu Bob" artwork on one side and the film's theatrical poster on the other side.
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Overall
88 Films prove with every release that they are the ones that should be doing all the Hong Kong martial arts films when it comes to putting them on Blu-ray. The picture quality is amazing and the amount of audio options here is staggering. The special features all really nice with the standouts being the commentary tracks, the ART OF THE ACTION with Scott Atkins, and the VHS featurette. I may not like the film as much as others do, but I can say that this is one of the best releases of the year.
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