Operation Condor 2: The Armour of the Gods

The Background:

Two weeks ago I wrote about my love of Donnie Yen films. This week I'm going to cover an actor who is more well known to western audiences: Jackie Chan. I first became aware of Jackie Chan's existence when "Rumble in the Bronx" was released in the United States by New Line Cinema in 1996. Apparently, Jackie Chan did receive the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 1995 MTV Movie Awards, but I can honestly say that I do not remember that moment. Keep in mind, I was only ten.

Since then, I've been in and out keeping up with Jackie Chan. Initially when his movies were being released in the states, I saw every single one ("Supercop," "Operation Condor," "First Strike," "Mr. Nice Guy," etc. etc). After Chan began making movies like "Shanghai Noon" and "Around the World in 80 Days," I stopped keeping up with him.

From 1996 - 2000 (and probably slightly beyond that), Dimension Films released a lot of Chan's older films with newly dubbed soundtracks (most of which consisted of Chan himself doing the dubbing for his character) and edited from their original versions. To the point, Echo Bridge Entertainment has released a number of these films in those Dimension cut and dubbed forms on Blu-ray, and despite the fact that I hate films that are cut and dubbed, I had to buy the four pack featuring "Operation Condor," "Operation Condor 2: The Armour of the Gods," "Project A," and "Project A II." After all, these were the editions I was originally exposed to and it would be a nice blast from the past.

The Review:

The film released in the United States as "Operation Condor" is in fact a sequel to this film, "Operation Condor 2: The Armour of the Gods." They were released in reverse order in the United States, and I suspect that's because "Operation Condor" is a more entertaining film. In "Operation Condor 2," Jackie Chan's ex-girlfriend is kidnapped and held hostage by a cult and will only be set free if Jackie can deliver the five ancient artifacts known as the Armour of God. It's a traditional plot with Jackie Chan playing, essentially, himself. In most US dubs, even if the character has a different name, the people in charge of the dub just decide to call him Jackie.

With any Jackie Chan film, the first and most important thing are the stunts. For my tastes, they are too far between and, until the finale, too tame. The intensity that Chan brings to action sequences is not felt until the final fight, when there are hundreds of villains in an underground cave attacking him. These last twenty minutes are incredibly entertaining, but up until that point we only get a handful of minor fight sequences and a car chase that just does very little. A side note: Chan nearly died during the filming of one of the stunts from the opening sequence. The error is shown during the end credits of this film, as all mistakes are in Jackie Chan movies.

Armed with a sidekick who isn't quite goofy enough, there is humor to be had in "Operation Condor 2." Similar to the action sequences, it never comes near the best of Chan's films and this is disappointing. "The Legend of Drunken Master" is a hysterical film, as are "First Strike" and "Operation Condor." This film doesn't quite have enough slapstick humor or Jackie Chan's traditional self effacing style to make it work as well as his other films.

Despite all of this, "Operation Condor 2" really does pick up in the final twenty minutes. Is it enough to save the film? I think that for fans of the actor, it certainly is. Not by much, but if you enjoy Jackie Chan and have not seen this film, I recommend that you do. Don't rush out and see it immediately, but if you have the opportunity, I would say it is worth it.

Grade: ***

Blu-ray Comments:

Echo Bridge Entertainment, known for releasing terrible quality DVD's and Blu-rays, have actually done well with what they have been given. The films are the cut and dubbed Dimension versions, and the aspect ratios are off for three out of the four films, but the quality of the transfers are nice. They are presented with a 1080p transfer and strong soundtracks for all four. Solid presentations from a distributor that is generally lacking.