I Watch Films: Armor Of God 2: Operation Condor

Armor Of God 2 Operation Condor

Sensitive portrayals of North African culture, a nuanced view of Nazi legacy, sophisticated jokes, in-depth characters and a mature appreciation of the female form; none of these are on display in this 1991 Jackie Chan adventure sequel. Jackie Condor/Hawk is dispatched by a Duke/Earl* to search for Nazi gold hidden in the Sahara. With him is Ada, a desert expert, and Elsa, the granddaughter of the Nazi officer who hid the gold.

There’s a lot of inspiration from Indiana Jones, and as noted the presentation of North Africa might be more at home with the 1930s pulp adventures that inspired Indy. (Europe, and Europeans, do not come off much better). In the earlier scenes there’s a bit of James Bond too, with Jackie having several ridiculous gadgets, and getting into random scrapes with comic bad guys.

Almost all of this is to get us to a series of action setpieces. If you are not familiar with the work of Jackie Chan, then it is in his physical scenes that he excels, both in martial arts and comic motion. These are never less than good, with some being truly extraordinary. If the final one in the windtunnel goes on a bit long, with the control room jokes being the same “women panic and make things worse” theme that’s been going on throughout the film, the physical work of Jackie and bad guys in the wind for once moves seamlessly between humour and peril.

There are two fights where a female character is only wearing a towel and her being stripped of it to distract an enemy is a plot point. A James Bond trick, using men’s horniness against them. That’s the level of dignity the film offers both the female and male characters. And it’s equal opportunities, for every moment where Jackie Chan is cool, there’s one where he falls on his arse.

Watch This: A cool martial arts stunt-heavy pulp adventure
Don’t Watch This: It’s a crude sketch of adolescent jokes and dubious ethnic stereotypes

 

* Duke in the English dub, Earl in the subtitles. As they’re in Spain then the title Count (used for the character in Armor Of God) would be more usual than the English Earl.